Monuments of sorrow: tools for rooting conflicts and peacebuilding on the example of post-Soviet Georgia
Monuments of sorrow: tools for rooting conflicts and peacebuilding on the example of post-Soviet Georgia

Summary/Abstract: Using recent history of Georgia, we show the specifics and motives of installing monuments of sorrow in order to ingrain the cultural phenomenon of memory of the victims of war in the collective memory of the parties to the conflict. The article identifies four strategies behind erecting monuments: confrontation-competition; orientation towards complete destruction of the enemy; attempts to find a compromise; orientation towards common peace. Monuments installed in the territory of Georgia (including the territory of the armed conflict zones) during the military conflicts of 1989-2008 are considered as separate cases. Monuments are discussed as a social phenomenon reflecting the behavior of society in the post-war period. Along with monuments of sorrow oriented towards revenge, the work discusses the prospect of creating monuments oriented towards general empathy of the parties to the conflict in order to create conditions for common peace and collective security.

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