Politics of Memory: Between the Past and the Present Cover Image

Politika paměti: Mezi minulostí a přítomností
Politics of Memory: Between the Past and the Present

Author(s): Nicolas Maslowski
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Univerzita sv. Cyrila a Metoda v Trnave, Katedra politológie
Keywords: politics of memory; collective memory; nation-state; duty to remember; devoir de mémoire; memorial laws

Summary/Abstract: This article is synthetically presenting the shared fields between the memory theories and the space of politics. The argument is divided in a presentation of two major dimensions. The first one is the question of the state control of the legitimate culture, and therefore, of the collective memory accompanying the emergence of a national state. The second one is the new problematic of collective memory existing since the Second World War that is presented. Developed mainly by philosophers, it is related to a duty to remember (devoir de mémoire) existing toward the victims of the Shoah. Finally, in practice, the politics of memory is presented as part of political tactics, having elements of those two dimensions, on the base of an example of the French so-called “memorial laws”.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 274-288
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Czech