Theses Doctoral

Disciplining Post-Communist Remembrance: from Politics of Memory to the Emergence of a Mnemonic Field

Dujisin, Zoltan

I examine the origins of the anti-totalitarian collective memory pervading Central and Eastern Europe by tracking the genesis and development of the region’s ubiquitous and state-sponsored memory institutes. I deploy field analysis, prosopography and in-depth interviews to reveal how these hybrid institutes generate a potent anti-communist symbolic repertoire by overseeing alliances and exchanges across political, historiographic and Eurocratic fields. Memory institutes ensure this hegemony fundamentally via two mechanisms: The scientific validation of their activities by way of scholarly co-optation, and its regional legitimation through incursions into European arenas. I conclude that memory institutes are ultimately a key element of post-communist political competition, responsible for creating a durable symbolic advantage for the right’s conservative identity politics.

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More About This Work

Academic Units
Sociology
Thesis Advisors
Eyal, Gil
Degree
Ph.D., Columbia University
Published Here
February 27, 2018