Country of Origin: Russia
Formerly hosted by the European Humanities University.
“The Past as a Tool, Hostage, Pawn, and Concubine of State Propaganda. How do Russian Politics Mobilize History to Explain the Present and Create the Image of the Future?”
History politics in Russia occupy an increasingly significant place in the authorities’ ideological and political arsenal. The state claims a monopoly on interpreting history, using it to legitimize its current politics and to (re)construct perceptions of threats and enemies, thereby rallying society around the authorities. It seems relevant to scrutinize the set of manipulative mechanisms of history politics, which extend far beyond the plain misuse of historical knowledge.
The paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on tools from historiography, political science, and social anthropology. It examines basic patterns in history politics, propaganda, memorial politics, and rhetoric concerning border regions, as well as the continuity of contemporary practices with respect to patterns from the Russian Empire and the Soviet period. Attention is also given to ambivalent attempts to construct a symbolic image of the future.
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