Memory, Identity, and the Politics of History in European and (Post)-Soviet Contexts.  Proceedings of the Conference held in Naples, 12 April 2024

Giovanna Cigliano; Teodoro Tagliaferri

doi:10.6093/978-88-6887-406-3

Memory, Identity, and the Politics of History in European and (Post)-Soviet Contexts. Proceedings of the Conference held in Naples, 12 April 2024

Authors

Giovanna Cigliano

University of Naples Federico II

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4068-9562

Teodoro Tagliaferri

University of Naples Federico II

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0370-6271

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/978-88-6887-406-3

Keywords:

History of Europe, Contemporary Historiography, Politics of History, Memory Wars, Identity Building

Synopsis

Publisher: FedOA - Federico II University Press

Series: Clio. Essays in History, Archaeology and Art History

Pages: 400

Language: Italian

Abstract: The result of collaboration between the Research Projects of Relevant National Interest “Eastern Europe” between Russia and the West (2022) and Myths of Legitimation and Government of Difference in the European Imperial Regimes (2020), this volume explores the themes of memory, identity, and the public use of history in the European context, with particular reference to Central and Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet space.

The contributors analyze the ideologization of the past in academia and schools, proposing a critical approach to notions such as “ethnogenesis,” “nation,” and “empire.” Specific cases are examined, such as the construction of Slavic identity, Bulgarian cultural nationalism, the return of nationalist themes in post-communist Romania, and historical-memorial controversies related to the Holocaust and totalitarianism.

The volume also focuses on the “necropolitical” practices of exhuming the victims of 20th-century atrocities and on the representation of the Holocaust in Czech and Ukrainian school textbooks. Considerable attention is also devoted to central aspects of the politics of history and memory wars in the Soviet and post-Soviet space: the memory of the First World War in Russia; the “myth” of the Great Patriotic War in Kazakhstan; the “battle of monuments” that has raged over the last two decades in Ukraine, particularly in the Donbas/Donbass region.

The concluding essays address the more general theme of the role of the professional historian in contemporary society, discussing the crisis of history as an academic discipline, the “presentism” of current historical culture, and the ability of historiography to still perform a public and civic function as magistra vitae.

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Author Biographies

Giovanna Cigliano, University of Naples Federico II

Giovanna Cigliano is a full professor of Contemporary History at the Department of Humanities of the University of Naples Federico II and is the Principal Investigator of the PRIN 2022 project “Eastern Europe” between Russia and the West. Her research focuses on the history of Russia in the contemporary age. Her main publications include: Liberalismo e rivoluzione in Russia, Naples, 2002; Identità nazionale e periferie imperiali, 2 vols., Florence, 2013-14; Guerra, impero, rivoluzione: Russia, 1914-1917, Naples, 2018; La Russia e l’Occidente (edited with T. Tagliaferri), Naples, 2023; La Russia contemporanea. Un profilo storico (third edition), Rome, 2023; Europa-Italia-Russia: Relazioni estere e orizzonti geopolitici (edited), Naples, 2025.

Teodoro Tagliaferri, University of Naples Federico II

Teodoro Tagliaferri is a full professor of Contemporary History at the University of Naples Federico II, where he teaches Global History and Methodology and History of Historiography. He is a member of the Board of the Doctoral Programs in Historical Studies at Federico II and in Global History & Governance at the Scuola Superiore Meridionale, as well as Principal Investigator of the PRIN 2020 project Myths of legitimation and government of difference in the European imperial regimes during the modern and contemporary age. His recent publications include Storia globale: un’ipotesi di concettualizzazione («Giornale critico di storia delle idee», 2/2023); Nations in the Empire. The Many Faces of Indian Nationalism (edited with Maurizio Griffo), Naples, 2024; Discorsi di delegittimazione. Percorsi dell’antispagnolismo nell’Europa moderna (edited with Giovanni Scarpato), Naples, 2025.