Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Series | Book | Chapter

208445

Why digital memory studies should not overlook Eastern Europe's memory wars

Ellen Rutten

pp. 219-231

Abstract

In both Russia and Ukraine, millions of Internet users engage in virtual, combat-like quests for "what really happened" in Soviet history. Embracing digital discourses of hostility and nationalism,1 they endlessly debate conflicting memories of the countries' "chosen traumas"2 in blogs, Twitter, and on other social media. Using digital memory—the name commonly given to commemorative practices as they are mediated online—as the guiding tool, this chapter tackles war-like memory practices in Russian and Ukrainian new media, focusing in particular on social networking sites. Eastern Europe is a geopolitical territory where cultural memory is particularly important and volatile, and its ongoing memory wars and their important subcategory, web wars, deserve thorough study.

Publication details

Published in:

Blacker Uilleam, Etkind Alexander, Fedor Julie (2013) Memory and theory in Eastern Europe. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Pages: 219-231

DOI: 10.1057/9781137322067_11

Full citation:

Rutten Ellen (2013) „Why digital memory studies should not overlook Eastern Europe's memory wars“, In: U. Blacker, A. Etkind & J. Fedor (eds.), Memory and theory in Eastern Europe, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 219–231.