Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T08:20:50.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

History, conflicting collective memories, and national identities: how Latvia's Russian-speakers are learning to remember

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Ammon Cheskin
Ammon Cheskin*
Affiliation:
Central and East European Studies, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
*
* Email: a.cheskin.1@research.gla.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The literature on collective memories in the Baltic states often stresses the irreconcilable division between Russian and Baltic official interpretations of the Second World War. This paper seeks to challenge this popular notion of two polemic collective memories – “Latvian” and “Russian”. While there is evidence that Latvia's Russian-speakers are heavily influenced by Russian cultural and political discourses, I will argue that the actual positions taken up by Russian-speakers are more nuanced than a crude Latvian–Russian dichotomy would suggest.

Based on survey data collected at the site of the 2011 Victory Day celebrations in Riga, this paper points to the germane existence of a partial “democratization of history” among Latvia's Russian-speakers, typified by an increasing willingness to countenance and take stock of alternative views of history. Through an examination of the data it will be argued that such tentative steps towards a democratization of history are most visible among the younger cohort of Russian-speakers, whose collective memory-myths have been tempered by their dual habitation of the Latvian, as well as Russian, mythscapes. In order to more fully understand this process both bottom-up and top-down pressures will be examined.

Keywords

Russian-speakersnational identitycollective memoryLatviahistory
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 40 , Issue 4 , July 2012 , pp. 561 - 584
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Rev. ed. London: Verso, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
Assmann, Jan. “Collective Memory and Cultural Identity.” New German Critique 65 (1995): 125–33. Print. Translated by Czaplicka, John.Google Scholar
Assmann, Jan. “Four Formats of Memory: From Individual to Collective Constructions of the Past.” Cultural Memory and Historical Consciousness in the German-Speaking World Since 1500. Eds. Emden, Christian and Midgely, David. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2004. 19–38. Print.Google Scholar
Bell, Duncan. “Mythscapes: Memory, Mythology, and National Identity.” British Journal of Sociology 54.1 (2003): 63–81. Print.Google Scholar
Berg, Eiki, and Ehin, Piret. “Incompatible Identities? Baltic-Russian Relations and the EU as an Area for Identity Conflict.” Identity and Foreign Policy: Baltic-Russian Relations and European Integration. Eds. Berg, Eiki and Ehin, Piret. Farnham: Ashgate, 2009. 1–14. Print.Google Scholar
Brown, Richard, and Davis-Brown, Beth. “The Making of Memory: the Politics of Archives, Libraries and Museums in the Construction of National Consciousness.” History of the Human Sciences 11.4 (1998): 17–32. Print.Google Scholar
Karsten, Brüggemann, and Kasekamp, Andres. “The Politics of History and the “War of Monuments” in Estonia.” Nationalities Papers 36.3 (2008): 425–48. Print.Google Scholar
Chernov, Viktor, and Shlyakhtunov, Andrei. Pribaltiiskie Waffen-SS. Geroi ili palachi …? Moscow: Lin-Inter, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
Cheskin, Ammon. “The Discursive Construction of ‘Russian-Speakers’: The Russian-.Google Scholar
Language Media and Demarcated Political Identities in Latvia.” Shrinking Citizenship: Discursive Practices that Limit Democratic Participation in Latvian Politics. Eds. Maria, Golubeva and Gould, Robert. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2010. 133–56. Print.Google Scholar
Language Media and Demarcated Political Identities in Latvia.” “Synthesis and Conflict: Russian-Speakers’ Discursive Response to Latvia's Nationalising State.” Europe-Asia Studies 64.2 (2012): 325–47. Print.Google Scholar
Language Media and Demarcated Political Identities in Latvia.” “Exploring Russian-Speaking Identity from Below: The Case of Latvia.” Journal of Baltic Studies forthcoming.Google Scholar
“Declaration on Latvia's Occupation [Deklarācija par Latvijas okupāciju].” Latvian Parliament (Saeima), 1996. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.Google Scholar
Eglitis, Daina. Imagining the Nation: History, Modernity and Revolution in Latvia. U Park Pa.: Pennsylvania State UP, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Forest, Benjamin, and Johnson, Juliet. “Unraveling the Threads of History: Soviet-Era Monuments and Post-Soviet National Identity in Moscow.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 92.3 (2002): 524–47. Print.Google Scholar
Golubeva, Maria. “Different History, Different Citizenship? Competing Narratives and Diverging Civil Enculturation in Majority and Minority Schools in Estonia and Latvia.” Journal of Baltic Studies 41.3 (2010): 315–29. Print.Google Scholar
“Guidelines for National Identity, Civil society and Integration Politics (2012–2018). [Nacionālās identitātes, pilsoniskās sabiedrības un integrācijas poiltikas pamatnostādnes (2012–2018)].” Culture Ministry of the Republic of Latvia, 2011. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.Google Scholar
Hackmann, Jorg, and Lehti, Marko. “Introduction: Contested and Shared Places of Memory. History and Politics in North Eastern Europe.” Journal of Baltic Studies 39.4 (2008): 377–79. Print.Google Scholar
Halbwachs, Maurice. On Collective Memory. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Hogan-Brun, Gabrielle. “At the Interface of Language Ideology and Practice: The Public Discourse Surrounding the 2004 Education Reform in Latvia.” Language policy 5 (2006): 313–33. Print.Google Scholar
Jaeger, Øyvind. “Securitizing Russia: Discursive Practices of the Baltic States.” Peace and Conflict Studies 7.2 (2000): 17–36. Print.Google Scholar
Kattago, Siobhan. “Memory, Pluralism and the Agony of Politics.” Journal of Baltic Studies 41.3 (2010): 383–94. Print.Google Scholar
Kolst⊘, Pal. “Territorializing Diasporas. The Case of the Russians in the Former Soviet Republics.” Millennium: Journal or International Studies 28.3 (1999): 607–31. Print.Google Scholar
Laclau, Ernesto, and Mouffe, Chantai. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London: Verso, 1985. Print.Google Scholar
Laitin, David. “Identity in Formation: the Russian-Speaking Nationality in the Post-Soviet Diaspora.” European Journal of Sociology 36.2 (1995): 281–316. Print.Google Scholar
Makarovs, Viktors, and Boldāne, Ilze. 20. gadsimta vēstures pretrunīgo jautājumu pasniegšana Latvijas skolās un muzejos. Riga: Sorosa Fonds, 2008. Web. 2 June 2011.Google Scholar
Mälksoo, Maria. “Liminality and Contested Europeanness: Conflicting Memory Politics in the Baltic Space.” Identity and Foreign Policy: Baltic-Russian Relations and European Integration. Eds. Eiki, Berg, and Ehin, Piret. Farnham: Ashgate, 2009. 65–83. Print.Google Scholar
“Memorandum o Politicheskom Ob“edinenii ‘Tsentr Soglaciya'.” Saskanascentrs.lv. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.Google Scholar
Muižnieks, Nils. The Geopolitics of History in Latvian–Russian Relations. Riga: Academic Press of the U of Latvia, 2011. Print.Google Scholar
Jeffrey, Olick, and Robbins, Joyce. “Social Memory Studies: From ‘Collective Memory’ to the Historical Sociology of Mnemonic Practices.” Annual Review of Sociology 24 (1998): 105–40. Print.Google Scholar
Onken, Eva. “The Baltic States and Moscow's 9 May Commemoration: Analysing Memory Politics in Europe.” Europe-Asia Studies 59.1 (2007): 23–46. Print.Google Scholar
Onken, Eva. “Memory and Democratic Pluralism in the Baltic States – Rethinking the Relationship” Journal of Baltic Studies 41.3 (2010): 277–94. Print.Google Scholar
Pisarenko, Olga. “The Acculturation Modes of Russian Speaking Adolescents in Latvia: Perceived Discrimination and Knowledge of the Latvian Language.” Europe-Asia Studies 58.5 (2006): 571–73. Print.Google Scholar
Rislakki, Jukka. The Case for Latvia: Disinformation Campaigns Against a Small Nation. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2009. Print.Google Scholar
Rodins, M. “National Identity and Democratic Integration in Latvia in the Middle of the 90s.” Latvijas Universitātes Raksti 686 (2005): 40–63. Print.Google Scholar
Rožukalne, Anda. “The Construction of Ethnic Political Identity and the Mechanisms of Exclusion in the Latvian-Language Media.” Shrinking Citizenship: Discursive Practices that Limit Democratic Participation in Latvian Politics. Eds. Golubeva, Maria, and Gould, Robert. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2010. 111–32. Print.Google Scholar
“SC baidās no deokupācijas aktualizēšanas.” Diena 9 Sep. 2011. Web.Google Scholar
Schleifman, Nurit. “Moscow's Victory Park: A Monumental Change.” History & Memory 13.2 (2001): 5–34. Print.Google Scholar
Schuman, Howard and Scott, Jacqueline. “Generations and Collective Memories.” American Sociological Review 54.3 (1989): 359–81. Print.Google Scholar
Smith, Graham. The Post-Soviet States: Mapping the Politics of Transition. London: Arnold, 1999. Print.Google Scholar
Smith, Graham. et al. Nation-building in the Post-Soviet Borderlands: The Politics of National Identities. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
“Urbanovičs īsti nespēj izšėirties – Latvija ir vai nav bijusi okupėta.” Diena 20 June 2011. Web.Google Scholar
Velmet, Aro. “Occupied Identities: National Narratives in Baltic Museums of Occupations.” Journal of Baltic Studies 42.2 (2011): 189–211. Print.Google Scholar
Vihalemm, Triin and Masso, Anu. “Identity Dynamics of Russian-Speakers of Estonia in the Transition Period.” Journal of Baltic Studies 34.1 (2003): 92–116. Print.Google Scholar
Wertsch, James. “Collective Memory and Narrative Templates.” Social Research 75.1 (2008): 133–56. Print.Google Scholar
Zelče, Vita. “History – Responsibility – Memory: Latvia's Case.” Latvia: Human.Google Scholar
Development Report 2008/2009. Eds. Rozenvalds, Juris, and Ijabs, Ivars. Riga: Advanced Social and Political Research Institute, 2009. Print.Google Scholar
Zepa, Brigita. The Changing Discourse of Minority Identities. Riga: Baltic Institute for Social Sciences, 2006. Web. 2 Feb. 2012.Google Scholar
Zepa, B. et al. Etnopolitiskā spriedze Latvijā: Konflikta risinājuma meklėjumi. Riga: Baltic Institute for Social Sciences, 2005. Web. 23 Jan. 2012.Google Scholar