Unified Narrative of American Civil War History as an Element of Memory Policy
Table of contents
Share
QR
Metrics
Unified Narrative of American Civil War History as an Element of Memory Policy
Annotation
PII
S032120680001910-5-1
Publication type
Article
Status
Published
Authors
Sergey Belov 
Affiliation: Victory Museum
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow
Edition
Pages
46-59
Abstract

The presented article explores the process of building a unifying historical narrative in relation to the history of the Civil War in the USA from 1861 to 1865. The research methodology is based on case study and descriptive analysis. The purpose of the study is to identify positive and negative (from a functional point of view) points in this process. It is established that the architects of the U.S. policy of memory abandoned the tactics of demonizing one of the sides of the conflict by integrating representatives of both southerners and northerners into the pantheon of national heroes. The authority of specific historical figures was used to justify the need for reconciliation of former enemies. The motives of the participants in the conflict on both sides were tied to the basic values of American society. Mass culture was used to form a unifying narrative. Due to this, a system of emotionally charged symbols was introduced into the mind of white Americans. These system of symbols triggered mechanisms of empathy towards former enemies. At the same time, the model of the unifying historical narrative was built without taking into consideration possible change in the target audience. It did not match the interests and values of macrosocial groups, whose role in public and political life in the United States increased sharply in the second half of the 19th century (especially African Americans and the color population in general, women, sexual minorities, etc.). At the same time, the state and its affiliated structures failed to respond adequately to the formation of the antiimage of southerners in mass culture, which contributed to the resuscitation of radical forms of local identity.

Keywords
Policy of memory (memory policy), memorial policy, historical narrative, unifying narrative, identity, Civil war in the USA.
Received
10.10.2018
Date of publication
12.11.2018
Number of purchasers
10
Views
1764
Readers community rating
0.0 (0 votes)
Cite Download pdf
Additional services access
Additional services for the article
Additional services for all issues for 2018
1 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

References

1. Alent'eva T.V. 2007. Prichiny grazhdanskoj vojny v SShA v novejshej amerikanskoj istoriografii // Novaya i novejshaya istoriya. № 5. S. 66-79.

2. Bulgakov M.A. 2007. Problemy ehtnicheskikh men'shinstv v SShA (na osnove rabot T. Sauehlla) // Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. № 3 (8). S. 161-167.

3. Vedernikova A.S. 2014. Istoricheskaya pamyat' o grazhdanskoj vojne v SShA v zerkale kinematografa // Chelovek i obschestvo v usloviyakh vojn i revolyutsij. Sbornik materialov Vserossijskoj nauchnoj konferentsii. Samara. Samarskij gosudarstvennyj tekhnicheskij universitet. S. 170-174.

4. Volkov E.V., Ponomareva E.V. 2012. Igrovoe kino kak istoricheskij istochnik dlya izucheniya kul'turnoj pamyati // Vestnik YuUrGU. Seriya: Sotsial'no-gumanitarnye nauki. № 10. S. 22 – 25.

5. Evgen'eva T.V. 2013. Istoricheskaya pamyat', natsional'noe samosoznanie i politicheskaya sotsializatsiya // Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 12: Politicheskie nauki. № 1. S. 118–121.

6. Kirchanov M.V. 2017. Istoricheskaya politika. Politika pamyati i vojna s pamyatnikami v SShA // SShA ? Kanada: ehkonomika, politika, kul'tura. № 12. S. 63-75.

7. Kochetkov A.P. 2014. Natsional'noe gosudarstvo v usloviyakh globalizatsii // Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya. № 4. S. 63–75.

8. Krasnoborov M.A., Obolonkova M.A. 2013. Otrazhenie grazhdanskoj vojny 1861-1865 gg. v sovremennom shkol'nom istoricheskom obrazovanii SShA // Vestnik nauchnoj assotsiatsii studentov i aspirantov istoricheskogo fakul'teta Permskogogosudarstvennogo gumanitarno-pedagogicheskogo universiteta. Seriya: Stadia Historica Jenium. № 1 (9). S. 55-57.

9. Kuvaldina A.V. 2012. Ehtnicheskie i rasovye men'shinstva SShA: ideologicheskaya orientatsiya, politicheskie predpochteniya, ehlektoral'naya aktivnost' // Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya. № 6. S. 165-174.

10. Kuznetsov Yu.V. 2015. Problema natsional'noj identichnosti i prepodavanie istorii: obschestvenno-politicheskaya diskussiya v SShA (80-90-e gg. XX v.) // Vlast' i obschestvo: praktiki vzaimodejstviya i konflikty. Materialy Devyatoj regional'noj nauchnoj konferentsii. S. 274-278.

11. Prokopenkov G.Yu. 2015. Obraz «yuzhanina» v sovremennom amerikanskom yumoristicheskom diskurse // Vestnik RGGU. Seriya: Politologiya. Istoriya. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. Zarubezhnoe regionovedenie. Vostokovedenie. № 6 (149). S. 137-145.

12. Savel'eva I.M., Poletaev A.V. 2008. Sotsial'nye predstavleniya o proshlom, ili znayut li amerikantsy istoriyu. M.: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. 456 s.

13. Samutina N.V. 2005. Sovremennoe evropejskoe kino i ideya kul'tury («proshlogo») // Fenomen proshlogo. M.: GU–VShEh. S. 337–366.

14. Surguladze V.Sh. 2017. Donal'd Tramp i renessans amerikanskogo konservatizma // Mezhdunarodnaya zhizn'. № 2. S. 73-86.

Comments

No posts found

Write a review
Translate