Memory Culture

Over the 10th and 11th centuries, the dioceses of Florence and Fiesole were governed by important bishops. Their charisma and political power, however, did not prevent them being consigned to obscurity. This paper describes how and why this came about, presenting an analysis of clues found in several texts written by the reformers (Saint Peter Damian's letters, Saint John Gualbert's life). It appears that the authority of the bishops was undermined by the rivalry between two influential religious communities close to the Episcopate – the monastery of San Miniato al Monte and the Florentine cathedral chapter – that came to the fore at about the same time. A powerful Florentine family (the Visdomini) and a group of John Gualbert’s monastic followers took advantage of this conflict, and while the bishops were busy calming the waters between the canons and monks, the Visdomini rose to political prominence and John Gualbert’s fortunes were favoured on the spiritual plane.

Historiographical research into the Italian comuni has aimed to find a common denominator behind the proliferation of the town annals and chronicles from the early 12th century onwards. The trigger has been ascribed here and there to the new categories of intellectual writers (secular and technical scribes), or the new sensibilities (the emergence of civic-mindedness, and city’s expanding commercial and military roles in the international scene) at play. Each of these perspectives has provided in-depth, convincing interpretations, which are addressed here. However, the portrayal of the 'milites cittadini' provided by Jean-Claude Maire Vigueur has furnished a decisive contribution, giving us an overview of the entire output of the local chroniclers up until the mid-13th century. The dwindling of the city chronicles that occurred as the hegemony of the ‘milites’ began to fade is surely no accident, nor is the contemporaneous shift from ‘city-wide’ to ‘universal’ chronicles. Not only do these accounts begin to chronicle events occurring in far-flung places, but they also expand the past to way beyond the beginnings of the most original offspring of the ‘militia’: the communi.

Textbooks are very important publications in any society, since they
affect the youngest members of society and shape their worldviews. This is especially true for history textbooks, a powerful tool in shaping attitudes and promoting narratives the members of the given society are to adopt. After the break-up of Yugoslavia, there was a new culture of remembrance established in Croatia, according to which the memory of the society was shaped, which also influenced one of the most important aspects of the society – children. The history textbooks were also thoroughly changed, which meant history was revised and employed for making a unified Croatian national identity. Some parts of history that were considered important until then were attenuated or completely erased, and others were added or reinterpreted as a means of moving away from the common Yugoslav history that had been so vigorously propagated up until then. This research is based on the representation of the central figure of the Yugoslav past, partisan leader and the president of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito in history textbooks in the Republic of Croatia. The author analyzed five different eight grade elementary school history textbooks written between 1991 and the early 2000s that were published in Croatia for pupils of Croatian schools and one textbook for Croatian schools abroad. The article deals with the analysis of representation of Josip Broz Tito in People's Liberation War in Yugoslavia, the period right after the World War II (treatment of „the enemies of the people“ and Tito-Stalin split), as well as later periods (Croatian spring, the Non-Aligned Movement).

U radu analiziram upotrebe sećanja, ugrađivanje slika
prošlosti i specifična tumačenja istorije prisutna u srpskoj i hrvatskoj
štampi koja je izlazila tokom sukoba u Hrvatskoj, u periodu između
1991. i 1995. godine. Iako se tiče medija i rata u bivšoj Jugoslaviji,
ovde predstavljeno istraživanje ne sledi poznatu i već mnogo
puta formulisanu postavku problema koja je ove pojmove konjuktovala
kako bi pokazala njihovu pogibeljnu međuzavisnost – kroz ulogu
i odgovornost medija u poslednjim balkanskim ratovima. Ono za
čime u ovom radu tragam jesu predstave o ratu. Zanimaju me načini
na koji se konceptualizovao rat kroz procese transformacije/uobličavanja
informacija s ratišta u narative, priče koje su osmišljavale ratnu
stvarnost, nudeći joj eksplanatorne okvire, protagoniste, motive,
uzroke i svrhe. Radi se o tekstovima koji tematizuju slike prošlosti i
gde se kolektivna sećanja pojavljuju kao uobličitelji naracija. One
su ovde prikazane i analizirane s idejom da se ukaže na vezu između
kulture sećanja, procesa narativizacije i osmišljavanja kognitivnih
obrazaca za predstavljanje stvarnosti.

In this article, I explore the memory and great transformation of Ingrian Finnish families originally from Ingria (a historical area around Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union during deportations, Stalinist terror, and clashes of ideologies and practice. In an Ingrian Finnish memory culture, families were an important source and carrier of memories of exile and repression from one generation to another.  I used the family archival material of letters, life histories and family narratives, poetry, family trees, and photographs as research material and analyzed the social genealogy of repressed Ingrian Finnish families. The case study of an extended family included several nuclear families, and 33 members and three generations in the 1930s. The family histories demonstrated the great transformation and social collapse of the Ingrian Finnish family members in the 1930s and early 1940s from independent peasants to poor deportees, forced labourers, refugees and prisoners in the Gulag. Members of the extended family were repressed during Stalin’s time, with some managing to take refuge in Finland and Sweden. Two out of three family members were deported in the 1930s and one in three during the Second World War. Half of those deported in the 1930s escaped. Several family members experienced many repressions during their life span; some women were deported several times and most men were deported, arrested, and died at an early age. At least five men were killed in the political violence, four of them were executed in the Stalinist terror in 1938. The nuclear families studied were violently broken up, leaving them without a father. I found a range of family mobilities from escape to education. Based on my analyses, I argue that family histories of repressions were a meeting point with life histories and the minority/national history of Ingrian Finns. Family histories of repressed families build a bridge over the personal and collective memories in the context of Ingrian Finnish memory culture.

Praca poświęcona jest opisowi różnych ujęć pamięci na podstawie reportażu Filipa Springera Miedzianka. Historia znikania i stanowi część przygotowanej pracy licencjackiej na kierunku filologia polska. Zakres badań dotyczył zagadnień związanych z rodzajami pamięci oraz historii relacji niemiecko-polskich. Wybrany do analizy utwór Springera przedstawia przemiany społeczne, jakie zachodzą na terenie Dolnego Śląska w wyniku II wojny światowej oraz późniejszej repatriacji ludności. Jednak jest to zuniwersalizowana opowieść o działaniach wielkiej historii. Na podstawie badań dziennikarskich przeprowadzonych w przestrzeni reporter tworzy polifonię pamięci ludności niemieckiej i polskiej. Springer pokazuje, że wydarzenia wpływają na wspomnienia jednostkowe oraz na wyobrażenia zbiorowe. Polifoniczność pamiętania oddziałuje na relacje niemiecko-polskie, komplikując je. Jednocześnie doprowadza ona do konfliktu tożsamościowego narodów. Głównym powodem jest zjawisko generalizacji, któremu w utworze przeciwstawia się reporter.

This study is devoted to the description of various approaches to memory based on Filip Springer's report Miedzianka. The history of disappearing and is a part of the bachelor's thesis in the field of Polish philology (under preparation). The scope of the research concerns issues related to the types of memory and the history of German-Polish relations. Springer's work selected for analysis presents social changes taking place in Lower Silesia as a result of World War II and the subsequent repatriation of the population. However, it is a universal story about the workings of great history. Based on journalistic research conducted in the field, the reporter creates a polyphony of memory of the German and Polish population. Springer shows that events influence individual memories and collective perceptions. The polyphony of remembering influences German-Polish relations, and complicates them. At the same time, it leads to an identity conflict between the nations. The main reason is the phenomenon of generalization, which is opposed by the reporter in the work.

In this essay, I examine President Rodrigo Duterte’s warped politics of history and resentment, Philippine history being Tagalog-centric, the hegemonic elements of nationalist historiography, the peripheries, and Senator Christopher "Bong" Go’s blunder in Mactan.

This study takes a look at the "Heimatbücher" (heritage books) of German and ethnic German expellees from East Central and Southeastern Europe published after 1945. Heimatbücher, a special class of publications, seek to portray the expellees' home towns and districts, thus preserving memories of their lives before the forced migration.

Text commissioned for a book published by artist Yael Bartana in conjunction with her participation in the 2011 Venice Biennale. The book is entitled "A Cookbook for Political Imagination" and the text herein departs from Bartana's “Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland (JRMiP)" and discusses the utopian in art.