The role of historical memory in the formation of national identity: a study of the Ukrainian case

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56294/sctconf2025682

Keywords:

collective memory, national consciousness, cultural heritage, historical politics, social cohesion, mass media

Abstract

Introduction: The formation of historical memory in modern Ukraine is an important stage in the fight against Russian aggression, which has both military and ideological components. Objective: The purpose of the article is to analyse the role of historical memory in the formation of national identity (in the example of the Ukrainian experience). Methods: The study is based on the PRISMA approach. The criteria for including literature were based on content, thematic relevance, and methodology. The languages of the literature are English and Ukrainian. A total of 50 items were selected. We used software such as Excel and VOSviewer to create graphs and tables. The methods of comparative analysis and synthesis were used in the study. Results: An important aspect of contemporary historical memory in Ukraine is the appeal to key historical markers that have a significant impact on the formation of national consciousness. Russian aggression has generated a demand for Ukrainian historical symbols and narratives that influence national identity through public relations channels. Conflict is important, and it can lead to a conflict of “memories” that is reinforced by certain political speculations. At the same time, addressing historical issues in political debates (politicisation of historical memory) and the lack of a generalised national narrative on the history of Ukraine are urgent challenges to the further influence of historical memory on the consolidation of Ukrainians. Conclusions: Historical memory is an important tool for overcoming the spread of Russian propaganda, which openly spreads myths about the revival of the Soviet empire

References

1. Bodei R. Historical memory and European identity. Philos Amp Soc Crit [Internet]. 1995 Oct [cited 2024 Sep 29];21(4):1-13. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/019145379502100401

2. Eriksen A. Memory, History and National Identity. 1997 [Internet]. 1997 Jul 1 [cited 2024 Sep 29];27(2). Available from: https://doi.org/10.16995/ee.871

3. Bell DS. Mythscapes: memory, mythology, and national identity. Br J Sociol [Internet]. 2003 Mar [cited 2024 Sep 29];54(1):63-81. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/0007131032000045905

4. Esbenshade RS. Remembering to Forget: Memory, History, National Identity in Postwar East-Central Europe. Representations [Internet]. 1995 Jan [cited 2024 Sep 29];49(1):72-96. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1525/rep.1995.49.1.99p0265t

5. Wang Z. Memory Politics, Identity and Conflict [Internet]. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2017. Historical Memory as an Omitted Variable?; [cited 2024 Sep 29]; p. 1-9. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62621-5_1

6. Liu JH, Zeineddine FB, Choi SY, Zhang RJ, Vilar R, Páez D. Living Historical Memory: Associations with National Identity, Social Dominance Orientation, and System Justification in 40 Countries. J Appl Res Mem Cogn [Internet]. 2021 Mar [cited 2024 Sep 29];10(1):104-16. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2020.09.007

7. Wagner-Pacifici R, Gillis JR. Commemorations: The Politics of National Identity. Contemp Sociol [Internet]. 1995 Jan [cited 2024 Sep 29];24(1):55. Available from: https://doi.org/10.2307/2075095

8. Perra E. History, memory, and trans-European identity: unifying divisions. Mod Italy [Internet]. 2015 Jun 16 [cited 2024 Sep 29];20(3):327-9. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/13532944.2015.1051871

9. Oostindie G. Dutch Colonialism, Migration and Cultural Heritage [Internet]. [place unknown]: BRILL; 2008. Historical memory and national canons; [cited 2024 Sep 29]; p. 63-93. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004253889_004

10. Tamm M. History as Cultural Memory: Mnemohistory and the Construction of the Estonian Nation. J Balt Stud [Internet]. 2008 Dec [cited 2024 Sep 29];39(4):499-516. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/01629770802468865

11. Marković T. Narrations of a nation: Montenegrin self-representation through (re) construction of cultural memory. Musicol Annu [Internet]. 2015 Jun 17 [cited 2024 Sep 29];51(2):139-48. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4312/mz.51.2.139-148

12. Sichert M. Functionalizing Cultural Memory: Foundational British Literary History and the Construction of National Identity. Mod Lang Q [Internet]. 2003 Jun 1 [cited 2024 Sep 29];64(2):199-217. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1215/00267929-64-2-199

13. Lebel U. Exile from national identity: memory exclusion as political. National Identities [Internet]. 2009 Sep [cited 2024 Sep 29];11(3):241-62. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14608940903081150

14. Mereniuk K, Parshyn I. Military units and symbolism: utilization of imagery from medieval Rus in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Trames J Humanit Soc Sci [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2024 Sep 29];28(3):293-310. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3176/tr.2024.3.05

15. Kisiel P. Shadowlands: memory and history in Post-Soviet Estonia. Eur Rev Hist [Internet]. 2017 Mar 4 [cited 2024 Sep 29];24(2):331-2. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/13507486.2017.1282219

16. Kubow M. The Solidarity Movement in Poland: Its History and Meaning in Collective Memory. Pol Rev [Internet]. 2013 [cited 2024 Sep 29];58(2):3. Available from: https://doi.org/10.5406/polishreview.58.2.0003

17. Riishøj S. Transition, consolidation and development of parties and party systems in Central Europe 1989-2009: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Politol SKR [Internet]. 2009;2009(21). Available from: https://findresearcher.sdu.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/153456343/PolSkr_SRI_21_2009.pdf

18. Gnatiuk O. The renaming of streets in post-revolutionary Ukraine: regional strategies to construct a new national identity. AUC GEOGR [Internet]. 2018 Jun 18 [cited 2024 Sep 29];53(2):119-36. Available from: https://doi.org/10.14712/23361980.2018.13

19. Preda C. Art and Politics in Postcommunist Romania: Changes and Continuities. J Arts Manag Law Soc [Internet]. 2012 Jul [cited 2024 Sep 29];42(3):116-27. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/10632921.2012.726550

20. Braham RL. The Holocaust in Hungary [Internet]. [place unknown]: Central European University Press; 2016. Hungary: The Assault on the Historical Memory of the Holocaust; [cited 2024 Sep 29]; p. 261-310. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1515/9789633861738-014

21. Gyáni G. The Holocaust in Hungary [Internet]. [place unknown]: Central European University Press; 2016. Hungarian Memory of the Holocaust in Hungary; [cited 2024 Sep 29]; p. 213-30. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1515/9789633861738-011

22. Kończal K. Politics of Innocence: Holocaust Memory in Poland. J Genocide Res [Internet]. 2021 Sep 3 [cited 2024 Sep 29]:1-14. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2021.1968147

23. Belavusau U, Gliszczynska-Grabias A, Mälksoo M. Memory Laws and Memory Wars in Poland, Russia and Ukraine. SSRN Electron J [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2024 Sep 29]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3806091

24. Hackmann J. Defending the “Good Name” of the Polish Nation: Politics of History as a Battlefield in Poland, 2015–18. J Genocide Res [Internet]. 2018 Oct 2 [cited 2024 Sep 29];20(4):587-606. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2018.1528742

25. Bucholc M. Commemorative Lawmaking: Memory Frames of the Democratic Backsliding in Poland After 2015. Hague J Rule Law [Internet]. 2018 Aug 13 [cited 2024 Sep 29];11(1):85-110. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40803-018-0080-7

26. Wezel K. The unfinished business of perestroika: Latvia's memory politics and its quest for acknowledgment of victimhood in Europe. Natly Pap [Internet]. 2016 Jul [cited 2024 Sep 29];44(4):560-77. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2016.1142520

27. Kasianov G. Nationalist Memory Narratives and the Politics of History in Ukraine since the 1990s. Natly Pap [Internet]. 2023 Mar 27 [cited 2024 Sep 29]:1-20. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2023.10

28. Mälksoo M. A Baltic Struggle for a “European Memory”: The Militant Mnemopolitics of The Soviet Story. J Genocide Res [Internet]. 2018 Oct 2 [cited 2024 Sep 29];20(4):530-44. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2018.1522828

29. Andrejevs D. Revisiting the social organisation of national memory: A look at the calendars of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Mem Stud [Internet]. 2018 Jun 28 [cited 2024 Sep 29];13(6):1305-20. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698018784116

30. Cvijanović H. On Memory Politics and Memory Wars: A Critical Analysis of the Croatian Dialogue Document. Politicka Misao [Internet]. 2018 Dec 28 [cited 2024 Sep 29];55(4):109-46. Available from: https://doi.org/10.20901/pm.55.4.05

31. Trošt TP, David L. Renationalizing Memory in the Post-Yugoslav Region. J Genocide Res [Internet]. 2021 Sep 3 [cited 2024 Sep 29]:1-10. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2021.1968852

32. Milošević A, Touquet H. Unintended consequences: the EU memory framework and the politics of memory in Serbia and Croatia. Southeast Eur Black Sea Stud [Internet]. 2018 Jul 3 [cited 2024 Sep 29];18(3):381-99. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2018.1489614

33. Đurašković S. National identity-building and the “Ustaša-nostalgia” in Croatia: the past that will not pass. Natly Pap [Internet]. 2016 Sep [cited 2024 Sep 29];44(5):772-88. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2016.1171301

34. Shevel O. The Battle for Historical Memory in Postrevolutionary Ukraine. Curr Hist [Internet]. 2016 Oct 1 [cited 2024 Sep 29];115(783):258-63. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.2016.115.783.258

35. Hurska O, Parshyn I. Textbooks on the history of Ukraine as an element of the formation of historical memory 1991–2001 (using the figure of King Danylo Romanovych as an example). Humanit Sci Curr Issues [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2024 Nov 23];2(60):13-8. Available from: https://doi.org/10.24919/2308-4863/60-2-2

36. Pakhomenko S, Tryma K, Francis JM. The Use of Force against Ukraine and International Law [Internet]. The Hague: T.M.C. Asser Press; 2018. The Russian–Ukrainian War in Donbas: Historical Memory as an Instrument of Information Warfare; [cited 2024 Sep 29]; p. 297-312. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-222-4_14

37. Törnquist-Plewa B, Yurchuk Y. Memory politics in contemporary Ukraine: Reflections from the postcolonial perspective. Mem Stud [Internet]. 2017 Aug 30 [cited 2024 Sep 29];12(6):699-720. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698017727806

38. Wylegała A. Managing the difficult past: Ukrainian collective memory and public debates on history. Natly Pap [Internet]. 2017 Sep [cited 2024 Sep 29];45(5):780-97. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2016.1273338

39. Lutsiak V, Lavrov R, Furman I, Smitiukh A, Mazur H, Zahorodnia N. Economic Aspects and Prospects for the Development of the Market of Vegetable Oils in a Context of Formation of its Value Chain. Montenegrin J Econ [Internet]. 2020 Mar [cited 2024 Nov 23];16(1):155-68. Available from: https://doi.org/10.14254/1800-5845/2020.16-1.10

40. Danilyan, O, Arbeláez-Campillo DF, Rojas-Bahamón MJ. The influence of globalization processes on the culture sphere : La influencia de los procesos de globalización en el ámbito de la cultura. Revfil [Internet]. 24 de enero de 2022 [citado 29 de septiembre de 2024];39(100):143 -154. Disponible en: https://produccioncientificaluz.org/index.php/filosofia/article/view/37615

41. Kaminskyy V. The Role of e-Learning During Martial Law: The Ukrainian Experience. EL. Innov. Journ. [Internet]. 2024 Sep. 25 [cited 2024 Sep. 29];2(2):52-79. Available from: https://www.el-journal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/20

42. Marukhovskа-Kartunova O, Bugrov M, Kozlovets M, Savolainen I, Zaika T. Historical and cultural dimensions of the philosophy of the future: globalisation and identity. Futur Phil [Internet]. 2024 Sep. 16 [cited 2024 Sep. 29];3(4):20-33. Available from: https://futurity-philosophy.com/index.php/FPH/article/view/124

43. Halukha L. Recent Historical Politics in the Context of the Russian-Ukrainian War: Analysing the Paradigm Shift in the World Order. Futur. Soc. Sci [Internet]. 2024 Jul. 29 [cited 2024 Sep. 29];2(3):92-105. Available from: https://futurity-social.com/index.php/journal/article/view/93

44. Kulyk V. National Identity in Ukraine: Impact of Euromaidan and the War. Eur Asia Stud [Internet]. 2016 Apr 20 [cited 2024 Sep 29];68(4):588-608. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2016.1174980

45. Gnatiuk O. The renaming of streets in post-revolutionary Ukraine: regional strategies to construct a new national identity. AUC GEOGR [Internet]. 2018 Jun 18 [cited 2024 Sep 29];53(2):119-36. Available from: https://doi.org/10.14712/23361980.2018.13

46. Kuzio T. Russia–Ukraine Crisis: The Blame Game, Geopolitics and National Identity. Eur Asia Stud [Internet]. 2018 Mar 16 [cited 2024 Sep 29];70(3):462-73. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2018.1443643

47. Sasse G, Lackner A. War and identity: the case of the Donbas in Ukraine. Post Sov Aff [Internet]. 2018 Mar 29 [cited 2024 Sep 29];34(2-3):139-57. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586x.2018.1452209

48. Parshyn I, Mereniuk K. The Muslims in Medieval Lviv: linguistic, historical contexts. J Narrat Lang Stud [Internet]. 2022;10(19):138-49. Available from: https://www.nalans.com/index.php/nalans/article/view/498

49. Barrington L. A New Look at Region, Language, Ethnicity and Civic National Identity in Ukraine. Eur Asia Stud [Internet]. 2022 Mar 1 [cited 2024 Sep 29];74(3):360-81. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2022.2032606

50. Ihnatiev V. Hesychastic tradition as a source of Ukrainian cordocentrism. Educ Discourse [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2024 Sep 29];(43(1-3)):17-31. Available from: https://doi.org/10.33930/ed.2019.5007.43(1-3)-2.

Downloads

Published

2025-01-01

How to Cite

1.
Halukha L, Lysianskyi P, Harmatiy O, Verezomska S, Voznyuk O. The role of historical memory in the formation of national identity: a study of the Ukrainian case. Salud, Ciencia y Tecnología - Serie de Conferencias [Internet]. 2025 Jan. 1 [cited 2025 Jan. 18];4:682. Available from: https://conferencias.ageditor.ar/index.php/sctconf/article/view/682