Negotiating the past in hyperconnected memory cultures: Post-Soviet nostalgia and national identity in Russian online communities

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This article presents an empirical analysis and theoretical reflections on the negotiation of memories in hyperconnected memory cultures. In order to describe the conditions of memory negotiation, we suggest using the notion of ‘hyperconnected memories’, which refers to the mediatization of memory in a nexus of contingent forms of communication. By conducting a critical discourse analysis (CDA), we show how the Soviet past is negotiated in contemporary Russia and analyse how national identity is discursively constructed alongside official narratives and individual memories. We argue that an important element in this process is nostalgia, which motivates people to join mnemonic online communities but also functions as an intermediary between cultural memory and national identity by making history a personal, sentimental matter. However, we will also demonstrate that the negotiation of official history and individual memory in mnemonic online communities does not automatically lead to emancipation from state-propagated narratives.
Original languageEnglish
JournalInternational Journal of Media Cultural Politics
Volume12
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)59-74
Number of pages16
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Humanities - Russia, discourse analysis, hyperconnected, mediatization, memory, nostalgia, Memory Culture

ID: 249308134