by Ksenia Robbe
One of the founding principles of the PoSoCoMeS group has been to consider transregional and global dimensions of post-socialist memory. The ambition to go beyond the traditional, and still often predominant, focus of post-socialist memory studies on single national contexts is reflected in the ‘Co’ for ‘comparative’ within the group’s title and, visually, in its logo setting post-socialism on a global scale. Questioning the habitual associations of ‘(post)socialism’ with Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, this ‘revisionist’ map connects most of Europe and Asia, large parts of Africa, and several South American countries – these being only the areas of (former) state-supported socialism, i.e. not including the places where socialism existed in the form of movements or welfare state practices.
From the very beginnings of the group, this comparative and global ambition has been the most exciting aspect for me. In practice, however, it has often proved difficult to find experts working at the intersection of memory and post-socialism outside of Eastern Europe or Russia and who are interested in transregional dialogues; academic spaces that would welcome such intersections have also been scarce. Yet, as I look at the expanding geographies which are reflecting and theorizing ‘post-socialism’ in a variety of disciplines (from history to anthropology to literary studies), it seems that connecting these debates to developments in memory studies may generate an agenda for a new generation of scholars and a research (sub)field. In what follows, I share my thoughts on the reasons for the difficulties and the potential for dialogues around ‘post-socialism’ in memory studies. Continue reading “Post-Socialist Memory: Global Perspectives”