The Politics of History

• Authors: Antonella Pocecco

Title variants

PL

Polityki historii

Abstracts

EN

The aim of this article is substantially devoted to explore which factors have, and have had, an impact on the way history is actually explained. The main topics are: - The fundamental passage from a monological interpretation of history to a "plurality of voices", linked to post-modern culture. The complex debate about Post-modern culture is significantly marked by the disappearance of the monology (a great cultural uniting discourse) and by the emergence of different interpretations and visions. This process has a clear influence on the way history is now explained and the way the "official history" has been substituted by different narratives. - The meaning of collective memory. The role of collective memory has acquired a renewed significance today, scholars belonging to different disciplines have underlined its importance in the nation-building processes or in the re-affirmation of identity. For example, ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the passing of time is producing peculiar interpretations and alterations about the recent history of the former socialist countries. The history of these new democratic societies has been re-written, not in the oriented and "orwellian" way, followed by the previous regimes, but through the subtle, complex and spontaneous work of the collective memory. - The political and ideological action oriented to "create" or to "erase" historical events, which can be functional to the elites legitimisation. Elites need a symbolic background to support their political action and to maintain the consensus of society. They are able both to create new myths or partisan visions that can undermine the legitimacy of a political system and to support real democratic societies.

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk
• Journal: Historyka Studia Metodologiczne
• Year: 2003
• Volume: 33
• Pages: 3-21

Dates

published

2003

Contributors

author

Antonella Pocecco

Identifiers

Biblioteka Nauki

56415576