Balancing history books: some comments on current memory wars

• Authors: Konrad H. Jarausch

Title variants

CS

Bilancování historických knih. Několik poznámek k současným paměťovým válkám

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This essay explores the memory wars between the affirmative and critical views of the national past that have broken out in many countries during the past decades. It analyzes the scholarly attacks on the grand narrative of Western Civilization, inspired by postcolonial, gender and Holocaust approaches. It continues by pointing to the nationalist backlash against so-called cancel culture and critical race theory, typical of populist mythmaking. The reflection concludes with a call for a history of the present that will end the pointless polemics and lead to memory peace.

Keywords

EN

memory wars; histotainment; Western civilization; critical turn; nationalist backlash; cancel culture; history of the present

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Český časopis historický (The Czech Historical Review)
• Year: 2023
• Volume: 121
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 339-354
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Konrad H. Jarausch

• Historický ústav AV ČR, v. v. i., Prosecká 809/76, 190 00 Praha 9, Czech Republic