“Between Past and Future”: Discussions on Politics of Memory in Russia and Belarus

Abstract

The article presents a comparative analysis of the politics of memory in Belarus and Russia. The main periods of its transformation in 1990—2010s are specified. The question about the strategy of interaction between the main actors of memory policy is posed. The perspectives of memory studies development, related to the question about the future, which is very rarely raised in modern studies, although it is fundamental for all actors, are outlined. Another important gap in contemporary memory studies seems to be the question of practices of commemoration, which form not only national and local communities, but also decentralized affective relations of a new type. The authors advocate the thesis that the key role in contemporary Russian and Belarusian memory politics is played by the restriction of presentistic subordination of past and future to pragmatic interests of the present.