Affective future and non-existent history: The issue of future past in memory research

Abstract

This article explores one of the possible approaches to the question of future in memory research. It aims to show that both the currently anticipated future as well as future past and the affective facts construed on its basis (B. Massumi) are a part of collective memory. Polish memory of the Second World War is the main analytical focus in the article and it is considered as a particularly clear example of the influence held by that which did not occur, but merely might have, over contemporary politics of memory. It is argued that the analysis of the visions of the future, which are expressed, for example, in alternative histories, can be beneficial for research on the functioning of at least some European politics of memory, and in particular for those focused on contemporary Polish memory, which is entangled in the need for a constant rewriting and restructuring of the memory of the past.