Loughborough University
Browse
Memory Studies preprint.pdf (278.07 kB)

Communism in retrospect: the rhetoric of historical representation and writing the collective memory of recent past

Download (278.07 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2013-01-31, 12:55 authored by Cristian TileagaCristian Tileaga
Using a case study of official representation of communism in Romania, this article addresses the rhetoric of historical representation and some of the ways in which the collective memory of communism is managed in the context of how post-communist democracies reckon with former regimes. It specifically centres on the public accomplishment of coming to terms with the past in the ‘Tisma˘neanu Report’ condemning communism in Romania. Using an ethnomethodologically inspired critical analysis, the article examines how the report and texts supporting it address the issue of how to take the communist era into public consciousness. The shaping of a specific representation of communism and the making of political-moral judgments in the report is legitimated by (1) treating communism as a category of the macro-social and textually mediated reality, (2) constructing the need for a scientific approach, and (3) conceiving communism as Other, alien to national identity and national interest. General implications for the substance and meaningfulness of coming to terms with recent history are discussed.

History

School

  • Social Sciences

Department

  • Communication, Media, Social and Policy Studies

Citation

TILEAGA, C., 2012. Communism in retrospect: the rhetoric of historical representation and writing the collective memory of recent past. Memory Studies, 5, (4), pp. 462-478.

Publisher

Sage (© the author)

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2012

Notes

This article was published in the journal, Memory Studies [Sage © The Author] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1750698011434042

ISSN

1750-6980

Language

  • en