Gleb V. Aleksandrov and Dmitri M. Bondarenko: The Present Challenging the Past. Race and Historic Memory in Contemporary US Ideology and Politics
Issues of race and memory in America are closely connected. Racial categories and racial thinking are primarily integrated into the American culture through collective memory, and any conversation concerning race issues inevitably becomes a conversation at least partly about history. The major crises of the past few years have a pronounce connection to collective perceptions of American history. The article explores the connection between historic memory and categories of race both on the individual level and in the public sphere, highlighting the essentially historic nature of the debates on race in contemporary America. Collective memory is the origin point of the social and in many cases political crises America faces today, the solution to which, consequently, must involve more balanced and more intentional memory policies. The examination is supplemented by the evidence collected by the authors during extensive fieldwork in the US since 2013.
[American Civil War, historic memory, collective identity, structural racism, memory politics, Critical Race Theory in education]
