MEMOIRE DES BALKANS, MEMOIRES DES FRANCE(S) : VERS LA RECONNAISSANCE DE MEMOIRES PLURIELLES ET NON EXCLUSIVES

Abstract

MEMORY OF THE BALKANS, MEMORIES OF FRANCE(ES): TOWARDS RECOGNITION OF MULTIPLE AND NON EXCLUSIVES MEMORIES The contemporary approach to memorial memory in France is quite different from the one applied in the 1990s in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, the authors of the article have tried to compare them, relying primarily on the concept represented by Pierre Nora in the work of Les Lieux de mémoire, as well as on the distinction the author makes between the notions of memory and history. A certain tradition of national memory was imposed through the educational system in the Third Republic in France. But, in the early 1960s, the historical researches largely contributed to the differentiation from the traditionalist approach of interpreting history as a national novel: history was increasingly recognized as a social and anthropological discipline and the issues of an epistemological (history of history), theoretical and methodological nature were highlighted accordingly. The attention of researchers and a wide readership stays occupied by controversy over the interpretation of contemporary events (WWII, decolonization). In the wake of the brutal events of the 1990s, which resulted in the rebirth of different entities from the former Yugoslavia, the main antithesis of the place of memorial memory (which applies only to Yugoslavia / which refers to new, national entities) has, in some ways, been transformed. And the transformation was quite unbalanced, given that the commemoration of memorial events by the newly-created states is, above all, a matter of political choice. Each newly formed state asks its own questions: What has been deleted? What came to light and at what cost? How did each state instrumentalize its historical memory in the specific context? Keywords: Memorial memory, France, Former Yugoslavia, Balkans, history, nationalism / we