Trouble with the biography of the sovereign: historiography, archives and national memory

Abstract

The proposed article is an exploration of realistic social ontology, devoted to the study of the interaction between national memory, historiography and archives as defining social institutions of the modern era. The study focuses on the problems of formation and transformation of perceptions of the past of the national community — the bearer of sovereignty. During the analysis, the author concludes that national memory, archives and historiography are endowed with their own dynamics, and the relationship between them is a changing constellation of relations, that has undergone a complex evolution over the last two centuries. Beginning in the 19th century, the nature of relations changed in the direction of emancipation of archives from the guidelines of official historiography, distancing historiography from the exercise of state power, and the emergence of a new memorial culture in the late twentieth century. The result of these changes was the emergence of affirmative historiography, which has a significant impact on public life. The author concludes that the urgent problem of today is to create conditions for conflict-free interaction of all participants in the politics of memory in order to avoid politicization caused by inconsistencies in the interpretation of past events.