Remembering and forgetting the SFR Yugoslavia. Historiography and history textbooks in the Republic of Macedonia

Abstract

Abstract This article analyses the interpretations and symbolic markers of the ‘new’ memory created in the Republic of Macedonia in the past few years. The question the authors raise concerns how images of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have been thematized or, likely, left to disappear into oblivion. Analysis of post-1991 historiography and history textbooks in Macedonia suggests that the main waves of change in the historical narrative have all followed the same general lines although not simultaneously. There have been other, minor factors, but the major changes in both domains have been related to the independence of the country, its aspirations to join the EU, and the rise of nationalism.