Role of social and cultural memory dimensions within individual perceptions about the Second World War in Ukraine: a generational perspective

Abstract

The thesis analyses the influence of collective memory on individual attitudes to historical events based on the case of Ukraine’s collective memory of the Second World War. A generational and family perspective is taken to examine 20 interviews collected with representatives of different generations of seven Ukrainians families. The theoretical framework for the research is based on Aleida Assmann’s concepts of social and cultural memory, which allowed to develop the analytical tool of social and cultural memory manifestations. This tool along with thematic analysis allows to trace main factors influencing the shaping of WWII personal attitudes in Ukraine. The thesis argues that while social and cultural memory can have pronounced influence on individual perceptions of WWII, the impact of social memory decreases as more time passes. Therefore, generational trends in collective memory influence become more visible than trends within same families. Based on the data, the thesis also provides a new insight into the way official memory discourses interact with social and cultural memory and affect individual perceptions about the past. The thesis also gives a bottom-up perspective on memory processes in Ukraine against the backdrop of political changes.