Memory of the Past in the Context of Postcolonial Studies

Abstract

The topic of this exploration is the study of collective memory of the events of the past and its transformation in the context of post-colonial studies. The issues of the article include transformation of historical and collective memory over time and shifts of the political landscape. The goal of this study is to analyze the impact of colonialism and postcolonialism on historical, collective and cultural memory, research historical examples of memory transformation, and systematize the views of  postcolonial theorists on these issues. Through the summarization of historical examples and snippets from literary sources the article demonstrates that collective and historical memory both are highly dependent on  political realities, and when the latter change or significant amount of time has passed, the memory of the past events, their perception and evaluation also begin their transformation. At the same time, the colonial legacy is being reinterpreted. The focus of the study lies on colonialism in culture and its consequences in terms of historical and collective memory. The article presents both modern and historical examples of deep hybridization being a result of long-term and deep penetration of the culture of “Another One”, after which cultural colonization becomes irreversible and what is brought from the outside ceases to be foreign, making impossible its eradication without the destruction of modern identity. The text shows how hybridization emerges as a consequence of trauma and a way of overcoming it by mimicking the dominant “Another One”. Another issue is the  summarization of  the  views of  theorists of postcolonial studies on collective memory as  a  narrative for  the formation of desired identity. The hybridity of their own experience helped theorists of  postcolonial studies to  broadcast their views to a wider audience. The concept of the struggle against colonialism as a struggle for state control over memory is shown. The article touches on the  role of the  state in the  formation of historical memory and the role of the  Peace of  Westphalia in the  emergence of the  concept of national memory as a  henomenon created and protected by the national state. The novelty of the research consists in looking at the issue of historical and collective memory through the prism of colonialism and transition from it to post-colonial realities, as well as in raising the question of the appropriateness of renouncing the colonial legacy and the possibility of doing so. The question of the transformation of a hybrid identity into a holistic one and the reversibility and irreversibility of such a transformation is raised either.