Dmitry Nikolaevich Shevelev,
Doctor of Historical Sciences, National Research Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Irina Evgenievna Rogaeva,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, National Research Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Civil War in Russia in Historical Memory and Contemporary Historiographical Narratives: Intersection Points of the Last Decade
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2024-5-11
This article examines the ways in which academic historians who generate scientific knowledge interact with “generally accepted” perceptions of the past, which are produced and disseminated by social networks. It uses the history of the Russian Civil War as a case study. The choice of this research topic is driven by several factors. On the one hand, the events of the 20th century that were turning points, on which a social consensus has not yet been reached, continue to remain in a “hot zone of history” even after moving to its periphery. On the other hand, our collectively shared knowledge about the era of wars and revolutions has long ceased to rely on the memories of living witnesses of those events. It has transformed into an external media memory with inexhaustible potential for reconfigurations. In this sense, the memory of the Russian Civil War today is a completely constructed object, a social construct that is not only interesting in itself, but also provides a great deal for understanding the political and cultural contexts in which it was produced. The authors aim to determine, based on an analysis of historiography and data from the VKontakte social network, the main lines of interaction and points of intersection between “common” perceptions of the Russian Civil War (public historical narrative) and the scientific view of this problem, articulated by the professional community (academic historical narrative). The authors conclude that professional historiography (including such a direction as the study of the Russian Civil War) today is interconnected (integrated) with collective memory, representing one of its forms. Academic historians act as significant mnemonic actors, a kind of keepers of memory, not their own corporate, but national. The “generally accepted” perceptions about the Civil War are based on the narrative articulated by professional historians. Social networks have taken on the role of mediator between professional historiography and the public demand for the past, in the space of which the “popularization” and dissemination of knowledge produced by historians takes place, its translation from academic historiography into the public sphere.
Publishing: 28/10/2024
The article has been received by the editor on 10/07/2024
How to cite: Shevelev D.N., Rogaeva I.E. Civil War in Russia in Historical Memory and Contemporary Historiographical Narratives: Intersection Points of the Last Decade // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 5 (37), pp. 139−156. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-5-11.pdf]
The study was carried out with financial support from the development program of Tomsk Research University “Priority 2030” within the framework of scientific project No. 2.3.5.24 ONG.
Links: Issue 5 2024
Keywords: history; Civil War in Russia; historical memory; historical narrative; historiography; network communities; big data