This book looks at the memory of the communist past in Central and Eastern Europe, with a particular focus on Bulgaria: its “official” memory, constructed by institutions, its public memory, molded by media, rituals, books and films and the urban environment, and the everyday or ‘vernacular’ memory.
Daniela Koleva is professor of Oral history and Memory studies at Sofia University working in the fields of oral history and anthropology of socialism and post-socialism, biographical and cultural memory, politics of memory and heritage. She has published a monograph on the ‘normal life course’ in communist Bulgaria and a number of edited volumes, book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Introduction: Memory Archipelago.- Part One.- Politics of memory and cultures of memory.- Chapter 1. The new ‘grand narrative’: coping with the past.- Chapter 2. Politics of justice: the transitional justice.- Chapter 3. Politics of recognition.- Part Two.-.Narratives of memory and mnemonic communities.- Chapter 4. ‘Thorns in the spirit’: traumatic narratives.- Chapter 5. ‘Sorrow, almost hope’: nostalgic narratives.- Conclusion: Is there hope for memory?.