The Clash of Collective Memories in Postwar Chechnya

ABSTRACT

Established shortly after the beginning of the Second Russo-Chechen war of 1999–2009, the Russian-backed Chechen government is actively engaged in a reinterpretation of the nation’s history. The Chechen political elite that ruled the republic during its independence (1991–1999) opposes these efforts and promotes a version of history that dominated Chechen public discourse in the 1990s. Relying on qualitative methodology, this article explores Chechen memory politics of the past three decades through these two dominant clashing interpretations. The article answers the question: What Chechen collective memories are the most contested and why?

Acknowledgments

I am immensely grateful to my colleagues from the Universities of Wisconsin-Madison and Vilnius, who read and commented on the earlier versions of this article. My particular thanks goes to Professor Yoshiko Herrera and Professor Violeta Davoliute, whose suggestions improved this article. My gratitude also extends to Justine Walden, who proofread this article.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The numerous groups within the pro-Independence elite in exile by and large agree on its approach toward Chechen memory politics. Therefore, this article does not analyze the separate political position of each individual group.

2. The video obtained just over 57,000 views in the same period.

3. Some informants were claiming that the conflict began in the 16th century.

4. The popular narrative claims that he was senseless, meaning that otherwise he would not be captured alive.

5. There were many monuments to A. Kadyrov in the republic until approximately 2009. Then, they were all removed, without explanation from the government. In his video address, Zakayev claims that this was a condition posed by him before the talks that he held with the pro-Russian party in 2009 (video 1, min. 45:49).

Additional information

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Social Fund (Project No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-23-0160) under grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT)