Memory Politics and Populism in Southeastern Europe

This book explores the politics of memory in Southeastern Europe in the context of rising populisms and their hegemonic grip on official memory and politics.

It speaks to the increased political, media and academic attention paid to the rise of discontent, frustration and cultural resistance from below across the European continent and the world. In order to demonstrate the complexities of these processes, the volume transcends disciplinary boundaries to explore memory politics, examining the interconnections between memory and populism. It shows how memory politics has become one of the most important fields of symbolic struggle in the contemporary process of "meaning-making," providing space for actors, movements and other mnemonic entrepreneurs who challenge and point to incoherencies in the official narratives of memory and forgetting.

Charting the contemporary rise of populist movements, the volume will be of particular interest to regional specialists in Southeastern Europe, Balkan and postcommunist studies, as well as researchers, activists, policy-makers and politicians at the national and EU levels and academics in the fields of political science, sociology, history, cultural heritage and management, conflict and peace studies.

"This timely and important edited volume brings us crucial evidence on why we cannot understand the populism of today without understanding memory politics and vice versa. Drawing on a wealth of evidence and based on numerous case studies from the Southeastern European context, the book demonstrates the richness, complexity and many layers of the intriguing intersection between populism and memory politics. Both academic and non-academic audiences will greatly benefit from its insights." - Dr Lea David, Assistant Professor, Ad Astra Fellow, School of Sociology, University College Dublin.

"Contemporary cultures of remembrance are shaped by governmental politics of history, by the memory of families, generations and other societal strata as well as by the activities of civil society. In postcommunist Southeastern Europe actors applying populist patterns of argumentation are gaining ground on all three levels. The present volume highlights this process brilliantly with the example of the ?Yugosphere' (and Bulgaria) by focussing on populist discursive strategies during the last decade?a must-read for Europeanists and Balkanists and for everyone interested in how populists apply memory politics in pursuing their aims." - Stefan Troebst, Professor of East European Cultural History, Leipzig University, Germany.

"Memory politics is of extreme importance for political and social life, especially in Europe and specifically in Southeastern Europe. The volume Memory Politics and Populism in Southeastern Europe, edited by Jody Jensen, should be used in high schools and universities, and in seminars because we need tougher engagement with this issue." - Erhard Busek, former Vice Chancellor of Austria, and Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe.

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