Course Syllabus
Politics of Memory
| Semester & Location: |
Summer 2025, Session - DIS Stockholm |
| Type & Credits: |
Elective Course - 3 credits |
| Major Disciplines: | |
| Prerequisite(s): |
None |
| Faculty Member: |
Ninna Mörner (current students please use Canvas Inbox) |
| Academic support: | |
| Time: |
TBA |
| Classroom: |
TBA |
Memory politics concerns how the past is instrumentalized to suit the purposes of different actors in the present: to this end some parts of the past may be promoted, other excluded. Memory studies includes exploring concepts such as remembrance, commemoration, cultural heritage, competitive victimhood, silenced memories, and dealing with a traumatic past.
There are opposing interpretations of the past in the Baltic States and Eastern Europe, a region that have experienced not only the occupation of the Nazi regime, the Holocaust, and the World War II, but also the communist take-over and the terror during the Stalin period. One recent example of the abuse of the past is when the Soviet Stalin-era is presented in Russia in rosy colors leaving out elements such as the Gulag and the starvations. Historians that search to uncover such silenced parts of the past are hindered or even imprisoned. Textbooks are rewritten, legislation imposed to erase the truth.
The dark past casts shadows in this region. Nations, minorities, families, and individuals can suffer the trauma of the past over generations without getting acknowledgement. How can one be breaking the silence without reopening old wounds? There are examples in the readings of third generation discovering that their grandfather was not only a hero and independent fighter as told, but also a collaborator and perpetrator.
Monuments can function as reminders and triggers. Conflicts around monuments in Europe as well as US lead to polarization between groups with different remembrance and relations with the monument. We will visit the monument in Stockholm of the Swedish king Karl XII (commemorated by Nazi’s but also of other groups on his death day November 30, 1718) as one example of a symbol for contested memory.
The 27th of January (Auschwitz was liberated that day in 1945) is the Holocaust Remembrance Day, since 2005 declared by UN, and already a national Memorial Day in Sweden since 1999. How is an official Memorial Day agreed upon? We will visit The Living History Forum in Stockholm, that is a public agency using lessons learned from the Holocaust. The institution is one example of a governmental initiative to use the past today, and to that end allocate resources and formulate directives.
National museums all over the world play a key role in the preservation of the cultural heritage. Today indigenous people demand museums to return items and remains in their collections. Sami human remains in Swedish national collections is seen as a reminder of a racist period in Sweden and have led to a discussion how to deal with the reburial on Sami land. We will look into how the Sami past is presented and included in the national museums in Stockholm.
Course Objective
The course aims to introduce students to the definition and different manifestations of memory politics. The course will provide students with an overview of how the past is instrumentalized and can be used and abused to meet different aims and interests as well as make conflicts flare up. Emphasis will be given to the breaking the silencing of the past developing an understanding of how to relate to past trauma and suffering not yet recognized.
Faculty
Ninna Mörner
Master in Economic History and graduated Journalist (Stockholm University). Editor-in-chief for the scholarly journal Baltic Worlds at the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies at Södertörn University (since 2009) and the annual State of the Region Report (2020). A recognized expert in the anti-trafficking field nationally as well as internationally, involved for over a decade in numerous studies, projects, and reports on human trafficking. Formed the Swedish Platform Civil society Against Human Trafficking in 2013, which she chaired until 2018.
Field studies
The Living History Forum in Stockholm
Nordic Museum and others (Sami collections)
Outdoor classes
Monument Karl XII
Exhibition/monument/art on traumatic past
Approach to teaching
The course is taught as a combination of lectures and interactive methods such as group work, discussion, various exercises, films and a guest lecture.
Evaluation
Evaluation of students' work during the course will be based on the following components, with the following relative weight:
| Group | Weight |
| Participation | 35% |
| Breaking the Silence assignment | 20% |
| Contested Monument assignment | 30% |
| Student debates | 15% |
| Total | 100% |
Literature
Bubich, O. (2024). ‘The Epidemic of Broken Compasses Normalization of Violence and Soviet Propaganda in Today’s Russia’, Baltic Worlds, 17 (1-2): 4-7. https://balticworlds.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BW-2024.1–2_Bubic.pdf
Hegardt, Johan, (2011). ‘Narrating a (New) Nation? Temporary exhibitions at the Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm, Sweden between 1990 and 2009’ in Great Narratives of the Past. Traditions and Revisions in National Museums. https://ep.liu.se/ecp/078/030/ecp12078030.pdf
Mezger, C. (2018) “Reiner Frigyes Park: A Reflection on Current Events in Hungary, Baltic Worlds 11 (4): 34-36. https://balticworlds.com/reiner-frigyes-park/
Mörner, N. (2020), Constructions and Instrumentalization of the Past. A Comparative Study on Memory Management in the Region http://sh.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1523899/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Pettersson R. & Müller D.K. (2023) Museums Portraying Indigenous Heritage: The Case of Sámi Museums in Sweden, Journal of Heritage Tourism, 18:2, 184-201, DOI: 10.1080/1743873X.2022.2158740
Tali M. and Astahovska, I. (2020). Confronting Muted Memories. Reading Silences, Entangling Histories, Baltic Worlds, 13 (4). https://balticworlds.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/BW-2020-4-OA-VERSION-pdf.pdf
Törnquist-Plewa, B. (2016). Whose Memory? Which Future?: Remembering Ethnic Cleansing and Lost Cultural Diversity in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe, New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781785331237
Urbinati. M. (2021) “My Goal is to Break the Narrative that Lithuania Had Nothing To Do with the Holocaust”, Baltic Worlds (10), 10-13. https://balticworlds.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Martina-Urbinati.pdf
Zhurzhenko, T. (2007). ‘The Geopolitics of Memory’, Eurozine. https://www.eurozine.com/the-geopolitics-of-memory/
Yurchuk, Y. (2017).’Monuments As reminders And Triggers A Contemporary Comparison between Memory work in Ukraine and the US, Baltic Worlds (3): 12-17. https://balticworlds.com/monuments-as-reminders-and-triggers/
Class Participation The evaluation of this component will take into consideration the following aspects:
Attendance: attendance in all classes and field studies is mandatory. See academic handbook for further information. You are urged to be punctual, particularly where guest lecturers and/or films are concerned. If you miss multiple classes the Academic Director will be notified and they will follow-up with you to make sure that all is well. Absences will jeopardize your grade and your standing at DIS. Allowances will be made in cases of illness, but in the case of multiple absences you will need to provide a doctor’s note.
Preparation: preparation for each lecture is a course requirement. See reading list in syllabus, but check when and what to read in the calendar preparing for classes. Please be aware that there may be slight changes in the reading assignments during the course and various handouts will also be distributed, but you will be provided with ample time to properly prepare.
Participation: Active participation in all class sessions is required, and forms an important part of the student's grade for this component. Participation should preferably reflect the student's critical capacities and knowledge of the course material (see ”preparation” here above).
The aim of the student should be to contribute constructively to forwarding meaningful, relevant dialogue and discussion among the group; in practice, this means that expression of one's personal views should be backed up by references to pertinent readings, materials, etc.
The course heavily emphasizes your own engagement and active participation. Much of the learning in this course is dependent on how much effort you put into your own explorations and research, not least in connection with the different types of assignments.
Academic Regulations
Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:
Course Summary:
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