Nesting Orientalisms at War: World War II and the 'Memory War' in Eastern Europe

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This chapter puts cultural constructions informed by Orientalism in the context of the contemporary “memory war” over the meaning and legacy of World War II in Eastern Europe. Drawing on the concept of nesting Orientalisms, the chapter demonstrates how Russia and its former satellites in Eastern Europe (e.g., the Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine) try to depict each other as “less European” in the face of “the West” in order to gain the latter’s recognition of one’s own comparatively “more European” nature. Western readings of these East European memory wars of World War II add another interesting layer of Orientalism to the study, as due to the constitutive role of “the East” for “the West”, these conflicts over memory are culturally and socially productive for Western European identities as well.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOrientalism and War
EditorsTarak Barkawi, Keith Stanski
Number of pages18
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherColumbia University Press
Publication date2013
Pages177-195
Chapter9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Social Sciences - Russia, Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine, communist legacy, remembering World War II, memory war, eastern Europe

ID: 284508198