Politics of memory and memorial culture in contemporary Libya

Maksim Kirchanov

UDC 323.1 UDC 323.3 UDC 94

3 more Collapse

POLITICS OF MEMORY AND MEMORIAL CULTURE IN CONTEMPORARY LIBYA Politics of memory and memorial culture in contemporary Libya

АА Аа

Published in Zhurnal istoricheskih issledovaniy · Volume 10, Issue 3 · Pages 38–47 · Rubric: General History

Received: 13.07.2025 Accepted: 13.07.2025 Published: 12.09.2025 Language of publication: ru-RU

Authors

Maksim Kirchanov

Academic degree: doctor of historical sciences

Voronezh State University Associate Professor · Department of Regional Studies and Economics of Foreign Countries, Faculty of International Relations, Department of History of Foreign Countries and Oriental Studies, Historical Faculty · Voronezh

ABSTRACT

In the article the author analyses the features and directions of development of historical politics as wars of memory in modern conflict societies of the Middle East in Lybian contexts. It is assumed that social, political and economic reasons and by contradictions based on mutually exclusive ideas about the past also stimulates memorial conflicts in Lybia. The author shows that wars of memory are characteristic of both relations between countries of the region and national societies. The purpose of the study is to analyse the role of collective historical memory in Syria as a factor that stimulates political and military conflicts in the region. The novelty of the study lies in the comparative study of wars of memories as a factor in the development of historical politics and memorial cultures in modern politically unstable and unsustainable societies of North Africa and the Middle East. The article shows that 1) different visions and versions of Lybian history and the past stimulate political conflicts, 2) political elites of Lybia are involved in the process of manipulation of history, which stimulates the instrumentalisation of the past, turning it into a political resource, 3) wars of memory stimulate the nationalisation of history. It is assumed that the processes of a nation-state building in the region are not completed, forcing the ruling political elites to use the symbolic potential of history as a mobilisation resource. It is assumed that history in Lybia became a symbolic battlefield, and memory wars became a universal form of development of memorial cultures. The author believes that 1) the elites actively use the symbolic resources of history and will continue this policy in the near chronological perspective, 2) hypothetically military-political conflicts can be resolved, which will turn history into a battlefield, since contradictions cannot be completely overcome, 3) memory wars can become a universal form of internal and external communication of conflicting societies.

KEYWORDS

Middle East, Lybia, conflicts, memory wars, historical policy, historical memory, memorial culture, nationalism, Islam

Text

Text (PDF)

Read Download

1. Hon M., Ivchyk N. Instrumentalizatsija pam'jati: Inshyj jak “vyklyk” [Instrumentalization of Memory: The Other as a "Challenge"]. Ideology and Politics Journal. 2020, 2, pp. 229 – 250. EDN: https://elibrary.ru/LKNHKH

2. Nahorna L. Kulʹtura istorychnoji pam’jati [The culture of historical memory]. Kulʹtura istorychnoji pam’jati: evropeysʹkyj ta ukrajinsʹkyj dosvid [The culture of historical memory: European and Ukrainian experience] / red. Yu. Shapoval. Kyiv: I.F. Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnonational Studies, 2013, pp. 9 – 34.

3. Ahmida A.A. Genocide in Libya. Shar, a Hidden Colonial History. L.: Routledge, 2021. 234 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003031772

4. Alajmi A. History without Debate: A Reading of the Crisis in Arab Historiography. Forum Transregionale Studien. 2021. July 15. URL.: https://trafo.hypotheses.org/30353

5. Bachleitner K. International memories in global politics: Making the case for or against UN intervention in Libya and Syria. Review of International Studies. 2024, 50, 2, pp. 271 – 288. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S026021052300044X EDN: https://elibrary.ru/OVTKPT

6. Dumasy Fr., Di Pasquale Fr. Être historien dans la Libye de Kadhafi. Stratégies professionnelles et pratiques mémorielles autour du Libyan Studies Center. Politique africaine. 2012, 1, pp. 127 – 146.

7. Fitzgerald M. A Notorious Prison and Libya’s War of Memory. For decades, Libyans feared Gadhafi’s Abu Salim prison. Now defunct, it has fallen victim to the country’s bitter polarization. New Lines Magazine. 2021. March 10. URL.: https://newlinesmag.com/essays/a-notorious-prison-and-libyas-war-of-memory/

8. Flüchter A. History: An Important but Potentially Dangerous Part of the Humanities. TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research. 2021. May 6. URL.: https://trafo.hypotheses.org/28610

9. Glenn C. Libya's Islamists: Who They Are - And What They Want. The Wilson Center. 2017. August 8. URL.: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/libyas-islamists-who-they-are-and-what-they-want

10. In order to preserve Libya’s historical and cultural heritage, the NOC supports the Libyan Center for Archives and Historical Studies. Libyan Investment. 2022. March 27. URL.: https://libyaninvestment.com/in-order-to-preserve-libyas-historical-and-cultural-heritage-the-noc-supports-the-libyan-center-for-archives-and-historical-studies/

11. Lamma M. The Tribal Structure in Libya: Factor for fragmentation or cohesion? La Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique. 2017. September. URL.: https://www.frstrategie.org/web/documents/programmes/observatoire-du-monde-arabo-musulman-et-du-sahel/publications/en/14.pdf

12. Lowenthal D. The Past is a Foreign Country. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, 489 p.

13. Mekouar H. Libyan town clings to memory of Gaddafi, 10 years on. Mail and Guardian. 2021. October 24. URL.: https://mg.co.za/africa/2021-10-24-libyan-town-clings-to-memory-of-gaddafi-10-years-on/

14. Rieff D. The cult of memory: when history does more harm than good. The Guardian. 2016. March 2. URL.: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/02/cult-of-memory-when-history-does-more-harm-than-good

15. Ryan E. Essay on Sources: Memories of Resistance in Libyan Oral History. Religion as Resistance: Negotiating Authority in Italian Libya. NY. – L.: Oxford Academic, 2018. pp. 173 – 182. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190673796.003.0008

16. Ryan E. War, resistance, and memory in Libya’s oral history project. The Journal of North African Studies. 2023, 29, 1, pp. 11 – 36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2023.2241016 EDN: https://elibrary.ru/INIZYP

17. Schultze-Kraft M. Historical Memory and Its (Dis)contents. Education for Sustaining Peace through Historical Memory. Memory Politics and Transitional Justice. L. – NY.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, pp. 37 – 61. URL.: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-93654-9_3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93654-9_3

18. Weidner D. Pluralities, Transfers, Memories: Some Reflections on the Humanities Today. Forum Transregionale Studien. 2021. June 22. URL.: https://trafo.hypotheses.org/28712

19. Šošiašvili N. Ist’oriuli sazrisis gareše darčenili ist’oria [History left without historical sense]. The European. 2016. March 26. URL.: https://european.ge/nukri-shoshiashviuli-sazrisi/

20. Šošiašvili N T’raditsiuli sakhelmts’ipo da natsionaluri sakhelmts’ipo [Traditional state and national state]. The European. 2016. April 26. URL.: https://european.ge/nukri-shoshiashvili-tradiciuli-da-nacionaluri-saxelmwifo/

PDF JATS XML

Glavnyy redaktor

Arkadiy N. Dolgih

Otvetstvennyy redaktor

Elena Titova

titova_en@infra-m.ru

1446

downloads

POLITICS OF MEMORY AND MEMORIAL CULTURE IN CONTEMPORARY LIBYA Politics of memory and memorial culture in contemporary Libya

Confirmation