Journal of Geography, Politics and Society, 10(3), 29–41, 2020
The article presents an overview of the renaming tendencies in Russia of the 2010s and the main s... more The article presents an overview of the renaming tendencies in Russia of the 2010s and the main stakeholders of the name changing. On the base of the administration websites, online media petitions and other open sources, three cases are exam- ined in detail: 1) Perm, where half of Maksim Gorky street was renamed after the surgeon Sergey Sukhanov in 2015; 2) Kazan, where at the same time Esperanto street was renamed after Nursultan Nazarbaev, causing mass protests for several years; 3) Volgograd, with the discussions about returning to its older name Stalingrad being led for years. Based on the analysis of these cases, the following tendencies are identified: changes of stakeholders motivation for renamings, transfer of power to name from parliamentary institutions to administration, a new perception of the city center and distant districts; and, finally, the appearance of alternative mechanisms of social memory encouraged by the wiping out of older names.
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Papers by Nikita Lomakin
As they are state-controlled, textbooks hold the reputation of being particularly objective and reliable. However, if we pick up a textbook from the past or from another country, we soon realise that this is a delusion. Textbooks communicate the spirit of their time and express the culture they are written in. The exhibition “Different Wars” reveals the differences in the narration and perception of the history of the Second World War in modern high school textbooks of the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Russia. The choice of the subject is evident: WWII remains one of the most painful and conflicting episodes of the European nations’ memories. In Russia the victory in the Great Patriotic War is one of the most important pages of national
history.
The exhibition shows and contrasts these varying historical narratives found in the school textbooks on WWII. By presenting national and thematic posters, it aims to uncover significant aspects of remembrance. Visitors have a chance to “go through” the pages and learn about teaching methods of history textbooks of the different countries.
While the idea of the exhibition was born in October 2013, the project itself started in October 2014. We thank all institutions and individuals who contributed intellectually: experts from the Georg Eckert Institute (Braunschweig, Germany), the Geschichtsort Villa ten Hompel (Münster, Germany), the Lithuanian University for Education and Science (Vilnius, Lithuania), King’s College London (London, UK), the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (Prague, Czech Republic), the Leibnitz University (Hannover, Germany), and many other wonderful people. The exhibition is kindly supported by the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, the European Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and the OAK Foundation.
As they are state-controlled, textbooks hold the reputation of being particularly objective and reliable. However, if we pick up a textbook from the past or from another country, we soon realise that this is a delusion. Textbooks communicate the spirit of their time and express the culture they are written in. The exhibition “Different Wars” reveals the differences in the narration and perception of the history of the Second World War in modern high school textbooks of the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Russia. The choice of the subject is evident: WWII remains one of the most painful and conflicting episodes of the European nations’ memories. In Russia the victory in the Great Patriotic War is one of the most important pages of national
history.
The exhibition shows and contrasts these varying historical narratives found in the school textbooks on WWII. By presenting national and thematic posters, it aims to uncover significant aspects of remembrance. Visitors have a chance to “go through” the pages and learn about teaching methods of history textbooks of the different countries.
While the idea of the exhibition was born in October 2013, the project itself started in October 2014. We thank all institutions and individuals who contributed intellectually: experts from the Georg Eckert Institute (Braunschweig, Germany), the Geschichtsort Villa ten Hompel (Münster, Germany), the Lithuanian University for Education and Science (Vilnius, Lithuania), King’s College London (London, UK), the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (Prague, Czech Republic), the Leibnitz University (Hannover, Germany), and many other wonderful people. The exhibition is kindly supported by the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, the European Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and the OAK Foundation.