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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 5:3 (2019) ► pp.248–280

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Vilnius memoryscape

Razing and raising of monuments, collective memory and national identity

 | University of Wolverhampton
Published online: 12 November 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.18022.moo
Abstract
Through the lens of semiotic landscapes, I analyse here collective memory formation in the Baltic republic of Lithuania. A theoretical focus on power relation in “monumental politics”, the concept of memoryscape (Clack, T. (2011). Thinking Through Memoryscapes: Symbolic Environmental Potency on Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. In T. Myllyntaus (ed.) Thinking Through the Environment: Green Approaches to Global History (pp.115–135). Cambridge: White Horse Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), Van Gennep, A. (2004). Rites of Passage. Routledge Library Editions.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar sociological application of liminality, and a methodological approach that “treats space as a discursive as well as physical formation” (Jaworski, A., Thurlow, C. (Ed.). (2010). Semiotic Landscapes. Language, Image, Space. London & New York: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) are combined to examine the process of monument destruction, creation, and alteration in post-Soviet Vilnius. I argue that cultural landscapes represent not only relationships of power within societies but are also used as a tool of nation-building and power legitimation. I highlight a fourfold process: (1) razing – monumental landscape cleansing; (2) raising – the return of memory via the creation of national historical continuity symbols and of new lieux de mémoire (Nora, P. (1996). Realms of memory: Rethinking the French past, Conflicts and Divisions (Vol. 11). New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and the memorization complex (Train, R. W. (2016). Connecting visual presents to archival pasts in multilingual California: Towards historical depth in Linguistic Landscape. Linguistic Landscape, 2(3), 223–246. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar); (3) polyphonic memorial narratives of empty spaces; and (4) the memory limbo helix or recursive memories.
Аннотация
Данная статья анализирует формирование коллективной идентичности (основанное на изучении памятников, памяти и общественного пространства) сквозь призму семиотического пейзажа. Для анализа процессов разрушения старых памятников и возведения новых в Вильнюсе пост-советского периода в статье комбинируются различные теоритические элементы, такие как борьба властей в « монументальной политике » (Czepczyński, M. (2008). Cultural Landscapes of Post-Socialist Cities: Representation of Powers and Needs Aldershot: Ashgate.: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Forest, B., Johnson, J. and Till, K. (2004). Post-Totalitarian National Identity: Public Memory in Germany and Russia. Social and Cultural Geography, 5(3), 357–380. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Gordon, A. (2001). Making Public Pasts: The Contested Terrain of Montreal’s Public Memories, 1891–1930. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Kaufman, S. (2001). Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), понятие ландшафта памяти (Clack, T. (2011). Thinking Through Memoryscapes: Symbolic Environmental Potency on Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. In T. Myllyntaus (ed.) Thinking Through the Environment: Green Approaches to Global History (pp.115–135). Cambridge: White Horse Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), социологическая концепция лиминальности Ван Геннепа (Van Gennep, A. (2004). Rites of Passage. Routledge Library Editions.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) и методологический подход, который « рассматривает пространство как дискурсивное и физическое понятие » (Jaworski, A., Thurlow, C. (Ed.). (2010). Semiotic Landscapes. Language, Image, Space. London & New York: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Данная междисциплинарная область тесно связана с недавними исследованиями в области лингвистического ландшафта, рассматривающими памятники как материальный текст в общественном пространстве (Shohamy, E. and Waksman, S. (2010). Building the Nation, Writing the Past: History and Textuality at the Ha’apala Memorial in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. In Jaworski, A., Thurlow, C. (Ed.), Semiotic Landscapes Language, Image, Space (pp.241–255). London & New York: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Shohamy, E., Waksman, S. (2009). Linguistic Landscape as an Ecological Arena: Modalities, Meanings, Negotiations, Education. In Shohamy, E., Gorter, D. (Ed.), Linguistic Landscape Expanding the Scenery (pp. 313–331). New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), а также как элемент комплекса меморизации (или комплекса формирования памяти) (Train, R. W. (2016). Connecting visual presents to archival pasts in multilingual California: Towards historical depth in Linguistic Landscape. Linguistic Landscape, 2(3), 223–246. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), которые иллюстрируют, что культурные ландшафты представляют собой не только отношения властей в обществе, но также используются как инструмент создания наций и легитимации власти. Статья определяет четырехступенчатую структуру создания коллективной памяти и национальной идентичности в манипулировании городского ландшафта памяти: (1) снос старых памятников – очищение ландшафта памяти; (2) возведение новых памятников – возвращение памяти: (a) создание символов национально-исторической непрерывности; (б) создание новых мест памяти lieux de mémoire (Nora, P. (1996). Realms of memory: Rethinking the French past, Conflicts and Divisions (Vol. 11). New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) и комплекса меморизации (Train, R. W. (2016). Connecting visual presents to archival pasts in multilingual California: Towards historical depth in Linguistic Landscape. Linguistic Landscape, 2(3), 223–246. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar); (3) полифоническое мемориальное повествование пустых пространств; (4) спираль памяти (или повторяющиеся мемориальные мотивы).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodological considerations
  • 3.Lithuanian social revolution, landscape transformation and memory politics
  • 4.Collective memory formation
    • 4.1Razing of Soviet monuments as part of memoryscape cleansing in Vilnius
    • 4.2The return of memory – raising of new monuments and reconstruction of national identity
    • 4.3New lieux de mémoire and memorization complex
    • 4.4Polyphonic memorial narratives of empty spaces
  • 5.The memory “limbo helix” or recursive memories
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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