Social Functions of Commemorative Practices

Abstract

The information society and the development of technologies create conditions for the democratization of commemoration, as a result of which the opinion of any citizen and expert (historian, cultural studies scholar) has equal weight in making decisions about what and how to remember in public. The purpose of this article is to highlight the functions that commemorative practices perform in society and to analyze their constructive and destructive potential. The relationship between commemoration and collective memory or history is highlighted, and the mechanism of emotionalization of memory through commemorative practices is analyzed. Using cases from the Ukrainian and world contexts, four social functions of commemorative practices were defined: 1) influence on social cohesion and the formation of collective identities, 2) influence on the normative value system, 3) ensuring intergenerational communication and preservation of traditions, 4) legitimization of political power. It was established that depending on the circumstances, the degree of participation in the formation and reproduction of commemorative practices by state institutions, the public and professionals (historians and specialists in the field of collective memory and memorialization), commemorative practices can contribute to social cohesion, solidarity, development of civil society, the formation of national identity, transformations of the normative value system, decolonial processes, the creation of a continuous tradition, intergenerational communication, public discussions about the past and its understanding, public involvement in democratic and political processes, and vice versa — to pose a threat to national security through the creation of regional identities, exacerbating memory conflicts, creating memory gaps, adding artificial "implants" of memory, combining the present with alien traditions, instrumentalizing and viponizing memory. The results of the research are of practical importance for memorialization experts, museum workers, sociologists, cultural scholars, journalists, art critics, representatives of public organizations and state authorities.