Frontier Issues in Cultural Memory Research

Abstract

The article analyzes the application of the concept of “frontier” to the study of the spatial dynamics of cultural memory. The author examines the evolution of spatial methodology in “memory studies”, identifying spatial, network, and streaming stages. The space is characterized by homogeneity of collective memories, the network allows revealing discreteness and heterogeneity of cultural memory, and the flow makes it possible to analyze the interweaving of different memorial practices referring to different cultural contexts. Shifting the memory understanding from a static state to a nonlinear and multi-layered process leads to a rethinking of the “frontier” category. Geographical determinism is abandoned, as a result of which border zones can now be called not only certain territories, but also images of cultural memory, which become points of contact and opposition of various strategies of addressing the past. The front line within the framework of the streaming methodology is characterized by mobility and relativity, as its specific outlines are established by claims of certain collective subjects to specific memorial images. This is evident in the context of a modern mobile society in which different communities, such as migrants and indigenous peoples, are interpenetrated.