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Militarization of history and mnemonic habits in Putin’s Russia: pedagogy of war

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Valentina FeklyuninaORCiD, Dr Sam Robertshaw, Dr James Bilsland

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the ways in which many in Russian society accepted the so-called “special military operation” highlight the importance of cultural militarization. Our article contributes to the literature on militarization by exploring Russia’s state-endorsed memory articulated through history teaching. Unlike most previous studies that focus on narratives about specific military events, we examine patterns of inserting war and territorial change within the fabric of Russia’s memory more broadly – as it emerges in the Russian Unified State Exam in History over 2006–2023 – to capture more routine and deeper militarized understandings. We explore how military references relate to seemingly non-military events, how they punctuate the imagined historical trajectory of the Russian state, how they relate to understandings of space, and how they link to understandings of Others. We show how these patterns constitute distinct mnemonic habits – habits of remembering – contributing to the militarization of Russia’s memory.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Feklyunina V, Robertshaw S, Bilsland J

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Post-Soviet Affairs

Year: 2025

Volume: 41

Issue: 3

Pages: 181-198

Online publication date: 05/04/2025

Acceptance date: 17/03/2025

Date deposited: 17/03/2025

ISSN (print): 1060-586X

ISSN (electronic): 1938-2855

Publisher: Routledge

URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2025.2485853

DOI: 10.1080/1060586X.2025.2485853

ePrints DOI: 10.57711/mzkx-s572

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