Violence and Remembrance. The Presence of the Past in the Ingush-Ossetian Armed Conflict

Abstract

This paper analyzes processes of remembrance as a legitimizing ressource in the mobilization process of the Ingush-Ossetian violent conflict (1992). The analysis of collective remembrance in this conflict shows that there are four principles that the ingush  conflict actors use in order to legitimize their claims to the territory of Prigorodnyj Rajon. These four principles are also found in the narratives of former inhabitants of the disputed territory. The study shows that narratives of the inhabitants' parents or grandparents complete and strengthen the publicly used memory-based arguments. Reasoning based on collective remembrance is particularly convincing when public representations of the past (collective memory) overlap with individual and communicative  remembrance. In addition, processes of communicative remembrance do not only transfer concrete representations of past events but also emotions from one generation to the next that the latter adopt against the background of their own experiences. In conclusion, to contain violent conflicts one has to consider processes of remembrance as potentially mobilizing factors in the escalation of ethnic conflicts. Doing this it is essential to look at collective remembrance at societal level as well
as individual and communicative remembrance.