The Past, Polish Politics of Memory, and Stereotyping: an Intercultural Perspective

Abstract

The main idea of the article is to consider the interdependence between Politics of Memory (as a type of narrating the Past) and Stereotyping. In a time of information revolution; we are still constructing images of others on the basis of simplification, overestimation of association between features, and illusory correlations, instead of basing them on knowledge and personal contact. The Politics of Memory, national remembrance, and the historical consciousness play a significant role in these processes, because they transform historically based 'symbolic analogies' into 'illusory correlations' between national identity and the behavior of its members. To support his theoretical investigation, the article presents results of a draft experiment and two case studies: (a) a social construction of images of neighbors based on Polish narrations about the Past; and (b) various processes of stereotyping based on the Remembrance of the Holocaust. All these considerations lead to the understanding that the Politics of Memory should be recognized as an influential source of commonly shared stereotypes on other cultures and nations.