Formation of territorial collective identities: turning history into emotion

摘要

This paper provides a broad comparative summary of all the cases addressed in the Special Issue 'Hot and cold ethnicities in post-Soviet space'. The aim of the summary is to pinpoint the major features that have an impact on the ethnic temperatures in the social settings studied. This paper argues that ethnic, national, civic and imperial groups are representatives of the same type (territorial groups) and the collective identity formation which for all of them is principally similar. As the case studies indicate historical narratives and collective memory are invariably used for the formation of the emotional attachment to collective identity. The case studies provide support to an understanding that any territorial group is a project rather than a thing and resulting groupness is a happening which needs continuous enactment to sustain its state.