Victimhood Nationalism

History and Memory in a Global Age
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-0-231-21688-3
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 456 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 150 mm x 225 mm, Gewicht: 658 g

Reihe: Columbia Studies in International and Global History

Nationalism today depends on the perception of victimhood. The historical memory of past suffering endows nationalist movements with political legitimacy and a sense of moral superiority. Koreans recall Japanese colonial atrocities, while Japan commemorates the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Israel sanctifies the Holocaust and Poland trumpets the Nazi and Soviet occupations. Even Germany and Russia, perpetrators of historical crimes, today cast themselves as victims by pointing to national suffering.

In this theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich book, Jie-Hyun Lim offers a new way to understand nationalism and its political instrumentalization of suffering, developing the concept of “victimhood nationalism” and exploring it in a range of global settings. He examines relations among Poland, Germany, Israel, Korea, and Japan, focusing on how memories of colonialism, the Holocaust, and Stalinist terror have converged and intertwined in transnational spaces. With an emphasis on memory formation, Lim scrutinizes how perpetrators in Germany and Japan transformed themselves into victims, as well as how nationalists in Poland, Korea, and Israel portray themselves as hereditary victims in order to rebut external criticism. He considers the construction of nations as victims and perpetrators, tracing the interaction of history and memory. Ultimately, the book contends, challenging victimhood nationalism is necessary to overcome the endless competition over national suffering and instead promote reconciliation, mutual understanding, and transnational solidarity.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lim, Jie-Hyun

Weitere Mitwirkende

Sungyoon, Megan

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Besondere Kriege und Kampagnen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
1. Mnemohistory
2. Genealogy
3. Sublimation
4. Globalization
5. Nationalization
6. Dehistoricization
7. Overhistoricization
8. Juxtaposition
9. Denial
10. Forgiveness
Coda: Beyond Mnemonic Eurocentrism
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jie-Hyun Lim is the CIPSH Chairholder of Global Easts, a Distinguished Professor, and founding director of the Critical Global Studies Institute at Sogang University. His many books include Global Easts: Remembering, Imagining, Mobilizing (Columbia, 2022).