Ethics and Political Manipulation in the Context of Narrative Identity

Authors

TLUSTÝ Jan

Year of publication 2022
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
web https://www.persee.fr/collection/rbph
Keywords Ricoeur; hermeneutics; narrative identity; manipulation; post-communist countries; Czech literature
Description The aim of this paper is to discuss the contribution of Ricour’s hermeneutics to the analysis of various types of manipulation. The article uses especially Ricour’s concept of memory and narrative identity and analyses ways in which our memory and forgetting are abused, in relation to narrative identity (blocked memory, manipulated memory, obligated memory). At the same time the study takes into account Ricour’s ethical guidelines for using memory (just memory), which closely relates to institutions and political practice, and shows concrete ways of using Ricour’s concept of the “work of memory”. The theoretical framework is then applied to examples from Czech history and current political practice, namely to the example of the traumatic expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia after WWII, the reaction of the Czechoslovak communist regime to the publication of the dissident manifesto Charter 77 and the contemporary abusive narrative of migration as an existential and a political threat. To conclude, the study confronts examples from post-communist Eastern Europe with examples from the current situation in the West.
Related projects:

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.