INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE PAST AND TOURISM IN THE REPUBLIC OF TATARSTAN (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE MEMORY OF THE VOLGA BULGARIA PERIOD)

Resumo

The text presents the results of the study of the relationship between memory politics and institutionalization of reference to the past on the example of the memory of the medieval state of Volga Bulgaria in the Republic of Tatarstan. Memory politics is defined from the position of constructivism as the creation by the state (or other social actors) of certain frames of perception and representations of the past. Memory politics is consolidated through the process of institutionalization (expressed both in the work with physical places of memory and in the creation of formal and informal institutional structures engaged in the construction of the past). Key elements of memory politics are institutionally reproduced: narratives, actors (e.g., through the training of representatives of a certain school of historical research, licensing of tour guides), channels of memory politics (museums, conferences, texts, etc.). Institutional anchoring sets the framework for interpreting both the image of the region and the image of the Tatar ethnic group on the basis of reference to the Bulgarian past. Thus, the construction of infrastructure (in a broad sense, both subject and organizational) presenting opportunities for the representation of a wide audience of the Bulgarian period, becomes another significant strategy of the policy of memory of the Volga Bulgaria in Tatarstan.