Memory and Identity in Changing Democracies. Imperial, Colonial and Postcolonial Narratives.

In changing democracies, memory and identity have become central analytical categories for understanding transformations in contemporary political and cultural life. Once primarily associated with psychology, these concepts now occupy a prominent place in debates on populism, nationalism, democratic legitimacy, heritage politics, media cultures and collective identity. Democratic instability, cultural polarisation, digital fragmentation and geopolitical uncertainty have intensified struggles over how societies interpret the past and imagine their futures.
Across diverse political contexts, narratives of restoration, decline and recovery increasingly mobilise selective representations of the past to legitimise authority, frame public anxieties and redefine collective belonging. At the same time, cultural institutions, heritage regimes and digital platforms actively mediate public memory through processes of inclusion, exclusion and symbolic negotiation, shaping political imagination and civic identities.
Situated within cultural policy studies and political science, this panel examines how imperial, colonial and postcolonial narratives are institutionalised and contested through cultural policy and memory governance. It explores how museums, monuments, archives, heritage sites, commemorative practices and cultural programmes regulate public understandings of the past while influencing contemporary democratic cultures and future political imaginaries.
The panel adopts an interdisciplinary perspective and invites contributions engaging with debates on collective memory, political myth, emotional governance, nationalism, postcolonial memory, democratic crisis and the temporal dimensions of political culture. It also welcomes comparative analyses of memory politics across different regional and geopolitical contexts, highlighting both historical legacies and contemporary institutional responses.
Particular attention will be given to the contested role of nostalgia. Although nostalgic narratives frequently reinforce exclusionary identities, populist politics and restorative visions of the nation, they may also operate as resources for critique, resistance and democratic renewal. By examining the multiple political uses of memory and nostalgia, the panel seeks to advance understanding of the relationship between cultural policy, identity formation and democratic change.
Topics may include, but are not limited to: imperial, colonial and postcolonial narratives; cultural policy and the governance of memory; heritage and commemorative politics; nostalgia, populism and democracy; nostalgia in geopolitical discourse; national identities and restorative memory; memory institutions and democratic legitimacy; and the politics of remembrance in changing democracies.