Use of History and Nation Formation

The paper proposes to capture the use of history to construct a ‘imagined community’ in a multiethnic setting of a de facto state seeking internal and external legitimacy. Transnitria, which separated from Moldova following a violent conflict but which is not internationally recognized as an independent state, is populated by ethnic Russians (30%), Ukrainians (28%), Moldovans (26%) and others (16%). To legitimize the separatist cause, elites ‘invent Transnistrian traditions’. They do so through re-writing history and enlarging the repertoire of heroes and glorious days. The official historiography, commemorations and discourses serve the re-imagination of common ‘national’ myths of glory and victimization that draws mainly from the 1992 civil war, which establishes images of ‘our’ enemy and friend. Based on discourse analysis, history textbooks as well as the interviews conducted in Transnistria in 2011, the paper argues that Transnistrian nation-to-be is invested simultaneously with regional identification, Soviet multiculturalism, Russian language and culture, and opposition to Romania and Moldova. Political developments related to 2011 presidential elections brought in a new element into the discourse, Europe, indicating the nation-building adaptations to the needs of the moment. It further argues that this construction from above is successful as it meets with responsiveness at the society level. The Transnistrian national identity consciouseness now exists.