The Role of Music in Commemorating Historical Traumas

Student: Kuznetsova Tatiana

Educational Programme: Culture Studies (Master)

Year of Graduation: 2024

In modern cultural studies, there has been a rise in interest in memorial studies, including the study of collective historical traumas. Music is a tool for expressing and remembering collective experiences, making it an important means of studying how historical trauma continues to shape social attitudes and behavior. The following special methods were used in the work: historical method, comparative method and semiotic method. The first chapter of the study deals with the theoretical foundations of the process of commemoration of historical traumas and the use of music in it, examines the essence of the process of commemoration and generalizes the main mechanisms for overcoming historical traumas. The second chapter analyzes how music is used to commemorate such traumatic events as the Warsaw Uprising (Poland), the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan), and the Yugoslav Wars. An attempt is made to compare musical practices of commemoration of different historical traumas.

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