Paper Short Abstract:

With the rise of the Internet, the mechanisms of communication and socialization, the ways of self-perception and self-presentation, and the patterns of perception of the past have changed. Many new phenomena have emerged, one of which is a digital commemoration.

Paper Abstract:

An American writer and journalist Tracy Kidder said: "We live in an era flooded with memories." Now, memoirs are not only written by famous people, but also come in a wide variety of forms created by individuals from different backgrounds and with different beliefs. Moreover, in today's conditions, anyone can share their personal memoirs with a broad audience.

Digital commemorative practices are forms and methods of constructing, preserving, and transferring historical memory and activities aimed at representing past events associated with the use of technologies. These practices might appear as memorial websites, virtual flash mobs, hashtags, and memes, which can be classified as “new types of decentralized archival regimes of memory” (Zalewska, 2017).

Among the main features of digital commemorations, it's important to highlight their open-ended nature and interactivity. Narratives can be edited an unlimited number of times. This is not just about using photos, videos, and graphics, but also engaging the audience in the co-creation process. Comments and reposts have the potential to transform personal memoirs into a collective metanarrative.

The paper examines how historical memory is depicted in the narratives created by Africans and members of the African Diaspora, highlighting both common and unique characteristics. The author focuses on interactive digital narratives and digital commemorations, which have developed in line with two opposite paradigms: "memory as celebration" (celebration of national and ethnic pride) and "memory as a remedy".