Reclaiming the Past: Gulag Memory, Epistemic Anxieties, and Political Subjectivity in Borderland Georgia

Objective

The GEMS project proposes to investigate how Sunni Muslim minorities in borderland Georgia engage with the memory of Soviet repression, focusing on the recent discovery of a mass grave near the city of Batumi, the capital of the region of Adjara. Unlike existing research that centers on Orthodox Christian narratives in urban settings, this project innovatively addresses the largely overlooked role of Soviet Georgia’s colonial project targeting ethnic and religious minorities through repression. It examines how these communities navigate collective memory shaped by both Soviet-era violence and contemporary post-Soviet state practices. GEMS offers a novel perspective on how to deal with difficult heritages by analysing the negotiation of Gulag memory within the complex dynamics of Soviet and post-Soviet Georgia’s internal colonialism. The project explores how local Muslim families, religious leaders, and state institutions confront the memory of repressions amidst current geopolitical tensions, including Russian imperial influence in the region. By focusing on epistemic anxieties and political subjectivity formation, the study explores how and when marginalised groups challenge dominant national narratives about the Gulag and assert their place in Georgian memory politics. Interdisciplinary in its focus and methodology, GEMS combines anthropology of memory, religion, and post-Soviet studies to examine the contested burial rituals, commemorative practices, and historical interpretations surrounding the Batumi mass grave. This research expands understanding of how post-colonial and post-imperial legacies continue to shape borderland Georgia, offering critical insights into the politics of memory, minority inclusion, and state power. Ultimately, GEMS contributes to broader debates on memory and postsecularism, decolonisation, and the geopolitics of memory.