KaliŶiŶa, E. aŶd MeŶke, M. ;ϮϬϭ6Ϳ, NegotiatiŶg the past iŶ hypercoŶŶected ŵeŵory cultures: Post -Soviet Ŷostalgia aŶd ŶatioŶal ideŶtity iŶ ‘ussiaŶ oŶliŶe coŵŵuŶities, International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 12: 1, pp. 59-74, doi: 10.1386/macp.12.1.59_1 Negotiating the past in hyperconnected memory cultures: Post-Soviet nostalgia and national identity in Russian online communities Ekaterina Kalinina & Manuel Menke Abstract This article presents an empirical analysis and theoretical reflections on the negotiation of memories in hyperconnected memory cultures. In order to describe the conditions of memory negotiation, we suggest using the notion of ‘hyperconnected memories’, which refers to the mediatization of memory in a nexus of contingent forms of communication. By conducting a critical discourse analysis (CDA), we show how the Soviet past is negotiated in contemporary Russia and analyse how national identity is discursively constructed alongside official narratives and individual memories. We argue that an important element in this process is nostalgia, which motivates people to join mnemonic online communities but also functions as -------------------------------------------------↑page 59↑--------------------------------------------------- an intermediary between cultural memory and national identity by making history a personal, sentimental matter. However, we will also demonstrate that the negotiation of official history and individual memory in mnemonic online communities does not automatically lead to emancipation from state-propagated narratives. Keywords: hyperconnected; memory culture; discourse analysis; nostalgia; mediatization; Russia Introduction The past is not a given fact but is subject to societal negotiations. In this article, we elaborate on how these negotiations become visible in contemporary mediatized societies. With the diversification of media and their saturation in everyday lifeworlds, citizens’ memories are increasingly mediatized and negotiated in online media contexts which constitute mediated discourses about the past (Hepp 2013; Hoskins 2014). To describe the conditions of memory negotiation, we suggest using the notion of ‘hyperconnected memories’ – coined by Andrew Hoskins (2014) – which refers to the mediatization of memory in a nexus of contingent forms of communication. These forms include both vertical and horizontal communication in media through which memory can be negotiated. Discourses about the past, in what we subsequently call hyperconnected memory cultures, aim at forming group identities. In our particular case, we are interested in the formation of national identity in discourses where the state, the media and the citizens contribute to the mediated negotiation of the past. With this in mind, we illustrate how citizens are potentially able to participate in mediated online discourses by sharing their personal memories, which formerly were mostly excluded from public discourses. We argue that nostalgia plays an important role for the construction of national identity. Nostalgic longing for childhood and youth makes history a personal, sentimental matter,