Description
How is mass violence made possible? This paper examines the mechanisms that enable mass violence, with a focus on historiographical socialisation and its role in shaping cognitive frameworks that facilitate exclusion. Through a qualitative analysis of six official discourses (137 pages) and ten school history textbooks (3755 pages), the study identifies state-promoted historical myths and explores their integration into educational content. These myths construct symbolic boundaries that legitimise and normalise acts of genocidal violence. The research centres on the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing that mass violence becomes possible through the activation of preexisting cognitive frameworks. Rooted in Russian historiography, these frameworks shape identities by constructing the Self and the Other, aligning with Russia’s re-imperialisation project and Ukraine’s nation-building efforts. By examining the intersection of historical myths and their violent activation, the study provides a theoretical lens to understand how shifts in state narratives facilitate mass violence. We thus wonder, more specifically : how does historiographical socialisation contribute to the formation of a cognitive framework, and how does this framework enable processes of exclusion and violence? Extensive qualitative coding of the material identifies recurring historical myths in Russian official rhetoric and traces their incorporation into educational materials. At the macro level, the research investigates how state narratives are crafted to influence collective perceptions. At the meso level, it explores how these narratives are perpetuated through the school system, socializing younger generations into exclusionary ideologies. By bridging discourse analysis and educational content, this study contributes to understanding the structural conditions that enable violence, offering insights into the broader dynamics of state violence and collective identity formation.
