Towards Postsecular Memory Studies

How does a religious institution navigate the contested terrain of collective memory in a society marked by political transition and moral uncertainty? This book offers a compelling and carefully balanced analysis of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s memory work in post-2000 Serbia, focusing on its role in shaping narratives of World War II and Serbian victimhood.

Through a methodologically agnostic approach, the study examines how the Church—operating within post-socialist, post-conflict, and post-secular horizons—engaged in both liturgical and non-liturgical forms of remembrance. These mnemonic activities often blended religious and secular elements, resulting in a hybrid commemorative landscape.

Arguing that the search for collective memory intensifies in times of societal instability, the book explores how the Church has drawn on its symbolic and ritual repertoire to reaffirm its public relevance. In doing so, it sheds light on the motivations, forms, strategies, and outcomes of this mnemonic engagement, ultimately demonstrating how the Church successfully reasserted its power and legitimacy in the evolving public sphere of post-Milošević Serbia.

Karin Roginer Hofmeister is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in Holocaust Studies at the Institute of International Studies, Charles University in Prague, where she also
coordinates the Malach Centre for Visual History. She holds a Ph.D. in Area Studies from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University. She was previously a visiting fellow
at the Center for Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz. Her research focuses on contemporary history in Southeast Europe, with particular attention to religious
institutions and their roles in reconstructing collective memory and identity.