Digitally Mediated Collective Memory of the Greek Civil War: A Post-Memory Analysis of YouTube Comments

This chapter discusses the structure and limitations of digital media in the construction and reproduction of collective memory, focusing in particular on the historical continuities of conflict, class, and ideology. Understanding post-memory as mediated memories and, as such, added layers constructing memory, social media are perceived as devices connecting between generations and narrations. Drawing from the theoretical framework of post-memory (Hirsch, The Generation of Postmemory Writing and Visual Culture After the Holocaust. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012), the study critically explores the significances of digital media, especially focusing on YouTube, as a platform that supports social interaction and promotes active engagement with past events, whilst at the same time shaping the public discourse and frames among the community. The analysis included more than 800 online comments relating to the most popular video regarding the Varkiza Treaty (view count/Synthiki tis Varkizas); it contemplates the visual style and narrative in juxtaposition with the user engagement in the comments section. The chapter situates such videos within the context of cultural artefacts that increasingly proliferate and represent an increasing trend in the production of mediated online collective memory. As such, it articulates and opens a discussion around what the production, structure, and limitations of the medium may mean, in shaping contemporary conversations about the Greek Civil War.