This edited volume traces the tragic history of state collapse and statebuilding, radicalisation and conflict in Chechnya, focusing on the contested and contesting role of historical memory. The time frame covered ranges from the beginning of civil mobilisation during Perestroika in the mid-1980s to the period of increasing authoritarianism, repression and militarisation in the run-up to the Russian-Ukrainian war in the early 2020s. The books eleven contributions are divided into five sub-periods and are illustrated by a rich selection of primary materials.

Cécile Druey is a researcher and lecturer in international history and politics at the University of Bern (Switzerland). Her main academic interest is conflict and conflict transformation in the former Soviet space, with a particular focus on the North Caucasus, Ukraine and Russia. Murat Shogenov holds a PhD in social psychology from the Kabardino-Balkaria State University in Nalchik (Russian Federation). He has conducted research in the field of conflict and peace studies as part of various international projects. His research focuses on identity politics, nationalism and conflicts between North Caucasian communities in Russia. Valentina Tanaylova is a researcher at the Center for Ethnopolitical Studies at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. She is primarily concerned with memory research, trauma and the anthropology of war.