Political Memory as Agonistic Practice on Social Media
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Keywords

digital memory
semio-somatic memory
agonistic public sphere
platform affordances
multimodality
embodiment
political memory

How to Cite

Babnik, J., & Tratnik, P. (2026). Political Memory as Agonistic Practice on Social Media: Semio-Somatic Memory, Multimodality, and Affordances Theorized Through the Digital Circulation of the Slogan “Smrt fašizmu, svoboda narodu”. ANNALES, SERIES HISTORIA ET SOCIOLOGIA, 36(2), 205–226. https://doi.org/10.19233/ASHS.2026.12

Abstract

In recent decades, digital platforms have become central spaces for reshaping cultural memory. The article examines the contemporary circulation of the Yugoslav partisan slogan “Smrt fašizmu, svoboda narodu” (“Death to Fascism, Freedom to the People”) on X and Facebook and argues that its political force cannot be explained by textual meaning alone. It argues that the contemporary power of the slogan in the context of digital memory comes from activating semio-somatic memory sedimented through repeated bodily practices, ritual performance, collective action, and recognizable semiotic forms. The article shows how digital memory operates as agonistic practice: historically sedimented semio-somatic forms are reopened as sites of struggle over meaning, legitimacy, and power in the present.

https://doi.org/10.19233/ASHS.2026.12
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Copyright (c) 2026 Jan Babnik, Polona Tratnik