Influence of collective memory and historical victimhood on ethnic and national identities

Abstract

Collective memory, which is a group’s shared representation of its past, has been considered a force that can potentially shape a group’s identity. However, previous studies focused more on negative memories of the historical past; this necessitates conducting a study that examines both negative and positive memories of the historical past. The present study, therefore, examined how collective memories (positive and negative) influence ethnic and national identification. It also examined whether victim beliefs can predict collective action intention. The study was conducted among 635 participants who were selected from the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria through an online survey using a snowball sampling technique. Path Model Analysis was adopted to test the stated hypotheses. The result indicates that negative collective memory is related to the construction of both ethnic and national identities. Victim belief was found to be a predictor of collective action intention.  The study discussed how identification tendencies impact in-group and out-group relations positively and negatively in a pluralistic society.