Volga bulgaria heritage and regional identity: the politics of memory and the "invention” of tradition

The object of the analysis in this article is the social memory of the regional past. Social memory is defined using a constructivist approach. The focus is on the design features of the regional identity through the common memory of the historical past. As part of the study of social memory as a field of representation of images of the past and the actualization of regional identity, the author's sociological study of the sphere of memory of the Bulgarian version of the past of the Republic of Tatarstan was conducted. It is concluded that, in the general direction of the policy of memory of the regional elites, the creation and broadcasting of a certain image of the past based on the appeal to the ancient past allows to construct an ethno-political myth about a strong ancestor with a developed culture and economy and to broadcast the positive characteristics of the ancestor to modern inhabitants of the region and their identity.