Authoritarians are often adept at manipulating narratives about the past to their advantage. History and memory are core to national and individual identity, defining borders, asserting cultural norms and religious identities. Russia’s rewriting of Ukraine’s history has given it an ideological basis for its full-scale invasion and attempted erasure of Ukrainian identity. In India, Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has evoked the distant past to stoke intercommunity tension and redefine the secular Indian state as one based around Hinduism. And in the U.S., Republican politicians intent on fighting a culture war are attacking teachers and librarians, politicizing history books and school curricula.

Over the past year, Coda journalists have reported from over 13 countries on how history, identity and memory are being instrumentalized by politicians, tech companies and even angry parents. The resulting stories explored the ways in which the past is being used to serve present-day political agendas, influencing voters and drumming up popularity.

No doubt these trends will continue in 2024, a year that is slated to see major elections held in India, Russia and the U.S. Narratives around historic victimhood and belonging are already at the center of national campaigns and will be topics that our reporting team continues to watch closely.

But before we leave this year behind, take a look at our top stories from our history coverage in 2023: