Constructing the Moral Community: Women’s Use of Dream Narratives in a Russian-Orthodox Karelian Village

Abstract

In the wake of the collapse of Communism, religious and ethnic revivalism have emerged as major elements of social change in the former Soviet Union, playing themselves out on national, regional and community levels. This chapter focuses on community, and examines the dialectic between (i) religious values and (ii) the construction of a ‘moral community’, which is in turn a basis for ethnic identity. The construction of a moral community does not necessarily imply an ethnic consciousness in all members, but can be used in discourse to promote arguments concerning ethnic differences and ethnic rights. Questions examined include: What is this ‘moral community’ based on? What are the processes, often hidden from public view, behind its construction? If, as anthropologists suggest, a sense of community is constructed in part through ritual action, how do people identify with this ritual action and how do they decide what ritual action means for individuals and groups? How is ritual meaning utilised in the construction of community at the micro-level in small villages whose inhabitants have different linguistic historical and religious backgrounds?