Images of the Soviet Era in the Perception of the Student Youth of the Post-Soviet Caspian Region

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of the perception of the Soviet era images by the student youth of the Caspian region (Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan). The main goal of the study is to identify the specifics of the attitude to the images of the Soviet era among Russian students and their peers from the post-Soviet Caspian states. The author proves that the images of the Soviet era among the students of the Caspian region were formed under the influence of natural circumstances and factors – family, education and, less often, politics. It is confirmed that the intercultural dialogue in the territory of the Caspian macro-region is rarely reduced to a simplified “We-They” (Ours – Alien) dichotomy and more often forms complex constructs. The results of the study show that the images of the Soviet era in the minds of the students of the Caspian region are of residual character, where the degree of intensity of memorizing the true meaning of the image is different: Russian students in comparison to foreign but Russian-speaking ones, showed a better knowledge of the connotation of images. The focus of nostalgic moods which were noted in our previous works remains characteristic of the older generation, whose youth falls on the Soviet era. The practical impact of the article is in proving that, when building the concept of a safe intercultural dialogue in the Caspian region, it is necessary to take into account not the common Soviet basis of the states, but the new discursive practices of the Caspian macro-region. The conclusions of this work can be used in general courses on social philosophy and philosophy of culture, anthropology and sociology of culture, as well as for the development of courses on semiotics of culture, visual culture, theory of intercultural communications. The systematized material, as well as the conclusions obtained during the analysis, can become the basis for further research work.