“We are the Time”: the Dynamics of Time and the Sense of the Past in the Narratives of the Family Memory. Part II

Abstract

Based on the results of the analysis of narrative interviews of three generations of residents of Lipetsk, this article identifies and comprehends the features of the representation of family time, the main types of events in family history and the forms of continuity of family traditions. The methods of constructing time and eventfulness were analyzed in the context of cultural practices of everyday life, perceived as traditions of work, everyday life and leisure. On the basis of the biographical method of Fritz Schütze, positive and negative curves of biographical stories were identified, which were compared with the “family scenarios” represented in the narratives of the people of Lipetsk. The combination of F. Schütze's biographical method and S. Jaeger's critical discourse analysis allowed us to identify and compare general tendencies that, on the one hand, turned out to be dominant in the family memory narratives of three generations of Lipetsk residents, and on the other hand, were clearly represented in the media discourse of public commemorations. The first trend was the unconditional growth of the meaningfulness of family history as the age of our respondents increased. The second most important trend was the use by respondents of the events of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 as a kind of "worldview" framework for interpreting the events of family history and its basic meanings. The third trend was the pronounced desire to avoid comprehending the tragic events of family history and the uncritical perception of the biographies of family members during the era of repression in the 1930s. The fourth trend was the absolute dominance of a strong type of continuity in relation to family traditions. It was revealed that the deployment of family temporality appears as a process of constant and dynamic interaction with the semantic space of the historical culture of the region and its practices of using the past.