Siberian Village Research Articles

Формы этнокультурной идентичности белорусских крестьян-переселенцев в Сибири

Mass resettlements of the Belarusian peasants on the territory of Siberia in the second half of 19th - the beginning of 20th centuries became the cause of developing of new forms of ethnocultural identity among them. At the time of migrations, the national identity of most of the Belarusian peasants hasn't been formed yet. Instead, their regional and local identity has originally dominated. Migrants from the same region have tried to create their own micro-communities in Siberia. This trend can be well seen in the existence of a number of Siberian villages of streets or areas where people only from certain places of exit lived. In the territory of the most part of an agricultural zone of Siberia the names "cheldon" and "samokhod" had a wide use. The first word was used to refer to the Russian old residents of Siberia whose ancestors settled down there in the 17–18th centuries. The second one was used, as a rule, for peasant-migrants of the end of 19the – the beginning of 20th centuries. A few models of resettlement of the Belarusian peasants-migrants have developed in Siberia. The cluster of villages where migrants got married and kept compatriot community for many years was the most stable of them. Villages with mixed ethnocultural structure and farms (“khutor”) were less sustainable patterns of resettlement. The ethnic identity of the Belarusian migrants has begun to be formed in 1920s, but due to assimilation processes, in the second half of the 20th century its value gradually began to decrease. Now the majority of the forms of ethnocultural identity considered in the article has relic manifestations and don't play any noticeable role in everyday life of the villages founded by the Belarusian migrants in Siberia. Despite it, studying of ethnocultural identity of resettlement communities doesn't lose its relevance as it gives a chance to get a complete and objective impression about their social and cultural features as well as sources, interactions and transformation of some components of their traditional culture. Based on the research results, it is possible to make a conclusion that each local community has its own individual dominating components of ethnocultural identity which are in process of continuous transformations. An important role in it was played by a world outlook dichotomy "us vs. them", acting as the main source of formation and preservation of any form of identity. At the same time, it extends to different hierarchical levels of ethnocultural identity, treating not only interactions of migrants and their external ethnocultural environment, but also internal structure of resettlement communities. Therefore, it can be considered as manifestation of a universal social and psychological need of local communities of different scale.

The queer parable and the gender normativity of ‘traditional values’: Aleksei Chupov and Natal’ia Merkulova’s The Man Who Surprised Everyone (2018)

ABSTRACT The article examines how the ideology of ‘traditional values’ and related ‘special’ gender normativity are represented in contemporary Russophone cinema. By analysing the film-parable The Man Who Surprised Everyone (2018), directed by Aleksei Chupov and Natal’ia Merkulova, I first demonstrate how the directors work with the complexity of existing gender politics by visualising the performative functions of the body as gendered appearance through the parable framework. Second, I show how Russia’s official public discourse about sexuality – dominated by the rhetoric of ‘traditional values’ – is challenged through the film narrative and the main character, the gamekeeper Egor, who lives in a small Siberian village and decides to wear female clothes and makeup in order to defeat cancer. Made with financial support from the Russian Federation’s Ministry of Culture and in the context of intensified conservative politics of gender and sexuality, the film was largely not considered in Russian-language criticism and broader audiences as related to queerness. I argue that their avoidance of the film’s queerness is a part of the ‘traditional values’ discourse, in which the Other seems not to exist, but always emerges as its inherent element.

Fragile Landscape. Sacrifice of the Russian land

This essay analyses the individual’s alienation from the natural environment prompted by the commodification of nature. The analysis focuses on the novels “Proshchanie s Matyoroi” (Farewell to Matyora, 1976) by Valentin Rasputin and “Zona zatopleniya” (Flood Zone, 2015) by Roman Senchin and demonstrates how literature, both in the Soviet Union and in contemporary Russia, deals with the critical discourse on environmental issues, the protection of nature, human freedom, and the dignity of living beings. The two novels, written forty years apart, share the same subject: to build a hydroelectric power plant, a river is diverted from its path, vast territories are flooded, and the inhabitants of a Siberian village are be forced away from their homes. In the light of this affinity, this essay explores an eco-critical view as to how the conflict between nature and culture in Soviet and in present-day Russia can be represented through the motives of the clash between the old and the new world, civilization and wild nature, the urban and the natural environment. In particular, the two novels are linked by four cultural criteria: the mythography of a betrayed Eden, the representation of a world that offers no refuge from ecological disasters, the threat of a hegemonic oppression conducted either by the State or by powerful corporations at the expense of the local communities, and the ‘gothicization’ of the environment. Zona zatopleniyia can be read as a remake of Proshchanie s Materoi insofar as it denounces a system in which the technological innovations achieved in over half a century do not seem to be considered. At the same time, however, Senchin’s novel, starting from the end of the Soviet Union, highlights the environmental problems that have contributed to the end of the régime and suggests that old political models are no longer tenable in the new era. This starting point plays an important role for it defines nature no longer as a shelter from politics, but as a potential form of civil activity.

Siberi eestlaste lapse sünniga seotud kombestik ja sünnituslood

To study the childbirth customs and stories of Siberian Estonians, I used conversations and interviews conducted in various Siberian Estonian communities during the fieldwork of the Estonian Folklore Archives between 1991 and 2013, as well as the memories of Estonians who had been born in the Estonian settlements in Siberia and repatriated during or after the Second World War. As information related to childbirth customs is very much a private matter, the collection of such material during fieldwork in Siberia was somewhat limited due to short time and the guest status of the collectors. Women born in the 1910s–1930s who had experience of giving birth at home were more likely to share information. Siberian Estonians, who were born and raised in village communities with a rich heritage, share both personal and community experiences in their childbirth stories. Although the triumph of state medicine, with its small hospitals, had reached Siberian villages after the end of the Second World War, the initially trained medical professionals were met with mistrust and alienation. Village midwives were still respected, and villages adhered to many of the old beliefs about childbirth, as childbirth was controlled by the village community. Over time, giving birth under the supervision of hospital-trained medical staff became the norm. So, the need for village midwives has disappeared, and some of the traditions and customs associated with childbirth have been forgotten. At the same time, traditions related to the pre-pregnancy period and some childbirth stories helping to raise community awareness have remained very much alive.

Деятельность в мобилизационном режиме: агенты власти в сибирской деревне в 1929–1930-х годах

Деятельность в мобилизационном режиме: агенты власти в сибирской деревне в 1929–1930-х годах

МИГРАЦИОННЫЙ ОБМЕН КРАСНОЯРСКА И АЗИАТСКИХ РЕСПУБЛИК В 1970-е гг. В КОНТЕКСТЕ УРБАНИЗАЦИОННОЙ ДИНАМИКИ

For the Krasnoyarsk Krai the period of the 1970s became a stage of rapid economic and social development, which was called the “Krasnoyarsk Decade”. Significant funds were invested in the region’s economy, there was a need for workers, who were concentrated mainly in Krasnoyarsk. The population of the city grew at a rapid pace due to mechanical growth, its social portrait was rapidly changing. Not only residents of Siberian villages came to Krasnoyarsk, but also migrants from many republics of the USSR, including those from Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The study showed that as a result of the migration exchange, Krasnoyarsk played a transit role in the general movement of migrants from the village to the city, from small settlements to large ones, and from East to West. In this process, Krasnoyarsk constantly lost the urban population, which was replaced by the villagers. Migration exchange, to a certain extent, contributed to the development of Krasnoyarsk, as part of the migrants, mostly young ones, took root. This rejuvenated the population and contributed to an increase in natural growth. At the same time, the migration outflow, including young people and families with children, led to the loss of a significant share of not only growth, but also the dynamic potential in general. Participation in the migration movement of immigrants from the Asian republics did not change the overall picture, since the percentage of representatives of the titular ethnic groups was not large, the main role was played by the movement of the Slavic population. The constant transit of multidirectional migration flows through Krasnoyarsk, including the exchange with the Asian republics, contributed to its inclusion in the general urbanization processes, which was very important for a peripheral city. For the Asian republics, the migration exchange was more beneficial, as they retained the autochthonous population, stimulating its economic activity, received immigrants from the cities, including qualified specialists, and gave back the rural population of other cultures. Thus, migration exchange with the cities of the RSFSR, including Krasnoyarsk, was one of the stimulating factors of urbanization. Within the region, the distribution of migrants had local characteristics, but the presence of a large Slavic diaspora, as well as risk reduction, played the main role. These factors were most pronounced in Kazakhstan.

The Journal "Siberian Farmer and Gardener" as an Information Channel of Agronomic and Ecological Knowledge in the Peasant Environment in the Early 20th Century

The article presents a content analysis of the specialized agricultural magazine of the early 20th century «Siberian farmer and gardener». It is concluded that the publication has acted as an important information resource for the popularization of agronomic and agrotechnical knowledge in the peasant environment, as a platform for the presentation of the effectiveness of agricultural practices and exchange of experience. Materials of magazine articles, presented in an accessible form for peasants, touched upon all stages of the production cycle of grain farming, as well as descriptions of its risks in the natural and climatic conditions of Siberia and mechanisms to overcome them. This circumstance was facilitated by the collection of information on weather conditions in the macro-region, data on the yield of grain crops and forage grasses, etc. by the authors and the editors of the journal. It is noted that a new and seemingly exotic topic in relation to the "virgin" lands and forests of Siberia was the theme of ecology touched upon by the authors of the journal. To sum up, it is concluded that the fact of "intervention" of the printed word in the sphere of peasant farming, which traditionally was based on tradition and replication of the experience of previous worship, is evidence of modernization processes in the Siberian village.

G.D. Grebenstchikoff's Late Autofiction: Narrative Strategies in the Story "Egorkina zhizn"

As far as the genre of the last major work of G.D. Grebenstchikoff "Egorkina zhizn" is concerned, being an autobiographical material, it is a compromise of different trends – the aspiration to capture the world of the past as tangibly as possible, in all its details, and the need to establish literary communication with the reader. This challenged the author to use a number of narrative strategies – establishing an epic distance between the time and place of the events in the story, recurrent addressing the reader, and above all – various forms of socialization (generalization) of the personal, which is presented as an element of the self-contained and beautiful (seen from apart) harsh world of Siberian village, and – at the same time – as a way to shape a creative individual (the idea of vocation). The latter is manifested, in particular, in the abundance of literary parallels and comparisons, which form a conceptually significant overlap between literature and personal experience. On the one hand, Grebenstchikoff's experience in autobiographical genre contributes to the wealth of autobiographical prose of the XIX century, on the other hand, it is natural for such genre of modern literature as autofiction, the extreme popularity of which is associated both with the desire to abandon dated narrative strategies, and the ambition to re-examine the category of fiction.

Siberian peasantry during the First world war and revolution: details of a social and political portrait

The article presents an analysis of the social and political processes that took place in a Siberian village during the years of World War I and the revolution of 1917. It is noted that migration from the central regions of the country had a great influence on formation of the rural population of the region at the turn of the 19th20th centuries, and the social structure of a Siberian village was more complex than in the center, in addition to traditional ones, there were such large social groups as old-timers and settlers, who differed not only in their property status, but also in their mentality. The absence of landownership and access to the Russian and world markets after the construction of the Siberian railway ensured the intensive development of agriculture. This was facilitated by the broad development of rural cooperatives. The World War I had a dual effect on Siberian peasantry. On the one hand, mass mobilization, having deprived villages of a million workers caused an acute labor shortage in the countryside, on the other hand, the rise in prices for agricultural products contributed to enrichment of villages and accelerated its social differentiation. The attitude of the peasantry to the key events of the Russian revolution is analyzed. The process of transformations in a Siberian village from March 1917 to May 1918 has been reconstructed. The struggle of political parties for the peasant masses is shown. The activities of rural self-government bodies (committee, zemstvo, council) and peasant unions are studied. It is concluded that the Siberian peasantry, after the overthrow of the autocracy, was drawn into political processes regardless of their desire, and more often in spite of it. In the mess of changing authorities, taking a wait-and-see position, it did not participate in the struggle of the opposing sides and, regardless of whoever was in power, evaded paying taxes and other obligatory contributions. Siberian villages remained aloof from social upheavals longer than the city. It not only relied on its own material resources, but in the conditions of the weakening of power verticals, it tried to find internal regulators of social relations, which included such archaic forms as rural gatherings and lynching. Material interest remained a priority for the peasants, against which moral norms could be subject to significant adjustments. Relations with the authorities and the outside world as a whole were built on these principles. The peasantry consistently defended the economic independence that they received after the overthrow of the autocracy from any external encroachment.

TRUTHFUL DREAMS OF ANDREY ARZHILOVSKIY: FROM A 1936-1937 DIARY OF A MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH

The paper is based on the description of dreams laid down in a 1936-1937 diary of a Siberian village dweller Andrey S. Arzhilovskiy. Andrey S. Arzhilovskiy (1885-1937) was a prominent representative of peasants’ intelligentsia of the late empire period, whose interests extended beyond breadwinning: being engaged in volost paperwork, he composed articles and satire for local newspapers, recounted folk customs and rites, and occasionally kept a thoughts’ journal. For being involved in the work of a uyezd administration, he was first convicted in 1920 before being granted amnesty in 1922 and convicted for the second time in 1929, the latter sentence having led to over seven years of camp imprisonment. During this period, Arzhilovskiy has kept a diary, noting all his mundane observations, parenting turmoil, and doubts concerning a newly-established pattern of life and thought. The description of night dreams constitutes an important part of this egodocument which brought its author into scandalous limelight when it was partially published in the U.S. in 1995 and, at the same time, gave rise to the interpretation of key signs and symbols of individual and public history. Remarkably, this diary came to arise as grounds for its owner’s guilty verdict pursuant to his life ended in the NKVD confines in 1937.

Нарративы детей Сибири о депортации калмыков. Интервью с В. И. Бадмаевым и А. Н. Овшиновым

Introduction. This publication is devoted to the issues of deportation of the Kalmyk people to Siberia (1943–1956) and the memories that the individuals have of their traumatic experience of the exile period. It consists of an introduction, two interviews, and comments on them. The narratives belong to Kalmyks who were of preschool age at the time of Siberian exile. The purpose of the publication is to focus on “children of Siberia” as a separate generational stratum, with their own specific experiences and loyalties; Siberian villages, sites of their socialization, becoming their homeland. Of relevance are the facts that contribute to the mosaic of the Siberian life of Kalmyks and the stories shedding light on the feelings and experiences of children growing up in Siberia. Also, the author was interested in analyzing the expressions and verbal formulas, plots and associations that create the protagonists’ spontaneous narratives, and the ways the language of trauma, which arises in any narrative of the traumatic event, is used in the material under study. Data and methods. The interviews were taken by the author from V. I. Badmaev (2008) and from A. N. Ovshinov (2018); presented in the form of transcribed texts, these are examined via the method of discourse analysis. Results. The discursive strategies of the two narratives indicate their largely positive character. The author shows that, for their specific exile experience, the “children of Siberia” should be singled out into a separate generational stratum. The material will be of interest to the student of the Kalmyk deportation history and the people’s memory of the exile.

The Siberian Village of Okunevo as a Place of Power and its Sacred Landscape

Abstract The paper deals with contemporary places of power and New Age sacred landscapes in Russia.* It focuses on the Siberian village of Okunevo, its sacred sites, and their worshippers. Formation of this place of power was a result of the activity of individuals (both academics and adherents of new religious movements), combined with the specific interpretation of archaeological sites and the natural landscape of the area. The landscape around the village of Okunevo affects the interaction of people with the sacred loci and the ways the signs, symbols and narratives about them are created.

Practices of Public Participation in Local Self-Governance: Case Studies of Siberian Villages

—Rural local self-governance as an independent political institution in Russia shows clear signs of degradation. Its effectiveness and efficiency have noticeably decreased over time. A reduction in the powers and financial resources of local authorities leads to destructive phenomena and processes: the condition of rural infrastructure is deteriorating, and negative demographic trends are developing. The aim of the study is to assess how the self-organization of rural residents can resist these trends, and to identify and classify the forms of proactive participation of the rural population in local self-governance. Generalization of the sociological research results using the case study method in rural settlements of Novosibirsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai has made it possible to identify the main types of formal and informal practices of participation of local residents in initiating projects for landscaping, social support, and other local issues. It is concluded that insufficient efficiency on the part of local authorities, their poor provision of resources, and unpreparedness for dialogue with the population entail the emergence of informal types of participation of residents in village life. Informal practices can foster community cohesion and contribute not only to the preservation but also to development of rural settlements. The active involvement of the rural population in various forms of participation makes it possible to partially compensate for the defects of local self-governance and counteract negative trends in the sustenance of rural settlements.

Институт уполномоченных в сибирской деревне периода «Великого перелома»: роль, функции, значение

Институт уполномоченных в сибирской деревне периода «Великого перелома»: роль, функции, значение

From the Older Generation of Irkutsk Historians. Yuri Alexandrovich Petrushin: 70 Years since Birth

The article is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Professor Yu. A. Petrushin’s birth, a famous Irkutsk historian. The text includes description of the main stages of his life, including his scientific and pedagogical activity. The main directions of the scientist's research are considered in the article, such as historiography and methodology of Russian history, the history of the Siberian village and the repressive policy of the Soviet state. The main monographic works of Professor Petrushin, which include his views on the problems of the resettlement of peasants to Siberia from the center of Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century, were reviewed. The assessments made by scientist regarding collective farm construction, industrialization of industry in the 1930s and socio-economic development of the region in the Soviet period of our country's history were also in focus of the authors’ attention. The article emphasizes the role of Historical Faculty of Irkutsk State University, where Petrushin’s development as a historian took place.

SHUSHENSKOYE IN THE MEMOIRS OF POLITICAL EXILES

The article attempts to present the image of the Siberian village of Shushenskoye at the end of the XIX century, which was one of the places of political exile in the Minusinsk district of the Yenisei province, on the basis of the available documents. Decembrists, participants of the Polish uprisings, public figures, and narodniks were exiled here at various times, but they did not leave any information about Shushenskoye. The unique interesting and expressive characteristics of the appearance, life, surroundings of Shushenskoye, flora and fauna are presented in the memoirs and correspondence of the exiled social Democrats, which are collected and presented in this publication. They, to a certain extent, break the stereotypes about Shushenskoye and about the peculiarities of political exile at the end of the XIX century, which have developed in the Soviet historical literature, and indicate that political exiles served their exile here under a fairly liberal regime and a relatively comfortable life.

The Policy of Industrialization, Collectivization and Atheization on the Example of Polish Diaspora of 1930–1940 in Siberia

The article provides the overview of 20 years’ history of Polish diaspora in Siberia during the period of socio-political upheavals in the first half of XX century. The author pays special attention to reasons for Poles appearance in Siberian villages. Poles appeared in Siberia first in the nineteenth century as exiles, however, by the end of the century, representatives of different social classes, including peasants, began to resettle in Siberia on own free will. Consequently, in 1885–1914 there were already about sixty villages and hamlets on the territory of Siberia, inhabited mainly by Poles. Even though, the Soviet authorities implemented educational reform that was aimed at opening schools with the Polish language of education, including Siberian villages, between 1921 and 1924, the repatriation of Polish peasants to their historical homeland was carried out. Later on, imperious industrialization, collectivization, and atheization policies became a trigger for the beginning of mass repressions against Polish diaspora in the 1930s–40s on the territory of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and particular in Siberia.

The Siberian Village: Features and Conditions of Integrated Development

The Siberian Village: Features and Conditions of Integrated Development

Administrative organization of villages of Spassky rural settlement in the late 19th and early 29th centuries

The article discusses the formation of Siberian settlements on the example of villages of the Spassky rural settlement (the Tomsk region, Russia). The influence of the MoskovskoSibirskii Tract on the development of villages is determined by the number of houses and residents. The analysis of the villages of the Spassky rural settlement includes the history of the formation of settlements; territorial management units; volost management; volost assignment to settlements after 1861, and changes in the volost boundaries based on lists of settlements in Tomsk Gubernia at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The relevance of the study is determined by little information on the historical and cultural heritage of Tomsk villages and the problems of preserving historical rural settlements in Russia.Purpose: A study the history and development of villages in the Spassky rural settlement. Practical implications: the results obtained can be used in the implementation of design work on the prospective development of old Siberian villages. Scientific novelty: Historical study of the formation and development of settlements in the Spasskoye rural settlement, which has not been studied previously. Methodology/Approach: The critical analysis of the literature, system and structural analysis of information and creative synthesis of conclusions were used in this work. Theoretical works of historians and architects listed in the bibliographic list of this article. Research findings: The formation of villages in Siberia occurred, to a large extent, owing to immigrants from the European part of Russia, who brought their own traditions of housekeeping. The analysis of the volost distribution of the villages of the Spassky rural settlement shows that the territories inhabited by certain nationalities transformed to separate volosts and were called foreign. The growth in the number of courtyards and residents of settlements in the adjacent villages of the Tomsk Province confirmed the more intensive development of the adjacent villages.

ВОСПОМИНАНИЯ О ДЕДУШКАХ И БАБУШКАХ В СТРУКТУРЕ АВТОБИОГРАФИЧЕСКОГО РАССКАЗА (НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ РЕЧИ ЖИТЕЛЕЙ СИБИРСКИХ СЁЛ)

The article analyzes Siberian villagers’ memories about grandparents as an important element of the speech genre of the autobiographical story. The aim of the article is to describe the themes, types of genres and functions of memories about grandparents in the structure of autobiographical stories of residents of Siberian villages. The material of the research is 200 oral autobiographical stories recorded on the territory of Tomsk Oblast from the 1960s to 2020. It is determined that memories about grandparents perform genreforming, text-building, and didactic functions, as well as participate in the self-presentation and self-identification of the informants. Possible types of intra-genre and inter-genre intersections are analyzed. Memories, being an independent complex speech genre, can at the same time be a part of another genre – an autobiographical story, a story about a case. Participants of the speech genre (sender and receiver) are in certain kinship relationships (grandchildren and grandparents: grandmothers and grandfathers). The author of the text, referring to the history of their family and the experience of previous generations, realize a self-identification process, comprehending their belonging to the genus, family by various identification characteristics: nationality, education, upbringing, and others. The micro-themes of memories are revealed; they allow determining the most significant parameters that the author of the text uses for self-presentation, including oneself into the family history (place of residence, profession, features of character, etc.). Reference to the axiological dominants of the previous generation is one of the strategies of self-presentation and self-identification of the residents of the modern village. The stories of the informants serve as a means of creating an ideal image of their grandparents, who appear in memories as kind, gentle, literate, telling fairy tales, non-drinkers, long-living, having good health, hardworking, economical, clean, and able to feed, to treat, to teach, to educate. The grandparents’ role in preserving and transmitting cultural and moral values to the younger generation, in forming behavioral patterns (commandments, instructions), such as the need to work, not to steal, not to drink, and to believe in God, is great. Thus, memories of grandparents are one of the elements of the speech genre of the autobiographical story, which performs self-presentation, self-identification, didactic, text-building, and genre-forming functions. The informants recall the place of birth and residence, nationality, profession, character traits, appearance, and other characteristics of their grandparents.