Constituent Narratives of Local Historical Memory of Residents of Siberia Regions: Between Personal and Public

10.33876/2311-0546/2024-1/7-20

Abstract

The article examines the narratives of local historical self-identification of residents of the Siberian regions of Russia. The main objective of the study was to search for specific ideas, not related to the typical historical myths of the Russian periphery, through which Siberians construct their own social identity. The information base for the study was the results of focus groups conducted in 9 cities of Siberia and the Urals: Perm, Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Kemerovo, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk. It was revealed that the local historical self-identification of Siberians is based on the perceived uncritically typical heroic narrative of the Russian periphery, associated with its development by representatives of the “country,” which is understood as the central government. Among the narratives of local historical memory, narrow local subjects associated with specific territories dominate - from the construction of a bridge across the Ob in Novosibirsk to the development of the coal industry in Kuzbass. Common myths are the narratives of the heroic “development of Siberia” from Ermak to Soviet industrial construction projects. In this form, the identified set of historical myths has a clearly Moscow-centric character and cannot serve as a basis for constructing local identity. However, as soon as the peripheral national narrative comes into conflict with the personal or family experiences of respondents, it corrodes. This leads to a critical understanding of the constitutive narratives of local historical self-identification.