Rediscovering Identity: Autobiographical Memory and Media Discourses of Russian-Germans in Germany and Russia

  • Andrei A. Linchenko Financial University Under the Government of the Russian Federation (Lipetsk Branch); Lipetsk State Technical University, Lipetsk, Russia http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6242-8844
  • Bella V. Gartwig Povolzhskiy State University of Telecommunications and Informatics, Samara, Russia; NGO "German National-Cultural Autonomy of Samara", Samara, Russia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15826/csp.2023.7.2.230

Abstract

This paper compares the processes of rediscovering identity in autobiographical memory and media discourses of Russian-Germans living in Germany and in Russia. According to R. Brubaker, the Russian-Germans are viewed as a transnational group with a specific “hybrid identity”, whose identification varies depending on the cultural project, which they are involved in. In Germany and Russia, the boundaries of this identification are the politics of memory of the host society and the dominant narratives regarding this group as repatriates (Germany) and as a diaspora with its own culture (Russia). Our analysis, which was based on the methodology of the critical discourse analysis by S. Jäger, revealed that such a dominant narrative in Germany is the “narrative of return”. In Russia, however, there are two discursive threads: the image of Russian-Germans as a repressed group and the narrative about the outstanding role of Russian-Germans in the history of Russia. The curves of autobiographical and family narratives of the three generations of Russian-Germans in Russia and Germany were analyzed and compared according to the biographical method of F. Schütze. People aged 30–50 were the most open to the influence of collective “standardized” narratives both in Germany and in Russia. Despite the fact of living in Russia, those respondents who were preparing to repatriate to Germany actively reproduced the “return narrative” and used international mnemonic frameworks to structure their autobiographical and family story. Our study showed that the influence of the discursive media environment on the autobiographical and family memory of Russian-Germans living in Germany and Russia depends on the respondent’s individual life experience (the curve of their biography), age, and some peculiarities of their family history.

Author Biographies

Andrei A. Linchenko, Financial University Under the Government of the Russian Federation (Lipetsk Branch); Lipetsk State Technical University, Lipetsk, Russia

Andrei A. Linchenko received his Cand. Sci. (History) degree from St. Petersburg University (2007). In 2013, his book The Wholeness of Historical Consciousness: An Introduction to the Study of the Problem (Tambov, 2013) was awarded a medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences as the best book of the year on philosophy. In 2018, Andrei won a DAAD-scholarship for the project “The transformation of the autobiographical memory of migrants. Life stories and memories in the migration society on the example of the Russian-German minority” (Ruhr University). Currently, he is a participant of the international project “Core Concepts of Historical Thinking” (Adam Mickiewicz University). His research interests lie in the field of studying philosophical aspects of historical culture and cultural memory studies, the transformation of historical consciousness of young people in the contemporary world, the narrative strategies of the autobiographical memory of the Russian-speaking migrants in European Union, modern Soviet mythologies in the Russian historical culture, and politics of memory. Andrei A. Linchenko is also a co-author of the books Politics of Memory and Oblivion in the European Context. Critical Perspectives (Routledge, 2022); and Image, History and Memory. Central and Eastern Europe in a Comparative Perspective (Routledge, 2022).

Bella V. Gartwig, Povolzhskiy State University of Telecommunications and Informatics, Samara, Russia; NGO "German National-Cultural Autonomy of Samara", Samara, Russia

Bella V. Gartvig received her Cand. Sci. (History) degree from Samara State University (2004). In 2011, her monograph Germans of the Volga Region: Public Education in 1918–1941 was published. Bella V. Hartwig is the author of a number of research articles on the history of Volga Germans and Russian Germans in general, the system of social education in the Soviet school as an instrument of political power, the transformation of the education system during social transformations, its place and role in the socio-political life of Russia, the role of civil society in political processes in the regions and at the international level, as well as general issues of the relationship between government and education. She is the Chairperson of the NGO "German National-Cultural Autonomy of Samara".

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Published
2023-07-03
How to Cite
Linchenko, A., & Gartwig, B. (2023). Rediscovering Identity: Autobiographical Memory and Media Discourses of Russian-Germans in Germany and Russia. Changing Societies & Personalities, 7(2), 34–54. doi:10.15826/csp.2023.7.2.230
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Vol. 7, No. 2 (2023)
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Articles