A Mordovian settlement as a site and community of historical memory: collective narratives and representations

Introduction. The article summarizes the results of a study social practices and narratives commemoration victims mass political repression in village Kruglyi (the Republic Mordovia) that was established as permanent settlement period collectivization. Materials Methods. theoretical framework consists theories “memory sites” collective trauma. method collecting empirical data corresponded to case study, including observation, in-depth interviews discourse analysis media publications. were analyzed using methods thick ethnographic description narrative analysis. Results Discussion. reviews context local commemoration; identifies main stages creating “place memory” by constructing self-made monument stained oak with memorial plaque, its subsequent mediatization. authors analyze discourses memory material aspects regional, identify national international mnemonic actors, acting agents process cultural They reveal interpret content competing victimization devictimization community. Conclusion. Based on obtained course fieldwork, deconstruct history two different models description. conclude these are conditioned various commemorating trauma: one is “therapeutic”, focused more deprivation loss group identity; another “macrohistoric”, or other words based interpreting trauma an aspect transformation seen containing prerequisites for working out.