scholarly journals SOVIET PERIOD OF HISTORY AND HOLOCAUST IN ORAL HISTORY STUDIES: BETWEEN OFFICIAL AND PERSONAL MEMORY

2021 ◽  
pp. 121-138
Author(s):  
Victoria Vengerska ◽  
Oleksandr Zhukovskyi
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Social History ◽  
Social Memory ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Individual Memory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Independence Era ◽  
Historical Memories ◽  
The Mind

The aim of this paper is to examine the mechanisms of action of individual and collective memory on the features of remembering/ forgetting / interpreting complex pages of history. The use of oral historical memories has allowed to trace the level of influence of stereotypes and dominant (official) historical narratives that were formed both in the Soviet period and in the independence era. The methodological basis of the study is the tools of oral, social history and the history of everyday life. Scientific novelty. The article is written on the basis of oral historical evidence. The article focuses on the issues that break stereotypes about Jews formed during the Soviet period. The collected evidence constitutes an important source of information that explains the peculiarities of the formation of social memory and political factors that determine the agenda of historical policy in a given period.  Conclusions. The article considers several blocks of problems that reflect the most typical stereotypes, fixed at the level of consciousness, behavioral attitudes, partially presented (or omitted) facts from history, which to some extent destroy them. The memoirs used in the article, which were collected in the framework of the project "Voices" in 2020 in Zhytomyr region (in which the author has participated), reflect the similarity of general ideas, assessments, tone, and memory stereotypes about anti-Semitism, the legitimacy of the Holodomor’s status of the genocide directed exclusively against ethnic Ukrainians, the role and place of Jews in the victory over Nazism, the peculiarities of evacuation, and the issues of preserving and honoring the memory of those killed during the Holocaust. At the same time, those memoirs demonstrate the differences between collective and individual memory, which preserves plots that to some extent destroy stereotypical attitudes that have long been ingrained in the mind and, accordingly, influenced the formation of social memory. The analysis of the interviews shows that oral history has significant source potential for studying various issues and sections of Soviet and modern history that await their researchers.

scholarly journals PROFESSIONAL REFLECTION OF THE HISTORIAN AND THE CANON OF SCIENTIFIC AND QUALIFICATION RESEARCH IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN SCIENCE

2020 ◽  
pp. 67-75
Author(s):  
O. B. Leontieva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Russian Science ◽  
Social Mission ◽  
Russian State ◽  
History Of ◽  
State Library ◽  
Doctoral Dissertations ◽  
The Impact

The article is devoted to the problem of the impact of the “historiographic revolution” occurred at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries to the dissertation culture of contemporary Russian historians. The study is based on the full-text collection “Electronic library of dissertations of the Russian State Library”, an online resource. On the example of doctoral dissertations on Russian history defended in 2015–2019, the author examines the priorities of Russian historians in choosing problematics and chronological framework of scholarly works, analyzes theoretical and methodological foundations of their studies as well as their ideas about the social mission of history. She proves that most authors of doctoral dissertations choose the post-reform or Soviet period of Russian history for study, and highlights two blocks of priority topics: the history of state policy and governance, and social history. An analysis of the methodology of dissertations (scientific and qualification works) led to the conclusion that the nature of Russian historical science has changed as a result of an anthropological turn, which allows us to take a fresh look at the problems of political, economic and social history. Historians are increasingly setting the task of understanding people of the past in the whole variety of their mental structures, social connections, strategies and practices, both in everyday situations and in extreme conditions. But in practice, writing a dissertation requires not only a high degree of professional reflection, but also the ability to fulfil the formal requirements for scientific and qualification work: original ideas are sometimes difficult to fit into template, clichéd formulations that have become generally accepted in the scholarly community

scholarly journals Scientific-technical revolution — important lessons of unimportant concept

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-325
Author(s):  
Lada V. Shipovalova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Technological Transformation ◽  
Relevant Today ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scientific Technical ◽  
Critical Theory Of Technology ◽  
Lay Experts ◽  
Technical Revolution

This paper focuses on the concept of the scientific-technical revolution. This concept is relevant today most of all in the context of historiographic studies of the Soviet period or the reflection of contemporary technological transformation from the Marxist position. The article demonstrates its relevance in the context of important contemporary issues. For a conceptual framework, the author uses the works on the social history of science by J. D. Bernal, the contemporary studies of science, technology and society, and the critical theory of technology, which seeks to integrate the philosophy of science and technology into topical socio-political discussions. The author reveals the concept of the scientific-technical revolution as describing the radical transformations taking place since the beginning of the 20 th century in science, society, and technology. These transformations manifest the essential social and technological character of science and its previously hidden contradiction. The social character of science involves an increasing number of participants of these transformations, but the technological character leaves them passive objects of the efficiency requirements. However, the scientific-technical revolution offers a lesson in overcoming this contradiction, creating conditions for the activity of various participants — scientists, nature, lay experts, and technologies themselves. The emphasis on the radical revolutionary changes that have occurred with science allows us to keep in the spotlight the foundations of modern problems and how to solve them.

scholarly journals Psychiatry in Vilnius in 16th–20th Centuries: Review on Social Transformations

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 246-262
Author(s):  
Aistis Žalnora
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Analysis ◽  
Main Tendency ◽  
The 19Th Century

There issue of Psychiatry in Vilnius is unexplored field especially in a terms of its social aspects. Most of the former papers devoted to psychiatry in Vilnius were written in descriptive manner or they were uncritical case studies of one or another hospital. One of the first successful studies that was constructed by using modern methodology was a monograph of Dr. Tomas Vaisėta that described a social features of Vilnius psychiatry. However, the study is devoted to a late period – Soviet psychiatry only. Therefore the modern analysis of earlier periods and other Vilnius hospitals was still missing. In our article, we set us a goal, namely, to find the most important features, the so‑called paradigm fractures in the social history of Vilnius psychiatry. The main tendency which should be emphasized was uneven development of Vilnius psychiatry, especially in a terms of attitude towards the patient. In most cases that could be interpreted in a light of a broader Global context. In Vilnius hospitals just like in other countries mentally ill were discriminated because of their unclear social and economic status. In the earliest period the mentally ill as an outcast of society is being locked in a jail‑like mental hospitals or fall into complete favor of the monastery hospices. The 19th century positivism at least theoretically brought humane paradigm to Lithuanian psychiatry. However, because of the limited medical measures as well as economic reasons the later period was marked by the realism or even negativism of semi‑modern interwar psychiatry. Mentally ill again falls into a status of outcast or a burden to the society. The question of responsibility towards mentally ill is avoided by the community as well as by state. Nevertheless, some original solutions were found in Vilnius district. The mentally ill were employed in local farms that at‑least partly solved the issues of economic burden. Moreover, there were some more tendencies that do not fit in the global narrative. Despite the technical advance in treatment that gradually enabled the psychiatrists to help the patient, in the Soviet period we observe the opposite tendency that was to restrain and harm the mentally ill patient. In many cases even totally healthy people were misdiagnosed to be mentally ill and received harsh chemical treatment and isolation because of their personal criticism towards totalitarian Soviet system.

DECOLONIZATION BY REFERENDUM: THE ANOMALY OF NIGER AND THE FALL OF SAWABA, 1958–1959

2009 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
KLAAS VAN WALRAVEN
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Fifth Republic ◽  
Nationalist Movements ◽  
History Of ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Independence Era ◽  
Sphere Of Influence

ABSTRACTThis article deals with the 1958 referendum that the French held in Niger to gain approval for the Fifth Republic and reorganization of their empire. It reassesses the French record in Niger, where more people voted ‘No’ – in favour of immediate independence – than in other territories, except Guinea. It does this on the basis of research on the history of the Sawaba movement, which led Niger's autonomous government until the plebisicite. It shows that the French forcibly intervened in the referendum to realize a ‘Yes’ vote and preserve Niger for their sphere of influence after independence in 1960. In detailing the violence and manipulation of the referendum and its aftermath, the article criticizes a revisionist viewpoint which disputed the significance of French intervention. The analysis draws on research on the Sawaba movement, benefiting from insights of social history into the grassroots forces in the nationalist movements of the 1950s. It discusses the historiography of Niger's referendum in relation to new archival sources and memoirs, drawing parallels with other territories, notably Guinea. It concludes that France's interventions in 1958 are crucial for understanding the long-term consequences of the transformations of the independence era.

scholarly journals Hungarian Women’s Holocaust Life Writing in the Context of the Nation’s Divided Social Memory, 1944-2014

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 54-81
Author(s):  
Louise O. Vasvári
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Intergenerational Transmission ◽  
Social Memory ◽  
Concentration Camp ◽  
Traumatic Memory ◽  
Mothers And Daughters ◽  
Child Survivors ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
History Of ◽  
Holocaust Narratives

In this paper, in commemoration of the seventieth anniversary year of 1944 in Hungary, I explore selected women’s Holocaust diaries, memoirs, letters, and other less studied documents, such as recipe books, all written during the war, which can provide invaluable resources for understanding the experiences of the victims of war, by personalizing the events and helping to write the obscure into history. At the same time, such documents allow historical voices of the period to provide testimony in the context of the divided social memory of the Holocaust in Hungary today.  I will first discuss several Hungarian diaries and “immediate memoirs” written right after liberation, among others, that of Éva Heyman who began writing her diary in 1944 on her thirteenth birthday and wrote until two days before her deportation to Auschwitz, where she perished. I will then discuss two recently published volumes, the Szakácskönyv a túlélélésért (2013), which contains the collected recipes that five Hungarian women wrote in a concentration camp in Austria, along with an oral history of the life of Hedwig Weiss, who redacted the collection. Finally, I will refer to the postmemory anthology, Lányok és anyák. Elmeséletlen történetek [‘Mothers and Daughters: Untold Stories’] (2013), where thirty five Hungarian women, some themselves child survivors, others daughters of survivors, write Holocaust narratives in which their mothers’ lives become the intersubject in their own autobiographies, underscoring the risks of intergenerational transmission, where traumatic memory can be transmitted (or silenced) to be repeated and reenacted, rather than worked through.

scholarly journals RUSSIA’S FAMINE AND EPIDEMICS HISTORY IN RUSSIA: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL SITUATION

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-13
Author(s):  
Viktor V. Kondrashin ◽  
◽  
Gennady E. Kornilov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Regional Aspect ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Occupied Territories ◽  
History Of

The article is devoted to the analysis of Russian and foreign historiography of the problem of famine and epidemics in Russia’s history. It notes the undoubted success of Russian and foreign scholars in the study of famine in Russia, especially in the Soviet period. Turning to the theme of the 1932–1933 famine in the USSR, the authors conclude that the assessments of its causes, scales and consequences in the works of Russian and the most authoritative foreign researchers coincide. The article points to the achievements of Russian and foreign historians in the study of the famine of 1891–1892, as well as the period of the Great Patriotic War. In the latter case, studying the history of the Leningrad blockade and the Nazi policy of organizing famine in the occupied territories of the USSR is meant. The article also analyzes the results of the study of epidemics in the history of Russia. Knowledge has been accumulated about the largest epidemics, the government’s measures to combat and prevent them. At the same time, epidemics and their threats in the second half of the 20th century have been poorly studied. The problem is not being actively investigated within the framework of an interdisciplinary approach and social history. The authors of the article point to the need to create a generalizing work on Russia’s famine and epidemics history using an interdisciplinary approach and with an emphasis on the regional aspect of the problem.

scholarly journals Families and the 1951 New Zealand waterfront lockout

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Grace Millar
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Social History ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
The Family ◽  
Material State ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Historical Accounts

<p>From February to July 1951, 8,000 New Zealand watersider workers were locked-out and 7,000 miners, seamen and freezing workers went on strike in support. These workers and those who were dependent on their income, had to survive without wages for five months. The dispute was a family event as well as an industrial event. The men were fathers, husbands, brothers and sons, and their lack of wages affected the family that they lived with and their wider kin networks. The thesis examines families in order to write a gendered social history of the 1951 waterfront dispute.  The discussion starts by exploring the relationship between waterfront work and watersiders' families before the lockout. Then it turns to examine the material support that families received and the survival strategies used during the dispute. It examines the decisions union branches made about relief and other activities through the lens of gender and explores the implications of those decisions for family members. The subsequent chapters examine the dispute's end and long-term costs on families. The study draws on a mixture of union material, state archives and oral sources. The defeat of the union has meant that union material has largely survived in personal collections, but the state's active involvement in the dispute generated significant records. The oral history of 1951 is rich; this thesis draws on over fifty existing oral history interviews with people involved in the dispute, and twenty interviews completed for this project.  The thesis both complicates and confirms existing understandings of 1950s New Zealand. It complicates the idea of a prosperous conformist society, while confirming and deepening our understanding of the role of the family and gender relationships in the period. It argues that union branches put considerable effort into maintaining the gender order during the dispute and set up relief as a simulacrum of the breadwinner wage. Centring workers' families opens the dispute outwards to the communities they were part of. Compared to previous historical accounts, the thesis describes a messier and less contained 1951 waterfront dispute. This study shows that homes were a site of the dispute. The domestic work of ensuring that a family managed without wages was largely women's and was as much part of the dispute as collective union work, which was often organised to exclude women. The thesis argues that homes and families were the sharp edges of the 1951 waterfront dispute, the site of both its costs and crises.</p>

Women in science: Breaking out of the circle

1992 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-182 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social History ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Women In Science ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Secondary Sexual Characteristics ◽  
Sexual Characteristics ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Mind

Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie, Women in science, antiquity through the nineteenth century . Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1986. Pp. xi 4- 254, £24.75. ISBN 0-262-15031-X Margaret Alic, Hypatia's heritage: a history of women in science from antiquity to the late nineteenth century . London: The Women’s Press, 1986. Pp. ix + 230, £4.95. ISBN 0-7043-3954-4 Londa Schiebinger, The mind has no sex? Women in the origins of modem science . Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1989. Pp. xi + 355, £23.50. ISBN 0-674-57623-3 Patricia Phillips, The scientific lady: a social history of woman's scientific interests 1520-1918 . London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990. Pp. xiii + 279, £25.00. ISBN 0-297-82043-5 Uneasy careers and intimate lives: women in science, 1789-1979 . Edited by Pnina G. Abir-Am & Dorinda Outram. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987. Pp. xiii + 365, £11.00. ISBN 0-8135-1255-7 Women of science: righting the record . Edited by G. Kass-Simon & Patricia Fames. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1990. Pp. xvi + 398, $39.95. ISBN 0-253-33264-8 Not long ago women were largely absent from the histories of science, even from social histories of science. With the 1960s came the questions: where were the women? how to do them justice? were there so few? why so few? Several books have now addressed these difficult questions. Charles Darwin gave an answer to the last question, by including ‘the intellectual powers of the sexes’ with the secondary sexual characteristics discussed in The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex .

scholarly journals “Guerrillas Don't Die Easily”: Everyday Life in Wartime and the Guerrilla Myth in the National Resistance Army in Uganda, 1981–1986

2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Schubert
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Social History ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Central Focus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
The Government ◽  
Wartime Experience

This article examines the civil war in central Uganda between guerrillas of the National Resistance Army and the government of Milton Obote between 1981 and 1986. Its central focus is the wartime experience of guerrilla fighters – men, women, and children. The material for the article has been collected through interviews with participants about their experiences. The interview partners described their motives and expectations as guerrillas as well as their perception of the reality of war “in the bush”. Their narratives differ from the victorious guerrilla's official history of the war and the guerrilla myth cultivated in that history, as they lack the subsequent certainty of victory and emphasize the fighters' disappointments and suffering. In this way, the method of oral history provides important points of departure for a social history of this war and allows us, at the same time, to differentiate and correct our current understanding of it in significant ways.

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