[Discussion] New book: Elza-Bair Guchinova: Memories of the Forgotten: Anthropology of the Deportation Trauma of the Kalmyks (The ibidem Paperback Series; 2005)
gonul@pultar.org
gonul@pultar.org
Wed, 14 Sep 2005 08:06:51 +0300
From: "Serguei Alex. Oushakine" <sao15@columbia.edu>
Elza-Bair Guchinova
Memories of the Forgotten: Anthropology of the Deportation Trauma of the
Kalmyks
With a Foreword by Caroline Humphrey
The ibidem Paperback Series
Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics & Society
http://www.ibidem-verlag.de/r1l.html
Edited by Dr Andreas Umland.
Published by ibidem, Stuttgart
Abstract in English for www.buchhandel.de
This study deals with the anthropology of the deportation trauma as experienced
by the Kalmyks (1943-1956) and how it affects national identification. It shows
the stigmatisation of Kalmyk identity in the years of deportation and response
of the ethnic group to deprivation. The ever changing discourse of the Kalmyk
issue, and political use of the trauma also receive attention.
The study is innovative in Russian anthropology as it is the first
anthropological study of the Kalmyk deportation as well as of the consequences
of the trauma, and as it provides comparative insight by making use of similar
experience of deprivation of other ethnic groups. The monograph contains a
valuable corps of sources, especially oral, including analyses of folk songs and
oral narratives. The novelty of the study also lies in that it applies gender
methodology to the analysis of adaptation of men and women to extreme conditions
of life and considers gender-specific differences in mechanisms of memory,
recollection and oral narration. The monograph closes a gap in the study of
collective and individual strategies of survival in conditions of deportation in
Siberia and Central Asia. It demonstrates the existence of stigmatised ethnicity
in the USSR.
Among the conclusions the author arrives are that the Buddhist tradition played
an important role in the way historic trauma was perceived by the Kalmyks, and
that there was a factor of phenotypic difference leading Kalmyks in extreme
conditions to strive to �dissolve� in the social environment using
every chance to prove loyalty to the state. This left little chance for specific
Kalmyk cultural features to resurge outside the home sphere. There is evidence
that the trauma is something most Kalmyks have overcome. Its still deliberate
accentuation appears to be pragmatically aimed into the future.
===============================================================
The ibidem Paperback Series
Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics & Society
http://www.ibidem-verlag.de/r1l.html
Edited by Dr Andreas Umland.
Published by ibidem, Stuttgart
The goal of this new book series by ibidem Publishers (Stuttgart & Hannover,
Germany) is to make available to the academic community and general public
affordable Russian-, English- and German-language scholarly studies of par-
ticular empirical aspects of the recent history and current affairs of the
former Soviet bloc. The rationale for such an undertaking is twofold:
First, many important aspects of the transformation of the former Warsaw Pact
states have not been systematically analyzed, while others have been completely
overlooked in published scholarly books. Frequently, these same issues are the
subjects of rigorous theses and other unpublished manuscripts. Many such
studies, by their choice of topic alone, constitute original contributions
which in spite of their high quality remain buried in archives or university
libraries.
This book series intends to provide especially young scholars, writing in
German, English or Russian, an opportunity to present their new empirical
research on understudied aspects of the post-Soviet transition. While
comparison, theorizing and classification should not and cannot be absent from
such studies, the emphasis of this series lies on identifying themes that have
remained below the radar screen of mainstream international research or are so
recent that no major published studies have addressed them yet. Other series in
the book publishing industry, sometimes, tend to prefer covering topics that
have already been comprehensively documented in the literature. The present
enterprise, in contrast, focuses on issues that are still
�non-subjects� in academic research whether because of their
previous �marginality� or their current novelty. Its concern is
not how marketable the book might currently be, but whether it can make a
substantial addition to our empirical knowledge of post-Soviet affairs.
A second, not less important rationale of the series concerns historical
writing and social theorizing on late Tsarist and Soviet Russia as well as her
inner and outer empires from 1905 to 1989. As the Russians say, their country
has not only an unknown future, but also an �unpredictable past.�
Because the free flow of information, politically dangerous research, open
scholarly debate and meaningful international exchange (especially in the social
sciences) had
all been so severely repressed during the Soviet period, there remain many blank
spots in the social and cultural history of the late Tsarist and Soviet empires.
In addition, the Cold War introduced a number of ideological biases in Western
research on Soviet politics and society that still need to be corrected.
A different aim of this paperback series is to provide scholars with an
opportunity to re-publish studies that have already been made available to the
public, in some form. A re-publication of previously printed material might be
useful in the case that these studies:
(a) are out of print or hard to find, yet still topical and/or in demand,
(b) have so far been only published either as expensive hardbacks, or as
volumes without an ISBN,
(c) have already been professionally translated into, but not yet published
in, English, German, and Russian,
(d) have been substantially revised and thus add new contributions, or
(e) have appeared as three or more scholarly working-papers or journal-
articles which, if taken together, could make up a good book.
Should one or more of the above conditions apply, authors may inquire with
their previous publisher about reprint rights. If an agreement can be reached,
the current series of paperbacks might offer authors an opportunity to make
their research, at a reasonable price, accessible to students, colleagues and
the public for at least five years-?ibidem publisher's minimum period of
guaranteed availability of its books.
Copies of all books published in the series will be automatically sent to
the journals Osteuropa (http://osteuropa.dgo-online.org/frame.html),
Österreichische Osthefte (http://www.osi.ac.at/ostheft.htm), Europe-Asia
Studies (http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/09668136.asp), The Slavonic and
East European Review (http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Journals/seer.html),
and Slavic Review (http://www.econ.uiuc.edu/slavrev/frames.html) for listing in
the journals� �Books Received� sections and possible
review.
Please contact the series editor or publisher if you wish your monograph,
thesis or volume of collected papers/documents to be considered for possible
publication in this series. Usually, young scholars will be asked to provide a
letter of evaluation from their supervisor, thesis examiner, or another
established academic who is a specialist in the field, knows the submitted
manuscript well, and recommends it for publication. If appropriate, such a
letter may be used as a foreword to the book.
Once their manuscript is, in principal, accepted for publication,
authors/editors will be asked to produce, according to detailed instructions, a
camera-ready master-copy for the printing of the book of, usually, no less than
140 and no more than 250 pages. The authors and editors are themselves fully
responsible for the linguistic and stylistic quality of their manuscripts which
will have to be adequately designed according to academic standards. The final
formatting of the manuscript (page numbers, header, footer, fonts, headings,
footnote-design, etc.) and transformation into PostScript or PDF may be done
either by the authors/editors themselves, or by the publisher. In the latter
case, the authors will be charged a moderate fee for technical assistance (per
page). Authors/editors will receive two free copies of their book.
Unfortunately, no free extra copies for contributors to collected volumes can be
provided. However, all authors or editors may order copies for a special price
from the publisher.
Andreas Umland, umland@stanfordalumni.org
Christian Schön, ibidem@ibidem-verlag.de
AnthEurasia-L mailing list
AnthEurasia-L@lists.fas.harvard.edu