The living and the dead: communication options within the Russian family

Abstract (English)

The social upheavals of the twentieth century, which were marked by mass fatalities encompassing not only military personnel but also ordinary citizens and marginalized groups, profoundly reshaped how Russians ritualize and confront the loss of family members. Families encountered significant challenges in acquiring information regarding the fate and burial sites of their arrested relatives. A. Etkind (2016) and A. Sokolova (2022) explore the dynamics of grief and loss within the framework of an "unfulfilled" funeral ritual and the ambiguous socio-political status of ancestors. S. Mokhov has made substantial contributions to the ethnographical study of "Russian death" in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (2018) and his project, “The Archaeology of Russian Death: Death Studies Journal.”

Our research, grounded in autobiographical narratives, centers on specific dimensions of communication among family members and across generations concerning deceased ancestors, particularly in contexts complicated by social stigma and/or relational challenges. We conceptualize the family as a collective entity functioning within institutional frameworks (such as archives) and within the milieu of traditional cultural practices (including family stories and dreams of deceased relatives), as well as within a media environment shaped by the digitalization of commemorative rituals.

We present two methodologies for engaging with autobiographical narratives concerning the death of loved ones: social anthropology and folklore. Our study emphasizes family stories, which play a crucial role in the process of re-establishing a person's emotional connection with their deceased ancestors. This process emerges from a pervasive sense of "incompleteness," where the endeavors of "family historians" persist within the archives of special services that house records of incarcerated individuals (Gramatchikova, Zevako 2024).

The folklore-anthropological perspective elucidates the significance of the "family unit," the continuity of which is affirmed by living generations. Our proprietary archive includes narratives about dreams, including those featuring deceased relatives. When juxtaposed with folklore genres such as "tales of the dead" and others (Alekseevsky 2015) it becomes evident that in dreams, the departed continue to occupy a position within the family network. Dreams provide a distinct experience wherein the dreamer relinquishes their sense of authorship, while the characters within the dream acquire a sense of autonomy and subjectivity.

Significance: This study is informed by recent fieldwork and incorporates recordings of interviews and narratives from individuals across various generations (over 100 in total). We contend that the complexities surrounding the deaths of loved ones, the institutionalized pursuit of information about their fates, and the dichotomy between formal investigations and informal modes of communication across living and dead infuse our research with a sense of novelty.