Research project. Memory as a Cultural Factor in the Biographical Narratives of the Estonians
Elle Vunder, Terje Anepaio, Ene Kõresaar
The Estonian Science Foundation Grant
Duration of the project: 1998-2001
General theoretical background
Memory is not a personal possession of an individual but is "given" by the social context. Memory is a structure of knowledge; social and cultural life (statehood, law, moral, everyday life, art, etc.) is based on it. It expresses itself through such central principles as will, justice, justification, creativity, etc.
In the modern empirical and theoretical studies of memory the term of "collective memory" occupies a key position. This term has been understood broader as a way of thinking, a form of mentality. Modern studies are focused on the treatment of the past by the contemporary society. They deal with the cultural aspects of that treatment in time, space and social context and not so much on the historical past itself. Therefore, the empirical and methodological results provided by the modern studies on migration, identity and gender as well as on the reception of contemporary history serve as an useful comparative material for this project (L. Passerini, S. Leyesdorff, P. Thompson, D. Bertaux, A. v. Plato, L. Niethammer, H. Bausinger, A. Lehmann, J. Frykman, U. Neisser, S. A. Taylor, E. Tonkin, etc.).
Ethnologists are concerned with the mechanisms of memory that are essential for the social and cultural identity by individual or group; on this basis they draw conclusions on culture itself. Considering "culture" as a system of signs, knowledge, and rules, one can assume that the "cultural knowledge", growing up from this understanding, provides a basis to (re)construct, by the carriers of a certain culture, the realities of the past from the present point of view. Social interrelations are forming the memory. Without those interrelations the memory can not find its output. "Collective memory" is understood heuristically as a communicative as well as a creative production of the collective time-experience. It preserves in the form of social and cultural inheritage (tradition) the materialized and symbolic points for the construction of the common pasts.
In this way the social memories receive a collective meaning. On the one hand, the common (re)constructions of the past have a reproductive character, i.e. the cultural components of the social and individual practice are maintained by them and have stabilizing influence on the orientations, rules and norms of cultural practices. On the other hand, they can be innovative, i.e. destructing the continuity of cultural life, and creating new expectations to the past, present and future.
"Collective memory" reveals itself through objectivations. An important characteristic of the collective memory is also its actualisation on the level of individuals. Each individual memory is formed in communication with others, and, in fact, is a part of multiple collective memories. Writing up and narrating one's own experiences and life-stories is a way of objectivation of memory on the individual level. It is not possible, speaking about your own life, to neglect changes taken place in the society and culture. Human life has been shaped by different dimensions: time, space, social milieu. Those dimensions create categories that help to understand the basic forces having impact upon a course of the life. Transitional moments signify the great changes that an individual faces. Moreover, those moments mark the limits of different periods (structures) of life. Through them diverge social, cultural and historical situations are expressed. In this way, life of an individual becomes a social fact that allows to interpret the hidden levels of life. It also allows to comprehend the structures of thinking and meaning of the particular carriers of culture as well as the social, cultural and historical factors that have exercised impact upon them.
The contemporary Estonian society is in transition, a situation of deepening social differences and manifold conflicts is present there. There are apparent controversies of values, orientations and norms between different social groups, generations, and also Estonians living in Estonia and in diaspora. Ethnological science, therefore, makes efforts to analyse and explain the occurrences and processes present in the society. Quite a lot of facts, attitudes etc., have to be explained taking into consideration that their roots lay in the near past, in the personal experiences. The process of forming attitudes and activities is taking place through the interpretation of the past. The emphasis is put on the analysis of the results of the historical events with the enormous and long lasting influence (the Soviet occupation, the Second World War). As a result of those events, Estonians were separated into the two different social and political systems. Those events have an especially strong impact upon a generation which grew up and was educated in the Republic of Estonia (1918-40). A large number of them escaped to the West, another part remained in Estonia and suffered considerably due to the Soviet repressions. The difference in the social and political context of the following decades has influenced a selective aspect of their memory in divergent directions, certain episodes have crystallized, others have transformed. Nowadays we face the situation of re-establishment of communication between individuals with deeply dissimilar ideological, social and political background. In this light, it is becoming clear that there are significant diversities in the attitudes and values even among the representatives of the above-mentioned generation. These realities have provoked a discussion in the mass media and have led to the polemical question - can we consider the culture of the Estonian emigrants as "Estonian" at all, or how to define the common part of the Estonian cultures in homeland and abroad. It is necessary, in our opinion, to take this problem under comprehensive scientific investigation. Our approach is to focus on the level of individuals, the "memory" is used as an analytical tool. The groups of individuals under consideration include two communities in exile (Sweden and Switzerland) and the representatives of the victims of Soviet repressions (1941-53) from the beforementioned generation.
The problem and approach described above can be considered as quite unique, there are no fully relevant researches available. Needless to say, because of the isolation and ideological pressure there are almost no research made on the post-war Estonian society in Estonian ethnology and anthropology. Some work has been done by the historians (e.g. Romuald J. Misiunas, Rein Taagepera, "The Baltic States: Years of Dependence 1940-1990", London: Hurst 1983; updat. ed. London: Hurst 1993) which has a supporting value for this research. Till today Soviet Estonian society has been treated as an homogeneous one, a significant part of the society (the victims of the repressions) has been neglected. Historian A. Rahi has started to deal with that topic more profoundly in the last few years.
Estonian communities abroad have been studied mainly from the statistical, historical-geographical or organisational aspects (V. Raag, R. Piirvee, P. Lindsaar, I. Jürjo, E. Soom, A. Kurlents, H. Kulu, I. Arens, etc.). These works are used as secondary literature. Written data published by the emigrants can be used as comparative material.
The Estonian Biography-Researchers' Society Estonian Life Stories (ÜEE, Estonia) has done considerable work in collecting and publishing the biographical narratives of Estonians; close co-operation with the Society is proposed by the authors. In addition, the authors are participating in the work of the Centre of the Soviet Studies in Estonia which co-ordinates the relevant studies in social sciences and humanities.
Main goals of the research
The main goal of this project is to research the role of memory in the Estonian culture in the second half of the 20th century. For that reason we compare "cultural baggage" of different groups of the Estonians on the level of individuals with the help of their biographical narratives. There is an attempt to determine, on the one hand, the common components of culture that bind an individual with a certain group and serve as a basis for the forming of identity; on the other hand, the task is to find out differences that appear in the case of confrontation with the other groups.
Using the term of "memory" as an analytical means provides a possibility to study the temporal dimensions of identity-forming, and furthermore, their connections with a space and social context.
Our study is concerned with the following problems:
How far back to the past the informants are looking in order to explain and interpret their choices, attitudes and crucial moments of personal life;
which place do the historical events occupy in the personal biographies; how to characterize the reception of these events in the circle of persons close to the informant, and in which circumstances does it take shape;
what kind of memories have a collective role, in which variants do they occur, and in which conditions do they form;
how do the social and political contradictions of the contemporary history transform into the cultural ones in the biographies.
Taking into account the retrospective character of the memory, one task of the analysis is to determine the role of memories, both individual and collective ones, in the forming of attitudes and opinions towards the present Estonian society, the decision-making process of certain individuals, and the dependence of that process on the (non-)achieved social status and gender.
Working out the relevant methodology and basic principles of the source critique for the further research is a significant aim of that project as well.
Methodology and preparatory work completed by now
The following methods of data gathering have to be exploited in this research: the structured and non-structured interviews (biographies), participating observation, visual recording. The biographical narratives from the Estonian museums (Estonian National Museum, Estonian Literary Museum) and public organisations and societies ("Memento", the Memory-Centre of Pirgu) provide the additional sources and comparative data. The documents from the archives are important in investigating a social and political context (Estonian State Archive, county archives, the archives of the Estonian societies in Switzerland and Sweden).
The object of the formal and content analysis is the (written) text which will be the result of the interviews. The main method applied is qualitative text analysis. Particular attention is paid to the social situation that appears in the course of the interviews and on the recording of that. The written and oral forms of the same biographies are treated comparatively, if it is possible, in order to specify the features of the mechanisms of memory on the individual level.
As a primary source, the research team has at its possession the biographical interviews with Estonians in Switzerland (from 1988/89, 1996/97) and the proposed selection of informants based on the documents of the Supreme Court of Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (on the victims of Soviet repressions).
People and institutions participating in the project
The project is carried on at the Chair of Ethnology of the Tartu University.
Project leader: Prof. Elle Vunder, PhD, the Chair of Ethnology.
Senior personnel: Terje Anepaio, MA, researcher of the Institute of History, PhD student at the University of Tartu; Ene Kõresaar, MA, lecturer at the Chair of Ethnology, PhD student at the University of Tartu.
Assistant staff: students and MA students of ethnology at the University of Tartu; Aive Zirk (literation), student.
Publications and use of the study results
The current results will be presented in the seminars of the Estonian Biography-Researchers' Society Estonian Life Stories and the S-Centre. The articles written in the course of the study are planned to publish in the Estonian and international journals. Conference on relevant topics is in schedule, with consequent publications which would be based on the presented reports and discussions, in order to reveal the present state of research in this field. The results of the surveys as well as the sources supplied with annotations and commentaries will be published.
The database, put together in the course of the project, will be given to the Estonian Literary Museum and joined with particular fonds of the Estonian Biography-Researchers' Society Estonian Life Stories. As a result, the researches of different fields will have access to this database. The current and final results will be used in the process of teaching at the Chair of Ethnology (preparation of cources, supervision of undergraduate seminars).
Novelty and significance of the research
In the perspective of the Estonian ethnology science, the approach that focuses on the individual, exercising the biographical narratives as a source and method, and making use of the term of "memory" as an active cultural factor have to be considered as novelties. The methodological aspects as well as critical approach to the sources make this project useful for wider circle of scholars.
It has to be underlined that this research provides a scientific analysis of the problems under deep interest of the Estonian society. The project has its role in gathering and preserving data about the late history of the Estonians in the world.
In the international context of science, the project leads to more profound understanding of common and specific features of the cultural processes in the Estonian society.
In the long term this project has great potential providing good opportunities for the research and study of the undergraduate students.
aadse kirjutise põhjal midagi üldisemat, esitaksin selle järgnevalt: Jyväskylä on end lahti rebimas kõigest senisest, Turu otsib uusi teid, kuid tunnustab ka minevikus tehtut, Helsingi on tugevalt kinni minevikus.
Loetu tegi mind heas mõttes kadedaks: ka meil Eestis võiksid erinevad seisukohad rohkem ilmavalgust näha. Selles mõttes oli värskendav näiteks Heiki Pärdi ja Ants Viirese väitlus 1998. aasta veebruari- ja juunikuu "Akadeemia" lehekülgedel. Muidu näib eesti etnoloogia pealtvaates liigagi ühtne. Ehk on siin oma mõju meile loomuomasel vaoshoitusel, mida tänapäeva Eestis võimendab kartus niigi kitsaks jäänud erialainimeste ametlikus ringis ebameeldivatesse konfliktidesse sattuda, sest paraku kiputakse erialast vastandumist või kriitikat ikka isiklikule tasapinnale üle kandma.
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