Between Trauma and Oblivion: Actualizing the Historical Memory of the West Siberian Peasant Uprising of 1921

Abstract

The article is devoted to the historical memory of the West Siberian peasant uprising of 1921. In addition, the authors study the signs of cultural trauma among the descendants of the uprising’s participants and discuss the process of forgetting and accentuating trauma in local communities. The paper is based on field materials (2018) in the Tyumen region, supplemented by archival and published materials. During the Soviet period, the historical memory of the peasant uprising was represented through official publications and school education. According to the official point of view, the rebels, as people who protected their property, ended up in the negative category of the “Whites” or were completely excluded from the context of the events of the 1920s. Based on the description of cultural trauma (Eyerman), we argue that the memory of peasant uprisings became traumatic only in the post-Soviet period, after the formation of the opinion “all participants of the uprising are victims” in public space. Local history experts regularly reproduce social practices of commemoration in the Tyumen region. However, these practices have not become part of the public discourse. The reason for this is the loss of family memory replaced by collective historical memory.