Counter-Archives: Peasant Autobiographical Writing form Tsarist Russia to the Soviet Union

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Julia Herzberg
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2012 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 232281441

Violent, naive, and silent - after serfdom was abolished in 1861 this traditional characterization ofthe Russian peasant was no longer accurate. The peasant became the symbol of a society in flux.In autobiographies and diaries peasants told of their lives as slaves, autodidacts and religiousvisionaries and won over a readership.thatJoundin.theseJextsnot.onlv-the.supposedly-^»authentic« peasants, but also alternative models of society. Anti-autocratic publicists, in particular,began to turn to peasants as writers of autobiographical texts and as thinking and actingindividuals. For them these texts represented counter-archives with which they hoped to asserttheir views about the Russian empire. Before the abolition of serfdom, collecting and publishing thestories of peasants' life journeys had been impossible; now, however, they became a popularmeans of debating notions about the political and social order and questions of social inequality.On the basis of 300 autobiographical texts, 1 show how being released from their pre-determinedroles shaped the self-presentation of the peasants, who were able to draw upon a larger spectrumof possibilities than previously available when writing about themselves.My study consists of four parts. The first chapter focuses on historiographical and archivalpractices regarding the treatment of autobiographical writing. In Russian historical scholarshipautobiographers weren't thought of primarily as authorities about their own lives. Rather, historianssaw in them »witnesses« of a past made inaccessible by censorship and closed archives. Thistestimonial character which was attributed to the autobiographical texts not only shaped how theywere read and interpreted, but also determined how they were archived and transmitted. In thesecond part of my study the emphasis turns to the creation ofthe texts. 1 present three socialspaces - the press and the media, autobiographical projects initiated by scholars, and the familycircle - in which peasant men and women recorded their lives. The goal of the study was todetermine the boundaries of these three realms. It was not possible to write as a »peasant«everywhere or in the same manner. In order to talk about oneself and to be preserved along withone's text, certain experiences had to be presented and the appropriate forms of self-descriptionhad to be used to establish a connection with collective identities which represented a specificnotion of social order.I see the primary contribution of my study as being able to show that the notions of social orderwhich could be conceived of and spoken about became more fluid in the Russian Empire after1861. Marginalized groups also reacted to these changes, attempting to find a new position in thesocial sphere by writing and collecting peasant autobiographical writing. In the 1930s notions ofsocial order solidified once again. Particularly in the public sphere there was no longer anyaudience for writing that was critical of society. Collectivization stifled peasant autonomy, and withit the opportunity to narrate one's own life.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants