Date of Award

4-20-2010

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Jennifer Patico - Committee Chair

Second Advisor

Emanuela Guano - Committee Member

Third Advisor

Kathryn Kozaitis - Committee Member

Abstract

This study explores postsocialist representations of modernity and identity through narratives of social change collected from individuals in rural communities of Buryatia, Russia. I begin with an examination of local conceptualizations of the past, present, and future and how they are imagined in places and spaces. Drawing on 65 days of fieldwork, in-depth interviews, informal discussion, and participant-observation, I elaborate on what I am calling a confrontation with physical triggers of self in connection to place, including imaginations of the countryside and village, sacred and ritual spaces, landscapes, and the environment. I also explore how the anxieties embedded in narratives of change are connected to aspiration for the future and nostalgia for the past.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/1331455

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Anthropology Commons

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