We Were Hungry, but we also Were Free: (Counter)Narratives of the Russia’s first post-Soviet Decade on Instagram

Makhortykh, Mykola (30 October 2019). We Were Hungry, but we also Were Free: (Counter)Narratives of the Russia’s first post-Soviet Decade on Instagram (Unpublished). In: Genealogies of Memory: Myths, Memories and Economies: Post-Socialist Transformations in Comparison. Warsaw, Poland. 28.10.-30.10.2019.

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The first post-Soviet decade - or "the ninetieth" - has a special place in the Russian collective memory. The abolishment of the planned economy and market liberalization were integral part of the transition to democracy; however, the downside of these transformations was the dramatic rise of poverty and crime caused by the dismantlement of the Soviet social security system. In the recent years, memories of the economic hardships became instrumentalized by Russian authorities for consolidating public support by contrasting current economic stability with the chaos of revolutionary transformations in the ninetieth. Yet, the very same contrast also inspires more nostalgic feelings about the first post-Soviet decade, which is praised as a period of unprecedented economic and political freedom preceding the revival of authoritarian tendencies in 2000s.

In my paper, I examine how this complex amalgamation of nostalgia and trauma is remediated through Instagram, a popular photo- and video-sharing social networking site. The platform's intrinsic multimediality allows users to communicate the past through the variety of textual and visual formats, which are further affected by Instagram’s distinct set of communication practices. Together with Instagram’s popularity in Russia, these factors turn the platform into a major arena of online memory (counter)campaigns also known as “marathons of memories”. By looking into a series of Instagram campaigns focused on the ninetieth’s nostalgia and the counter-reactions to these campaigns, I am going to discuss the following questions: How Instagram memory campaigns approach socioeconomic transformations of 1990s in Russia? What are the recurring visual and textual tropes used to communicate nostalgia and trauma related to this period through the platform? And in which ways Instagram's social practices affect - and are affected by - its use for collective remembrance of the first post-Soviet decade in Russia?

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Division/Institute:	03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Institute of Communication and Media Studies (ICMB) 03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Social Sciences
UniBE Contributor:	Makhortykh, Mykola
Subjects:	300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology 900 History > 940 History of Europe
Language:	English
Submitter:	Mykola Makhortykh
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2019 16:38
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 15:32
Uncontrolled Keywords:	collective memory, Instagram, Russia, post-Soviet, nostalgia, trauma
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/135440