The Pedagogy of dissonant heritage: Soviet industry in museums and textbooks

ENThis chapter examines how Soviet industry is remembered and studied in both formal and informal education in post- Soviet Lithuania. Industrialization of the country coincided with and was forced by Soviet occupation (1940–1990), and the legacy of this industrialization is explored using a concept of “dissonant heritage”. The central focus of this chapter is the in- depth interrogation of five museum displays and twenty history textbooks covering the period of high industrialization in Soviet Lithuania. Content analysis and ethnographical study of these pedagogical sources reveals that there are quite different and even competing narratives around Soviet industry. These range from celebratory stories of technological inventions and rapid growth of new industries to negative narratives about the Russification of the country and contamination of the land. While the image of industrialization as a Soviet colonial project prevails, the work and life of industrial communities remains untold. The absence of working-class experiences not only creates a double dissonance in the heritagization of Soviet industry but also creates a gap between educational narratives and the live memory students encounter in the reality. In addition, the chapter reveals that nuclear energy plays a significant role in the narratives of Soviet industry as the nuclear theme introduces the importance of sensibilities such as nostalgia and fear, into the discourse of “dissonant heritage”.

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