Ar baigėsi posocializmas Lietuvoje? Antropologija ir posocializmo transformacijų etnografija

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Collection:
Mokslo publikacijos / Scientific publications
Document Type:
Straipsnis / Article
Language:
Lietuvių kalba / Lithuanian
Title:
Ar baigėsi posocializmas Lietuvoje? Antropologija ir posocializmo transformacijų etnografija
Alternative Title:
Has post-socialism ended in Lithuania? The anthropology and ethnography of post-socialist transformations
Authors:
Šliavaitė, Kristina
In the Journal:
Lietuvos etnologija. 2020, 20 (29), p. 9-35
Keywords:
LT
Etnografija / Ethnography.
Summary / Abstract:

LTPagrindinis šiame straipsnyje keliamas uždavinys – kontekstualizuoti Lietuvoje atliktus etnografinius / antropologinius posocializmo socialinių kultūrinių transformacijų tyrimus platesniame posocializmo antropologinių tyrimų lauke. Tai bus atliekama aptariant, ar ir kaip platesniame vadinamajame posocializmo antropologijos lauke išryškėjusios įtampos ir diskusijos, susijusios su regiono ir laikotarpio apibrėžtimi, konstruojamomis žiniomis ir nelygiaverčiais santykiais tarp Vakarų ir Rytų, atsiskleidė bei buvo sprendžiamos antropologų, atlikusių socialinių kultūrinių transformacijų po 1990 m. etnografinius tyrimus Lietuvoje. Kartu mėginsime atsakyti į platesnį klausimą – kaip Lietuvoje tyrimus atlikę antropologai savo darbuose konceptualizuoja socializmo įtaką vėlesniems procesams bei kokios yra posocializmo kaip laikotarpio chronologinės ribos remiantis šiais darbais. Raktiniai žodžiai: antropologija, etnografija, posocializmas, transformacijos, Lietuva. [Iš leidinio]

ENThe main aim of the paper is to overview ethnographic research on post-socialist transformations in Lithuania by contextualising it within the broader framework of the field of anthropology of post-socialism. The author refers to numerous discussions in the field on the validity of the use of the term post-socialism long after the collapse of the Soviet system (Sampson 1999; Humphrey 2002; Műller 2019, etc), and discusses whether and how selected ethnographies on social cultural transformations in Lithuania after the 1990s and later use the term postsocialism, and how the period is defined conceptually and chronologically. The first part of the paper introduces discussions in anthropology on challenges in defining the post-socialist region and the chronology of post-socialism (Humphrey 2002; Buyandelgeriyn 2008; Frederiksen, Knudsen 2015; Műller 2019; Нильсен 2004, etc), as well as reflections on issues of the representation and unequal relations between the West and the East in studies of post-socialist European countries (Thelen 2011; Buchowski 2012; Cervinkova 2012; Klumbytė, Sharafutdinova 2013b; Frederiksen, Knudsen 2015, etc). These critical studies indicate that ethnographies of socialist and post-socialist East Central Europe constructed it as the ‘other’, different to the western part of the region (Thelen 2011; Buchowski 2012; Cervinkova 2012; Klumbytė, Sharafutdinova 2013b; Frederiksen, Knudsen 2015; Műller 2019; etc), and that the term post-socialist/ post-socialism refers to these unequal relations between the West and the East (Cervinkova 2012; Frederiksen, Knudsen 2015; Műller 2019; etc).However, disregarding certain conceptual challenges, it is agreed that the ethnographies of social cultural transformations in post-socialist European countries are unique and important, due to their methodological approach (long-term fieldwork), and focus on people’s everyday lives and the emphasis on the interrelations of cultural, social and economic processes (Burawoy, Verdery 1999; Hann 2002; Hőrschelmann, Stenning 2008, etc). The last part of the paper focuses on selected ethnographies that, through different themes, explore and ethnographically document social and cultural transformations in Lithuania since the collapse of socialism (Hohnen 2003; Sliavaite 2005; Klumbytė 2006; Lankauskas 2015) or locally experienced EU integration process (Knudsen 2012). The ethnographic research conducted in Lithuania is not plentiful, the selected monographs and dissertations are based on fieldwork conducted in the 1990s or 2000s, and explore social cultural transformations during different time spans; but the Soviet period is in different ways important for these authors in their investigations of particular themes. The researchers use the term post-socialist/post-socialism (Sliavaite 2005; Klumbytė 2006; Knudsen 2012; Lankauskas 2015) or post-communist (Hohnen 2003) for the period after the collapse of the Soviet system. The ethnographic research conducted in Lithuania employs the main methodological principles of anthropology, and is invaluable in understanding how post-Soviet transformations were experienced by local people, as well as how previous values and practices interfere with later processes (cf. Hőrschelmann, Stenning 2008, etc). Studies on post-socialist transformations in Lithuania indicate how values, practices and memories related to the socialist period gained their importance in shaping processes long after the 1990s.For example, the researcher demonstrates that the stigmatisation of trading in a certain open area market in the 1990s involved perceptions of work and trade during the Soviet period (Hohnen 2003). Practices and values that are seen as being related to socialism, such as nepotism, the abuse of institutional positions and social networks for personal interests, are interpreted as shaping the EU integration process locally (Knudsen 2012). The interpretations and experiences of the decommissioning of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in post-socialism are explained as being shaped by the expectations of industrial institutions that formed under socialism (Sliavaite 2005). The period after the collapse of socialism is related to the redrawing of social boundaries in the context of social cultural transformations (Hohnen 2003), or to the search for Western-style modernity, which is aimed at via consumption patterns (Lankauskas 2015). It is revealed how personal memories of socialism were important for our present self-conception, identities and choices in political elections in the 2000s (Klumbytė 2006). The chronology of post-socialism/post-communism is not specifically discussed in most of the works overviewed, or it is argued that the application of postsocialism to Lithuanian society in the 2010s is still valid (Lankauskas 2015: 242). Due to this ambiguity, the term post-socialism often just becomes a cliché, an instrument for the location of research in a particular area and a particular field of academic literature, and is consequently closely related to the representation of certain areas and countries (cf. Cervinkova 2012; Frederiksen, Knudsen 2015, etc). [...] Key words: anthropology, ethnography, post-socialism, transformations, Lithuania.

DOI:
10.33918/25386522-2029001
ISSN:
1392-4028
Subject:
Etnologija / Ethnology
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https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/98989
Updated:
2022-11-27 18:30:30
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