How Kalmyks talk about deportation: discursive narrative strategies

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the discursive strategies of the spontaneous narrative about the deportation of the Kalmyks. Studying the narratives of the Kalmyks, the author identifies the universal features inherent in any narrative about difficult events associated with high mortality and stigmatization of the group using a specific example of the narrative about the deportation of Kalmyks. This makes it possible to separate the universal properties of the tragic narrative and emphasize the specificity of the Kalmyk narrative about a traumatic event: obligatory plots, ethnicity as a social factor, adaptation strategies of young people, as well as the influence of Buddhism and economic and cultural distinctiveness. The research is based on field material collected by the author in 2002-2019. in Kalmykia and in Moscow and St. Petersburg.