THE GAME OF TIME: REFLECTING

VARIETIES OF SOVIET IN POST-SOVIET NATION-BUILDING VIA

TEXTBOOKS’ COMPARISONS

Marharyta FabrykantAlla Marchenko

Nataliya Tregubova

41st World Congress International Institute of Sociology

Uppsala, June 9-10, 2013

Outline

1. Methodological issues: a version of mixed methods design in history textbooks .

2. Comparative research design: selection and ‘Reconstruction’ of Cases

3. A research outcome: M.Gorbachev as protagonist of textbook discourse(s) of perestroika

Mixed Methods Design in Textbook Research

Game theory:

quantitative modeling of authors’ strategic choices

+

Narrative analysis:

qualitative modeling of the mode of storytelling

=

relating story to history

The Trick-or-Treat Game:Post-Soviet Historian vs. the System Rule 1: There is no neutral outcome for a historian.

Reason: Little consensus on recent history. Rule 2: Trick - punishment for an undesirable story - is

unpredictable. Reason: The system is in flux/”transition”.

Rule 3: Treat - award for the desirable story – is crucial for a historian. Reason: lack of alternative sources of income.

Rule 4: All outcomes for the system are neutral, unless a critical number of historians cooperate. Reason: the target audience of textbooks does not play this game.

Modeling the Trick-or-treat Game

HistorianAttempting a desirable story

Diversification of storylines

Trying to enter the system

System

Punishment

Loss of face & sanctions / ---

Second chance / ---

Entering another system / ---

Award Path-dependence & privileges / ---

Permit to continue working / ---

Dictating the rules / ---

Resulting Textbooks Narrative

Complex and multilinear (diversification).Different interpretations of the same

events, both on purpose and unintended.Actors portrayed as strategic game

players competing with each other and the initial conditions, hence belief in rationality results in conspirology, as the main mode of narration.

Comparative Research Design: Qualitative vs Quantitative StrategyQualitative (case-

oriented) strategy

Quantitative (variable-oriented) strategy

Problematization

Preliminary selection of cases

Case studies / definition of criteria for

comparison / 'reconstruction' of cases

Conclusions

Formulation of research question

Theory

Hypothesis (variables as criteria for comparison)

Hypothesis’ test for cases compared

Conclusions

Sampling

Comparative Research Design: Qualitative Strategy Initial problematization:

How is the perestroika period represented in post-Soviet textbooks?

Ultimate research question: How is the problem of nation-

building after the SU collapse being solved through textbooks’ representations of perestroika period in post-Soviet space?

Comparative Research Design: Qualitative StrategyPreliminary cases:

Belarus, Russia, Ukraine as the most similar cases (due to socio-historical context):

Resulting cases: Belarus, Russia, Ukraine (states) +

Chechnya and Tatarstan (Russian regions) with pretty different representations of perestroika

Conclusions: A Textbook Case?

Preliminary generalizations:

?Case

USSRRussia / RSFSR

The discursive logic is embedded in answers to the primary questions:

What is the status of the case “whose” history is narrated?

What are the relations between the case, USSR and Russia/ RSFSR?

??

?

Conclusions: A Textbook Case?

Limits and limitations: The focus on case studies did not

allow to reveal the typical case of post-Soviet nation-building

Prospectives: These results demand new

comparisons with a new principle of case selection (not the most similar but the most different) to look for patterns in the seeming diversity

Gorbachev as a protagonist of perestroika: mean score of personalities’ mentioning

Gorbachev and Game Theory

Separate plays of Gorbachev’s appearance, activities and disappearance with perestroika final.

Reconstructed rather as a symbol than a person.

Shown as a front of mostly anonymous “team”, closely connected to external meanings (e.g. reconstructed meanings of the USSR decline).

Ambivalent comparisons (e.g. to old system, democratic forces, Yeltsin, Kerensky)

Mikhail Gorbachev vs general depersonalization

control vs uncontrol over situation

deeds within the USSR vs external activities

regressive vs progressive

self-oriented vs others-oriented

collective vs individual actor

“Various cases – different faces”

Ukraine’s meanings: victim of the system, most sacralized,

though populistBelarus’ meanings:

overall tragicomism, “transitive” actor Russia’s meanings:

as embodiment of the USSR - in most part of Russia,

formal figure - in Tatarstan and Chechnya.

Prospectives for historical textbook analysis in Sociology

Suitable for comparative research aimed to reveal the official schemes of History for study of nation-building processes.

Demanding researcher being embedded in social context of textbook creation, reproduction and distribution as well as in historical context.

Relevant for trying different versions of content analysis and discourse analysis to deconstruct the ideological engagement of narration.

Thank you for your attention!