Being a Sibiriak in Contemporary Siberia: Imagined Geography and Vocabularies of Identity in Regional Writing Culture

In: Region: regional studies of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Band 2, Heft 1, S. 47-67

Abstract

This article examines the articulation of sibiriak identity in the early 21st century. This time is particularly important because the current Russian government has made a point of curtailing the regional autonomy of the Yeltsin years. Drawing on regional news sources, Internet blogs, and writings by prominent Siberian public intellectuals, this article delineates a number of specifically Siberian voices and the concerns they discuss in the public sphere. It argues that contemporary Siberian identity differs significantly from stereotypical European Russian constructions of Siberian identity that equate simple goodness and honesty with the broad Siberian terrain. This material shows a diverse range of opinions and attitudes, a concerted effort to keep the Siberian heritage before the public eye, and a sustained discussion about the usable past. Focusing particularly on Evgenii Grishkovets's autobiographical novella, Rivers (Reki, 2005), this article examines the emergence of a post-Soviet discourse that reaches beyond Siberian stereotypes and openly expresses social and cultural problems encountered by Siberians.