‘Everyone’s Got His Own Siberia’: a Biographical Interview with Vladimir P. Sanchirov

Abstract

Introduction. The publication consists of a transcription of a biographical interview of the celebrated Kalmyk historian and Oiratologist - Vladimir Petrovich Sanchirov (1947-2019), supplemented with the author’s commentaries. The interview took place in Elista in 2004 as part of the research project ‘E ve ry o n e ’s G ot H is Own S ib e ria ’ dealing with the crucial but understudied period of Kalmyk history - the nation’s Siberian deportation of 1943-1956 and memories thereof. Goals. The project aims is to investigate the everyday survival strategies of Kalmyks in Siberia, as well as to pay tribute to the recently deceased colleague and friend. M ethods. The methodology used to study the raw interview text includes the textual analysis and deconstruction. R esults. The transcribed text shows survival and adaptation strategies of the young generation of spets-pereselentsy at places of forced settlements; we see V. Sanchirov’s youth in Khanty-Mansiysk, his opposition to ethnical oppression, his dealing with the stigma of government-forbidden ethnicity, and his acquaintance with Kalmykia. The text may be of certain interest to all researchers studying the Kalmyk deportation and memories thereof.

Keywords

• : deportation
• kalmyks
• repression
• narrative
• oral story
• politics of memory
• gender
• discourse