Советская модерность в визуальной перспективе (на примере ойрат-калмыков и тувинцев)

Lyubov B. Chetyrova; Nataliya M. Sergeeva

doi:10.25178/nit.2022.2.17

Authors

Lyubov B. Chetyrova Samara University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5064-8735
Sergeeva Samara University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3569-5397

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2022.2.17

Keywords:

modernity; coloniality; decolonial approach; photography; Oirat-Kalmyks; Tuvans; Kalmykia; Tuvan People's Republic; Soviet period; visual image; visual sociology; visual anthropology

Abstract

The article examines from a visual perspective the early Soviet experience of modernity, as experienced by the Oirat-Kalmyks and Tuvans in the 1930s. This perspective allows us to consider the evidence of the Soviet project of creating a "new man" and establish the signs of modernity in the visual representations of these peoples. The article relies on the decolonial approach, which sees modernity as an epistemic framework, which in this case is inextricably linked with the Soviet colonial project.

The source base for the study is the photographic documents of the 1930s, preserved at the National Archives of the Republic of Tyva (Kyzyl, Russia), the National Archives of the Republic of Kalmykia and the N. N. Palmov National Museum of the Republic of Kalmykia (both in Elista, Russia).

The analysis of the 1930s photographs of the Oirat-Kalmyks and Tuvans revealed the visual canon for the photodocumentaries of the period, namely, the canon of representation and self-presentation of the "new man". Among other things, typical were a lack of femininity in the women's uniform, austerity, orderliness and discipline in both clothing and poses, standing at attention, white dress shirt, and the desire "not to stand out", look like everyone else, and merge into the group. In the course of study, further signs of modernity/coloniality were identified in the representation of corporeality, as well as in the life environment of the Oirat-Kalmyks and Tuvans. It was important to also focus on the common and the irregular in how the life of Oirat-Kalmyks and Tuvans was photodocumented and, respectively, in the visual signs of modernity/coloniality thus established. The common features include European-style clothing and headdresses, short haircuts for women, the use of Soviet symbols (flags, banners, or newspapers) to indicate the will for enlightenment, unity with the collective, and predominantly strict geometry of the group arrangement in space. However, although the Oirat-Kalmyks and Tuvans as participants in the project of creating a "new man" were represented in a pretty uniform manner, there is a good deal of irregularity and difference in their visual images, determined by specific trajectories the Soviet modernity took to reach these people. Including their previous experience of modernity, how well these people preserved their traditional culture, and the cultural codes that worked in them to normalize body practices.

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