“Strange years”. Events of a transition period (1985-1993) seen through two bodies of personal narratives
"Esos años extraños". Abordar los acontecimientos del período transicional (1985-1993) a través de dos corpus de relatos biográficos
« De drôles d’années ». Les événements de la période transitionnelle (1985-1993) au prisme de deux corpus de récits de vie
Résumé
This article analyzes the place different historical events of the transitional period from the Soviet to the post-Soviet era (1985-1993) occupy in life-stories. Our conclusions are based on two series of fieldwork. The first was conducted in Russia among families of at least three generations; the other was carried out in Germany among Jewish immigrants from the ex-USSR. In their narratives, events are not distinguished but treated as a whole. We propose to look into three type of biographical discourse regarding where they place the transitional period within a life course. The first type of narrative can be called a-historical, as it tends to ignore the macrosocial changes. The second way of narrating one’s life course consists in presenting the transitional period as a disruption causing an individual bifurcation. Finally, some of our interviewees see the transition as a parenthesis, because, according to their experience, the Soviet and the Post soviet periods are similar.