The Oral Stories of Peasants: an Exercise in Discursive Reading

Abstract

Valeriy Vinogradskiy – Doctor of Science in Philosophy, Professor, Leading Researcher, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, RANEPA. Address: 82, Prospect Vernadskogo, Moscow, 119571, Russian Federation. E-mail: vgrape47@yandex.ru

Citation: Vinogradskiy V. (2018) The Oral Stories of Peasants: an Exercise in Discursive Reading. Mir Rossii, vol. 27, no 1, pp. 90–113 (in Russian). DOI: 10.17323/1811-038X-2018-27-1-90-113

How does the routine life of the peasantry reveal itself in its discoursive dimension? What are its specifics features? Can the rural world be understoond and recreated simply by listening to the genuine speech of peasants? What can researchers learn from a systematic observation of peasant discoursive practices? This article presents a discoursive analysis of a long narrative told by an old rural miller recorded during the First Field Peasantry Project supervised by Theodore Shanin. The discoursive practices of this peasant reveal that even though his life is very limited in terms of remarkable events it has a very complex structure and organization. It is structured around a firm nexus of life sustaining practices which maintain his organic existence in the surrounding environment and which have evolved over his entire life. In telling the story of his life, monotounous and full of simple routines, the miller very skillfully and willingly injects a few lively episodes which add several interesting shades to his personal biography and which he innocently and sincerely enjoys. The discoursive manner of this peasant tells us that the everyday life of a peasant consists of a set of anonymous rules, the neglect of which may bring disorder and randomness. Yet following these rules is not strictly necessary: one could easily adapt and find a way around them for different situations, but doing so does not require a peasant to be intentional or rational. Rather one should follow the circumstances which in the social space of a peasant are usually wrapped in a common transhistoric and relatively standard framework – folk customs.