ORAL HISTORY: MIGRATION AND LOCAL IDENTITIES - Academia

Migration and IdentityNarva village in Krasnoyarsk region. Photo: Aivar Jürgenson, 1999.Emigrants were most interested in the third component of theSiberian image. Even though the image of Siberia used to be rathernegative, it became positive in the eyes of potential emigrants. It waslike an attempt to combine all of the positive future perspectives intoone specific place: Siberia. Siberia became a land of happiness, a newCanaan, a paradise—it was a classical Eldorado-style utopia.This was a process during which the homeland had to be changed.The phenomenon of a homeland is generally filled with positive content;imaginary homeland is a phenomenon which is characterized bystrong motives of paradise. In reality this kind of a model does notusually materialize.141Abandoning the former homelandEmigration was a great event in the lives of people who changedtheir place of residence and one that had great influence extendingfurther than the duration of a trip itself. The stories of emigration have