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Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis or dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, including display on the world wide web. I understand that I may select some access restrictions as part of the online submission of this thesis or dissertation. I retain all ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. Signature: _______________________ _______________ Michelle Anne Parsons Date Death and Freedom in Post-Soviet Russia: An Ethnography of a Mortality Crisis By Michelle Anne Parsons Doctor of Philosophy Anthropology _____________________________ Peter J. Brown Advisor _____________________________ Chikako Ozawa-de Silva Committee Member _____________________________ Carol Worthman Committee Member Accepted: _____________________________ Lisa A. Tedesco, Ph.D. Dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies ______________ Date Death and Freedom in Post-Soviet Russia: An Ethnography of a Mortality Crisis By Michelle Anne Parsons B.A., Stanford University, 1995 M.S., Harvard University, 2000 Advisor: Peter J. Brown, Ph.D. An abstract of A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology 2011 Abstract Death and Freedom in Post-Soviet Russia: An Ethnography of a Mortality Crisis By Michelle Anne Parsons In the early 1990s Russia experienced the most rapid decline of life expectancy in modern history. In a five year period male life expectancy dropped by six years; female life expectancy dropped by three years. Surprisingly, the most severe increases in mortality took place among the middle-aged in Moscow. Drawing on 13 months of fieldwork in the capital city, this dissertation brings ethnography to bear on a topic that has, until recently, been the province of epidemiology and sociology. Economic “shock therapy” and the collapse of Soviet industry undermined social relations. Middle-aged Muscovites express this as being “unneeded” (ne nuzhny), or having nothing to offer others. Being “unneeded” was a form of disempowerment. Western literature identifies a lack of social capital as a risk factor for poor health and mortality during and after the transition, but lack of social capital is seen as a Soviet legacy rather than a legacy of neoliberal economic reforms. Alcohol consumption is treated as a means of escape when it was often a tragic attempt to reconnect with others. At the same time, alcohol-related deaths, along with violent and accidental deaths, were a consequence of a lack of social limits. Russian men push against social limits; when these limits were lacking this sometimes proved deadly. Russians’ paradoxical desire for space and order opens a window on Soviet social relations. The “generation of victors,” born around the Great Patriotic War (WWII) were enculturated into ethics of collective sacrifice and socially-useful work. These ethics informed social practices organized through work and social position vis-à-vis the state. In Moscow, work was the nexus of state order and space. Within the constraints of order, Muscovites found space (prostor), a concept related to spiritual expanse, spontaneous emotion, and freedom (svoboda). In Russian culture, the individual experience of freedom (svoboda) is possible through constraint. The demise of certain social constraints therefore hindered freedom, especially among middle-aged Muscovites, even at the very moment the West celebrated its triumph. Death and Freedom in Post-Soviet Russia: An Ethnography of a Mortality Crisis By Michelle Anne Parsons B.A., Stanford University, 1995 M.S., Harvard University, 2000 Advisor: Peter J. Brown, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology 2011 Acknowledgements This dissertation would not be possible without the many eloquent Russians who took time to talk with me, sharing their stories. In some cases I was little more than a stranger. They welcomed me into their homes, answered my questions with patience, served me food and tea, and shared their thoughts and experiences. If this dissertation conveys a sense of how certain Russians experienced the early 1990s, it is because of the openness and kindness of those same Russians. Daria Andreevna Khaltourina, a research fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies, was a source of constant help in many large and small ways from writing letters of support and introduction, introducing me to a research assistant, giving advice, facilitating interviews, and being a friend. Svetlana Victorovna Kobzeva and Irina Alexandrovna Kodjichkena were excellent research assistants, conducting and transcribing interviews. Sveta worked closely with me throughout my stay and conducted as many interviews as I did. Her efforts represent an important contribution to this dissertation. At Emory University, I am especially grateful to my advisor, Peter J. Brown. Peter is a true mentor, a wise counselor. Peter and my other committee members, Chikako Ozawa-de Silva and Carol Worthman, were always encouraging even as they had suggestions to make this dissertation better. Funding for this research was provided by the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program and a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant. Emory University generously supported my graduate studies and funded a summer of preliminary research. I am especially grateful to my friends in Moscow for fellowship and companionship. I am thankful to parents who have always supported me in my travels and studies, and have always welcomed me back. My biggest thanks go to my husband James. James flew to Moscow numerous times during the year I was away. He has made it possible for me to write a dissertation with two active young boys. James, more than any formal training, has taught me about curiosity, empathy, and open mindedness. If being needed is about giving, James is a needed person. Contents Chapter 1. Introduction 1 Chapter 2. Mortality 14 Chapter 3. Methods 44 Chapter 4. Paradox 60 Chapter 5. Moscow 76 Chapter 6: War 93 Chapter 7. Work 117 Chapter 8. Shock 145 Chapter 9. Death of Society 172 Chapter 10. Freedom 189 Chapter 11. Conclusion 203 References 214 Illustrations Figures 1. Male life expectancies at birth, selected Eastern European countries, 16 Russian Federation, United States, and France, 1960-2008. 2. Female life expectancies at birth, selected Eastern European countries, 16 Russian Federation, United States, and France, 1960-2008. 3. Male life expectancies at birth, selected former Soviet Union countries, 18 1960-2008. 4. Female life expectancies at birth, selected former Soviet Union 18 countries, 1960-2008. 5. Male and female adult (15-60 years) mortality, per 1,000, Russian 20 Federation, Latvia, and Ukraine, 1960-2006. Tables 1. Contribution of change in mortality from each cause of death to the 21 change in the life expectancy, Russia, 1990-1994 2. Contribution of change in mortality from each age group to the change 23 in life expectancy, Russia, 1990-1994 3. Adjusted relative risks of death from all-cause, cardiovascular, 38 coronary heart, stroke, and external causes by alcohol intake during previous week and by typical dose per occasion 4. Adjusted relative risks of death from cardiovascular disease by 38 frequency of drinking, stratified by typical dose per drinking occasion (drinkers only) 1 Chapter 1 Introduction I first went to Russia in 1993 and 1994. It was a time largely regarded as lawless and chaotic, bezporiadok1, or without order in Russian. In St. Petersburg I lived in a sleeper district in a Brezhnev-era apartment building at the then northernmost station of the blue metro line. Outside the Prospekt Prosveshcheniia (Enlightenment Avenue) metro station elderly Russian women stood in lines selling one dried fish, a collection of homemade canned goods, or dried mushrooms on a string. They laid their meager wares on overturned wooden crates or a piece of canvas on the ground. At this same metro station I watched men in leather jackets drive up in BMWs to the collection of kiosks. They offered protection to kiosk owners in exchange for cash. One morning the charred portion of a kiosk frame stood still smoldering in the cold, likely the cost of not buying enough protection from the mafia. On my way to Russian classes one morning I saw a man lying face down in the snow in a concrete planting bed, used for pansies in the spring. People streamed past him through the heavy swinging doors and into the warm blow of metro air. He was dead, a casualty of alcohol and winter temperatures. During the summer of 1994, which I spent in Yekaterinburg in the Urals, living with Nadya2, my Russian friend, and her teenage son, we went to the country cottage, or 1 I follow the U.S. Library of Congress system for Russian transliteration, except where spellings of certain words or names are already familiar to Westerners. 2 In all cases, I use pseudonyms for friends and interviewees. Russian names include a first, patronymic, and last name. By custom I would have referred to almost all of my interviewees by first and patronymic 2 dacha. The dacha was located in a small village of dachas, surrounded by overgrown gardens. It was an idyllic setting. A small river meandered through the dachas. Grandfathers fished with their grandchildren. We collected wild mushrooms and harvested vegetables from the garden.