Abstract
This article examines the Lena Road (Doroga Lena), which is situated in the eastern part of Russia and stretches through the southern and central parts of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). A former traditional path, it was developed into a corridor for accessing rich mineral resources in the area during the Soviet period. The road is associated with the socialist past and its meta-narrative that highlights roads’ industrial profile. In this article the authors investigate the road's history through a biographical approach that incorporates biographies of people whose lives were linked to and shaped by the Lena Road. Such a biographical approach redirects the attention from a history written by a dominant totalitarian regime with its ideological prescriptions, towards the particular, individual and private, as well as highlighting the importance of people's contribution in creating the road and history.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 367-387 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Development and Change |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 30 Dec 2015 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2016 |
Bibliographical note
We thank the North Eastern Federal University for supporting our fieldwork. We are grateful to staff at the museums in Aldan and Neryungri for their assistance. The article has been improved by suggestions from many colleagues. It was further amended following pertinent comments from two anonymous reviewers. We thank everyone for their valuable comments.Fingerprint
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Tanya Argounova-Low
- Circumpolar Archives, Folkore and Ethnography
- Social Science, Anthropology - Senior Lecturer
- The North
Person: Academic