Practices of Friendship: The Collective Memory of Twin Towns in Sverdlovsk Region of the USSR and the West Bohemian Region of Czechoslovakia

Abstract

This article describes the experience of an interdisciplinary field study devoted to the examination of the collective memory of eyewitnesses of twinning ties of small towns of Sverdlovsk Region and the West Bohemian Region of Czechoslovakia in the 1960s–1990s. The study refers to five towns of the Middle Urals: Bogdanovich, Zarechny, Karpinsk, Pervouralsk, and Sysert. The theme of memory unites the efforts of historians and sociologists in the context of a general trend — the turn of society towards the local past, its assessment, and the formation of ideological positions for the present. The purpose of the article is to show the possibilities of historical and sociological understanding of twinning in the aspect of temporal dimensions. The choice and justification of methods for the applied study of the phenomenon of twinning ties is based on the methodology of collective memory: the category of “contextuality” of memory, described in the works of M. Halbwachs, J. Olick, is important for the authors; the study of memories of the recent past is carried out within the theory of the experience of the generation of K. Mannheim and M. Mead; the position of P. Hutton makes a significant basis about the measure of reproduction of the past; the “elaboration” of preliminary prejudices is built within the framework of the methodology of oral history. On the site of the Local History Museums of each of the five towns, round tables were held with participants of twinning ties. In addition, guests who had no such experience attended the events. The topic of interaction with residents of the Western Bohemian Region was proposed for discussion. It could be memories of trips to Czechoslovakia, or the arrival of the twin “brothers” in the Middle Urals. At the time of the events described, the participants of the round tables could perform various social roles.