Ideas about the Past, Present, and Future of the Digital Generation of the Caspian Region as an Important Part of Collective Memory (on the example of the Astrakhan Region)

The study aims to reveal the main characteristics of the historical memory and, more broadly, the attitude of the young digital generation of the Caspian region to the past, present and future. The study is based on the in-depth interviews conducted in autumn and winter 2019-2020, that involved 20 students of Astrakhan State University. The Astrakhan region with its ethno-confessional and cultural peculiarities represents quite vividly the Russian Caspian region where three world religions and more than one hundred and seventy ethnic groups are presented. The results of the study showed that the Caspian youth prefers to live in the moment, yet it does not know well the events of contemporary time. It has better knowledge of the past, and very vague ideas about the future. The Caspian youth notes a significant impact of the regional specific character on its collective ideas. In general, the interviewees showed quite a high level of tolerance towards the youth of the other Caspian countries, though not everyone considers them to be “their kin”. The range of the characteristics includes both “Ours (Own)” and “Other”, “Different”, “Alien”. The respondents consider the language barrier to be the main obstacle for intercultural communication and the development of the mutual collective memory.