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Accepted Paper:

Between Gratitude and Embarrassment: Forgotten Humanitarian Aid on the Margins of post-Cold War Russia  
Asya Karaseva (University of Tartu, University of Hamburg)

Paper Short Abstract:

This presentation explores the "structural amnesia" surrounding 1990s humanitarian aid in the Magadan region, Northeastern Russia, during post-Soviet crises. Based on interviews (2015–2022) and local press, it examines forgotten aid from the USA to the region and from Moscow and Magadan to the mining town after the 1993 boiler plant failure. I argue that Soviet narratives of heroic progress, framing welfare as a "modern gift" (Ssorin-Chaikov 2017), shaped selective memory, highlighting the interplay between humanitarianism, memory, and ideology.

Paper Abstract:

Research on memory and humanitarianism often focuses on the use of past trauma in reconciliation politics and "lessons learned" (Daudin 2023; Ferreira 2014; Taithe and Borton 2016), or on the right not to remember (Rieff 2019). However, the memory of humanitarian aid itself remains underexplored. This presentation addresses this gap by examining the "structural amnesia" (Barnes 1947) surrounding humanitarian aid received in the 1990s in the Magadan region of Northeastern Russia. Drawing on interviews (2015–2022) and local press and literature analysis, I explore how this amnesia reflects the broader Soviet ideology of humanitarian aid.

During the Soviet era, the Far North was a cultural frontier showcasing socialist progress. The Magadan region, then including Chukotka, was key due to its proximity to the USA. After the USSR’s collapse, the region faced mass migration (losing two-thirds of its 1989 population within two decades), factory shutdowns, and critical food and fuel shortages.

This talk examines two scales of humanitarian aid. First, it analyzes aid from the USA, the USSR’s former Cold War rival, during the early 1990s. Second, it contrasts local press accounts with interviews conducted 20 years later to highlight the forgotten aid from Moscow and Magadan following a 1993 boiler plant failure that endangered a mining town. I argue that Soviet narratives of heroic progress toward communism, which framed welfare as a "modern gift" (Ssorin-Chaikov 2017), discouraged acknowledgment of crises and external aid. This case sheds light on the interplay between humanitarianism, memory, and ideology.

Panel Poli07
Humanitarianism (Un)writ large
  Session 2