The Multiple Lives of a River

“The Multiple Lives of a River” presents the dynamics of life along the Western Siberian Vasyugan river, a life shared by the indigenous minority Khanty and by the majority Russians living alongside them. The focus is on one river, but the stories revealed may appear different when seen from different perspectives. It is as though there are several Vasyugan rivers, depending on whose stories I rely on: first is a river drenched in pain, shaped by the Stalinist reprisals; second is a raw, but romantic river, defined by the heroism of drilling for oil; third is a past-oriented Vasyugan of the indigenous people, depicted through the stereotypes of the majority society; and forth is a river which likewise belongs to the minority, but which is brought alive by political and cultural public life. Each of these rivers is equally characterised by dark shades of pastel, for each was defined, and is still defined, by the experiences and frameworks of the Soviet Union and Russia of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.