Memory of the 1990s as Resource of Adaptation to New Crisis: Analysis of Russian Media Discourses

The article is devoted to the problem of memory functioning as a symbolic resource for adaptation to a crisis as a situation of high uncertainty. The author analyzes public practices of articulating memory about the early period of the post-Soviet transformation when discussing social and economic problems associated with the special military operation in Ukraine, that was declared by president Vladimir Putin on 24 February, 2022, and subsequent unprecedented extension of international sanctions. The study is based on Iwona Irwin-Zarecka’s theory of frames of remembrance. By revealing typical ways of framing the experience of the 1990s in media discourse during the first six months after 24 February, 2022, the author attempts to identify how this experience was tied to the current problems and thus determine the role of memory as a resource for adaptation to the new crisis. The analysis is based on publications in printed and online media that target different audiences. In order to reveal ways of framing statements about the 1990s, the author utilized the method of qualitative content analysis using the MAXQDA application. The results of the study confirm that in a situation of uncertainty caused by the forced restructuring of economic relations, social expectations and political goal-setting, the memory of a collective traumatic experience acts as an adaptation resource, which is associated with a partial transformation of its semantic framework. At the same time, the ideological splits tied to the memory of the 1990s persist and continue to determine the structure of the public discourse about the past.