Materiality of Mobility: Objects in Migration Memories of Old Believers

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of a migrant’s material world based on the analysis of the memories of one of the most significant event in the history of the Old Believers in the village of Sarichioi (Romania, Tulcea district) – the migration to their historic homeland in 1947. Based on the interviews recorded in 2016 and 2018, the article shows how the things that the Old Believers took with them formed their everyday life in migration and in new places of residence; what objects they considered to be important for maintaining the habitual way of life and the connection of generations. The most important things in the narratives of local residents are objects that a) ensure the migration process itself (transport, documents); b) form everyday life (houses, church, clothes, icons, fishing rods); c) ensure the preservation of significant social connections (letters, photographs).