Doctoral Dissertation Research: When the Past is Another Country: The Impact of Emigration on Memory

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Previous research shows that memories are not distributed evenly over the life course, but cluster during the critical period of adolescence and early adulthood. Events that occur either earlier or later are less likely to be remembered. There is little consensus about the causes of the clustering, but a social psychological explanation suggests that the critical period for memory may be associated with change in the self-concept. Such change may be age-related, but it may also be precipitated by transformative events unrelated to age. This doctoral dissertation research focuses on emigration between 1970-1997 from the USSR/former USSR to the US as an example of a transformative life event. Particularly for "third wave" emigres who departed in the 1970's-1980's and believed that they could never return, emigration represented a complete and irrevocable break with their former lives. The central hypothesis of this study is that the period of emigration will constitute a critical period for memory, regardless of the age at which an individual emigrated. Further, the dramatic transition experienced by third-wave emigres is expected to produce a critical period for memory that is more pronounced than that of later emigres. Data on emigres' memories of public and personal events will be gathered via interviews and self-administered questionnaires.