V. D. Zaporozhskaya (1914—1985) is a bright representative of a large social group of Russian society — educated women. The subject of our research is the gender dimension of her personal history (based on oral history of outstanding, but not well-enough known specialist in Siberian studies, an archaeologist and a talented artist V. D. Zaporozhskaya. The aim of this article is to trace the major milestones of her life as well as to analyze the dynamics of this extraordinary woman’s introspection of social “tectonic shifts” in the context of the events of Russian history (1914—1980-s). The analysis of transcripts of conversations with V. D. Zaporozhskaya showed to us: 1) the inclusion of her personal story in the historical con-text of several epochs, where the primacy of male dominance was latent, but always present; 2) the dominant femininity of her mentality, focused not so much on purpose, but on the cir-cumstances and emotional experience of the consequences of the events of her life; 3) correlation between stability/mobility of the social structure in different historical periods and reality of her individual endeavors that she constantly directed on organizational and scientific assistance to her husband. Therefore, the story of the life of this educated Russian woman, who passed the test of revolutions, wars, changes of political regimes, from the standpoint of gender theory, is determined not so much by Nature as it is by culture of the Russian society of specific historical periods.
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