Project Presentation: the History of My Family as Part of the Historical Heritage

On April 8, 2025, as part of the Forum of Young Scientists, first-year students of the EP “Journalism” held a project presentation. As part of this event, students presented their projects – historical essays about one of their family members, including in the person’s history historical events that influenced the fate of the chosen hero of the essay.

The essay by Sofia Koltygina “A View from an Old Photograph” is dedicated to the story of her great-grandmother. This story intertwines collectivization, dispossession, the famine of the 1930s and how a person in this story was able to remain human, survive, start a family and continue his family.

The essay by Daria Serebrova “The Path from an Apprentice Projectionist to a Cinema Director” is dedicated not only to the description of the biography of her grandfather, but also to the stages of the formation of cinematography in the territory of Eastern Kazakhstan.

The essay by Yuri Matvienko “Spring Will Not Come for Me” is dedicated to the history of the Cossacks, which is connected with the history of his Cossack ancestor. The events of the First World War, revolutions and the collapse of the Cossacks themselves as a social stratum undoubtedly had a very heavy impact on the hero of the essay, who, nevertheless, was able to leave his mark on the territory of Eastern Kazakhstan and continue his lineage.

Valeria Rodionova’s essay “Grays in the World of Black and White” describes the story of her mother, closely linking the main stages of her biography with the events of the USSR. The materials include fragments of her biography, interview fragments, and the historical everyday life of the USSR. The collapse of hopes and ideals, an ideology that does not always work in everyday life – what difficulties does a person go through in an era of great changes?..

Anfisa Turova’s essay “Family History” describes two lines. One story tells about the horrors of deportation that relatives on her mother’s side faced, and the second story is about a completely ordinary Soviet fate on her father’s side. How such different events and destinies intertwine and how they give new life is described in this project.

Dayana Talgatova’s essay “Tested by War: My Path in Afghanistan” describes the story of her grandfather. This is a story about a man who served in Afghanistan – and about how to live afterwards, when the terrible pages are already far in the past. And also about whether it is possible to forget the war at all.

The essay by Danil Tyshchitsky “The Life of an Ordinary Smelter” is dedicated to the description of the biography of an ordinary person who was not influenced by any historical events of global scale. But maybe it only seems so, and the fate of each person is influenced by many events, significant or not, and who knows how exactly those grains that shape our lives will come together? …

The event took place in an interesting creative atmosphere. Students presented their works in their own processing – showing the background as an old newspaper, or as frames from a film, or as leaflets from the Civil War, or as a Soviet standard. As part of this project work, students mastered the skills of working with a portrait essay, learned how to make a request from the archive, and got acquainted with various types of programs that provide design and layout of material.

We wish you further creative success!