Land and morality in a rural community

Anotace: The paper presents the analysis of ethnographic research in a village in eastern Slovakia. My aim is to consider the narratives of people from countryside who witnessed socialist period and to present their view of land which they cultivated. I explore two sources: people’s life stories; and a local chronicle which was written during the 1960s. I argue that (1) both kinds of narratives serve as cultural tools for members of a collective as they recount the past in certain context; (2) in this, expression of moral emotions indicates narrative conventions related to social norms. I demonstrate that the semi-official context of the local chronicle demands expression of moral emotions in evaluation of the big-scale political events, but the chroniclers are rather cautious in assessment of local people’s behaviour. On the other side, in informal settings people summarize life periods using moral terms and freely express positive as well as negative attitudes toward other people and social conditions, to make sense of the past events in relation to the present time. Thus, the language of emotions indicates the specific narrative context as well as social rules. At the same time, emotional expressions should be read considering a narrator’s personality and social background; in this, the local historical and cultural setting is essential.