Vospitanie - eto rabotaintercultural encounters in educational communication within Russian-speaking families in Israel

The article takes a look at cross-cultural interpersonal communication between children, their parents and grandparents in the families of Russian-Israelis and examines how the Russian-Soviet educational discourse persists in the post-Soviet immigrant family, keeps its meanings or changes itself through migration. Examining the micro-cultural level of everyday conversations between parents and grandparents and their offspring, we suggest that the original Russian-Soviet educational messages, regarding the importance of self-discipline and the acceptance of authority, are inculcated in Israel, by emphasizing concepts and practices of vospitannost’ (manners) and obiazannosti (obligations). Moreover, Russian-speaking Israelis cultivate the style of vospitanie (educating a child), making it an indicator of Russian identity for their Israeli-born children, and use it as a resource for maintaining power in relation to both their Israeli-born children and local Israelis. However, our analysis also revealed that the powerful discourse of vospitanie is challenged in Israel by a new language and a new communication style that is deeply rooted in the Israeli cultural ethos. We show how immigrants’ children become the agents of the change, when they introduce a new type of discourse and language to the family’s educational communication and resist vospitanie discourse.