Cultural Landscape of Imagined Capitalness (Cases of Likhoslavl and Olonets)
https://doi.org/10.18384/2712-7621-2023-2-81-100
Abstract
Aim. We identify the features of the manifestation of the ethnic factor of the imagined capital city in the cultural landscape on the example of Likhoslavl and Olonets.
Methodology. Use is made of field political-geographic expedition, in-depth semi-structured and unstructured interviews, and narrative analysis. The focus of the study is a comprehensive examination of the narrative about the imagined symbolic capital in the context of the ordering of individual experience in accordance with the chain of events or its perception.
Results. In the course of field research in the city of Likhoslavl, in the villages of Chashkovo and Tolmachi, and in the city of Olonets, a total of 20 in-depth interviews were collected for narrative analysis. In this work, the analyzed data are presented in a generalized form. Based on the results of the interview analysis, it is possible to conclude that the respondents perceive the “capital” area as an unfinished (incomplete) narrative, in relation to which a representation is created. In our case, the imagined capitalness’ narrative exists as open to a multitude of perceivers, open to the outside.
Research implications. In the conditions of small towns, the application of cultural and sociopolitical practices to endow the space (cultural landscape) with the meanings of an imagined capital area is considered. The presence of functional relations of the existing narrative about the imagined capital city in Likhoslavl and Olonets with the practices of “generation stages” is revealed. The specificity of the imagined capital positioning of sub-ethnoses of Karelians is determined from the position of local narratives for the incidents of Likhoslavl and Olonets. The imaginary capital of Likhoslavl and Olonets is not inert, but mobile, moving in the symbolic context of spatial subjectivity.
The study of the functioning of the narrative of the imagined capital city of sub-ethnoses of the Karelians opens up a new research field for studying the cultural landscape and socio-political relations at the regional and sub-regional level, which has the potential for further research.
About the Authors
I. Yu. Okunev
MGIMO University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Igor Yu. Okunev – Cand. Sci. (Politics), Director, Center for Spatial Analysis in International
Relations, Institute for International Studies,
prosp. Vernadskogo 76, Moscow 119454
G. I. Ostapenko
MGIMO University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
German I. Ostapenko – Research Assistant, Center for Spatial Analysis in International
Relations, Institute for International Studies,
prosp. Vernadskogo 76, Moscow 119454
References
1. Vakhstein V. [Sociology of everyday life: from “practice” to “frame”]. In: Sotsiologicheskoe obozrenie [Sociological Review], 2006, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 69–75.
2. Kagansky V. L. [Cultural landscape: basic concepts in Russian geography]. In: Observatoriya kultury [Observatory of Culture], 2009, no. 1, pp. 62–70.
3. Kert G. M., Mamontova N. N. Zagadki karel’skoi toponimiki [Riddles of Karelian toponymy]. Petrozavodsk, Karelia Publ., 2007. 120 p.
4. Okunev I. Yu. Stolitsy v zerkale kriticheskoi geopolitiki [Capitals in the mirror of critical geopolitics]. Moscow, Aspect Press Publ., 2020. 272 p.
5. Okunev I. Yu., Ostapenko G. I. [Perception of space in the program of semiotics of the capitals]. In: Chelovek: Obraz i sushchnost’. Gumanitarnye aspekty [Man: Image and essence. Humanitarian aspects], 2022, no. 1, pp. 43–61.
6. Ostapenko G. I. [Positioning of Likhoslavl as a “capital”: a symbolic aspect]. In: Kamrikova M. B., Makarova E. A., eds. Tverskie karely: dve kul’tury – odna rodina [Tver Karelians: two cultures – one homeland]. Likhoslavl, 2022, pp. 97–102.
7. Ragulina M. V. [The classical concept of the cultural landscape of Karl Sauer: history and modernity]. In: Izvestiya Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Nauki o Zemle [Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University. Series: Earth Sciences], 2013, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 174– 182.
8. Rossman V. Stolitsy: ikh mnogoobrazie, okhvati razvitiya i peremeshcheniya [Capitals: their diversity, patterns of development and displacement]. Moscow, Izdatelstvo Instituta Gaydara Publ., 2013. 336 p.
9. Okunev I., Ostapenko G. Symbolism of Capital Cities: Field Research of Stateless Capitals. In: Territorio, 2020, no. 94, pp. 167–178.
10. Patterson M., Monroe K. R. Narrative in Political Science. In: Annual Review of Political Science, 1998, no. 1, pp. 315–331.
11. Randviir A. Space. In: Tamm M., Torop P., eds. The Companion to Juri Lotman. A Semiotic Theory of Culture. London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, pp. 200–210.
12. Rapoport A. On the Nature of Capitals and Their Physical Expression. In: Taylor J., Lengellé J. G., Andrew C., eds. Capital Cities: Perspectives Internationales. Ottawa, Carleton University Press, 1993, pp. 31–67.
13. Riessman C. K. Analysis of Personal Narratives. In: Gubrium J. F., Holstein J. A., eds. Handbook of Interview Research. Context and Method. London, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications. 2001, pp. 695–710.
Review
Views:
160
Email this article 