History of the Russian province in the memorial culture: political construction

In this study, the author shows how the construction of memorial culture in the modern Russian province is made. The aim of the study is to mark the dependence of the memorial culture from political context. The aim of the study involves the following tasks: 1) to study the causes of the authorities' attention to the problem of cultural memory; 2) to define the accents of politics of memory; 3) to determine the trends of memory culture in Russian province. The research is based on the works by M. Halbwachs, N. Hartmann, P. Bourdieu et al. The author pays attention to the texts of modern researchers of memory culture, like A. Assmann and A. Etkind. The continuity of history and its unity are the basis for the stability of power. The Russian government understands this, and tries to construct a cultural and political space, where historical facts supplement each other. The author shows how the memorial space in Yelets Lipetsk region can be constructed in the new cultural policy conditions. The author finds the 6 plots in which plaques concentrated historical and cultural memory. The author uses case-study method. Each of 6 plots shows us what accents can be found in politics of memory. The city is famous for its revolutionary past, famous countrymen of art and culture that have received international recognition and a number of other heroic practices of importance both for the state and the region. Many famous people lived and worked in Yelets (I. Binin, M. Prishvin, V. Rozanov, T. Khrennikov). There is no doubt that the most popular plot is connected with the Great Patriotic War. Installation of memorial plaques in Yelets has its own logic, reflecting the specific stages of political development in the USSR and modern Russia. The cultural policy of public authorities must promote unity. This problem is solved by looking at the social consensus in campaigns like "Immortal regiment". The ruling elite in the Russian political municipalities use memory for strengthening the political position. But everything may look not so optimistic. Active politics of memory is a very dangerous shift in the cultural sphere from the problems of social and economic sphere. At the same time, the city government listens to the federal trends. This underscores the opportunistic selectivity of modern politicians and calling into question the tactics and strategy of the Russian ruling class.

Keywords

Authors

References