Vol 16, No 4 (2024)
Theoretical Discourses and Debates
A Critical Turn in Heritage Studies: From Power Discourse to Grassroots Practices
Abstract
In this article, the author analyzes the subject field of cultural heritage studies, starting from the time of the emergence of the scientific discourse on heritage in the 19th century and ending with contemporary critical studies. It is noted that the works published in the last decades revise the usual idea of cultural heritage as an authentic medium between past and present, and instead propose to understand heritage in its processual forms, be it authorized discourses, expert nomination or grassroots practices of protection and care. In doing so, the temporal dimension of heritage, its devalorization and reassembly in relation to the needs of contemporary viewers, becomes important. The author sets out to identify the main directions and reference points of heritage studies and critical heritage studies, theoretical and applied limitations, as well as to determine what leads to the defragmentation of this subject area and whether this process is to be feared. The paper focuses on grassroots practices of heritage use: appropriation, commodification and routinization, and the place heritage is given in the space of the contemporary city.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2024;16(4):10-24
10-24
Meanings of Spaces and Spaces of Meanings
“It Is All Mine, Native!”: A Sense of Place in the Context of Informal Nature Management (the Case of Karakansky Pine Wood)
Abstract
The article reveals the analytical potential of the concept of a sense of place in the annex to such large natural objects as suburban forests. On the data of ethnographic case-study held in 2021-2022 in the Novosibirsk region, shown how the biophysical characteristics of the natural-anthropogenic landscape, refracting through the history of life and individual experience of natural resource management, participate in the formation of place attachment, place dependence, place identity and place satisfaction. The components of a sense of place include both rational and irrational components, voluntariness and necessity, choice and lack thereof. Personal experience of pine wood users — rural residents, summer residents and city tourists — is characterized by different degree of rootedness in the landscape, which qualitatively and quantitatively measured by the duration of permanent and seasonal residence, the presence of generational ties with the place, features of environmental management practices. The experience of place, which shapes the value of the place and through it the components of the sense of place, can be both unifying, creating unconditional value, not based on comparison (native places), and individualizing, creating comparative satisfaction and attachment to place (place resource). Strong emotional experiences of unity with nature are balanced, and often reinforced by economic difficulties, which as a result leads to perception of the place not only as the “best”, but also as “native”, “own”.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2024;16(4):25-43
25-43
Preservation of the Urban Historical Environment: Through Struggle or Cooperation (the Example of the Ural Cities)
Abstract
The article examines the contemporary role of public organizations in preserving the historical urban environment on the example of four cities, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk and Kurgan. Active changes in the urban environment are causing the emergence of social movements seeking to preserve not only cultural heritage sites, but also those buildings that have signs of a cultural heritage site and are under threat of demolition. Using the example of four cities, it reveals how the activities of public organizations can be organized differently depending on external conditions and attitudes to the urban environment.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2024;16(4):44-57
44-57
Field Work Research
Amateur Literary Creativity of Men as a Form of Self-Psychotherapy
Abstract
In this article, we propose to look at amateur literary creativity (writing) as a self-therapeutic practice. Based on 11 in-depth interviews with male amateur writers, we demonstrate that writing can be both a way to solve life’s problems and a means of helping to change one's attitude towards them. We highlight several basic functions of artistic writing (in addition to the struggle for cultural and economic recognition in the literary field, which were already discussed by Bourdieu): an outburst of emotions, aestheticization of difficult everyday experience, implicit communication with people through text. However, despite the fact that writing can have a positive effect on the well-being and action strategies of informants, we also note a number of difficulties associated with the implementation of this practice. The study demonstrates that sometimes male writers (especially at a young age) face the reproach that “writing is not a man's business”. In particular, informants point out that their passion for writing is not perceived (by partners, friends, relatives, etc.) as significant or even existential for their lives if it does not bring income and success. Finally, the last difficulty associated with amateur writing is the dilemma that arises when trying to publish their manuscripts. Informants who have been rejected are faced with the problem of making their work “convenient” for the needs of publishers (thereby depriving themselves of writing as a practice of self-therapy), or continuing to write in such a way that writing continues to perform a therapeutic function, but agreeing to obscurity.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2024;16(4):58-77
58-77
Coping with Negative News: Emotional Experience of Doomscrolling
Abstract
The majority of news encountered in media spaces tends to be negative. At the same time, the flow of information in the modern world is increasing, and series of successive crises prompting heightened attention to such content. There is such a phenomenon as doomscrolling. This study explores how doomscrollers describe their emotional experience of consuming news and strategies for managing negative emotions. Drawing upon empirical data from 47 interviews with doomscrollers conducted between late 2022 and early 2023. Informants associate negative news consumption with emotions such as anxiety (egotropic and sociotropic), helplessness/powerlessness (low external political efficacy and inability to control one's own life), apathy, and anger. Emotional experiences are often described using medicalized and psychotherapeutic vocabulary. Doomscrollers refer to their emotions as a form of illness, manifesting in the use of specialized terms, references to attempts at regulation with the help of healthcare professionals, and emphasis on the physical health consequences of news consumption. The coping strategies for dealing with these emotions are diverse. Informants may attempt to change their media consumption style by limiting their attention to negative news. At the same time, doomscrollers who maintain a high level of news consumption engage in active discussion and collective emotional experiences and may shift their attention to other daily activities. However, the practices of doomscrollers and the meanings they ascribe to their experiences are highly variable and diverse.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2024;16(4):78-95
78-95
Bystanders of Bullying: What Motivates Students to Intervene or Stay on the Sidelines
Abstract
The article examines the reasons for witnesses’ (non)intervention in defending victims of school bullying. We explore the phenomenon of moral disengagement among 8th-10th grade students from two schools in Saint-Petersburg.A thematic analysis of 42 interviews revealed that non-intervention is often accompanied by fear, indifference, and the belief that bullying is deserved. Fear of worsening their position in the group hierarchy and the anxiety of becoming the next victim of bullying act as deterrents, leading students to remain passive bystanders. Indifference is often explained by a focus on personal problems and distancing from the challenges of others. Blaming the victims makes intervention a socially undesirable action. Intervention and support for victims are motivated by friendship with the victim, a sense of moral responsibility for the well-being of others, and personal experiences of having been bullied.The study’s findings are important for developing anti-bullying programs and creating a supportive school environment. Addressing the causes of non-intervention can help teach students to be socially responsible for their own behavior and the behavior of those around them.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2024;16(4):96-112
96-112
Book Reviews
Urban Communities “On the Scene”: Roles, Practices and Cultural Consumption
Abstract
Paper provides a review of Marta Klekotko’s book “Scenes and Communities in the City”. The author has the ambitious task of proposing an approach to discovering and studying urban communities by analyzing the practices of urban everyday life. In this book Marta Klekotko proposes a matrix typology to describe the social practices that constitute urban everyday life. Klekotko’s analytical work mainly focuses on describing the practices of identity acquisition, reproduction and transmission by members of different social groups. In doing so, urban scenes and typical spaces become “models” for the acquisition of practices specific to the community in a particular space of the city. This approach is interesting because it allows us to organize the actions of individuals in the space of the city, both in communities and outside of them. However, there are not many practices that are situational and cannot be described by matrix typology without disadvantage.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2024;16(4):113-121
113-121