CULTURAL CODE OF VELIKY NOVGOROD: SEMIOTIC DIMENSION
UDC index:
316.7
DOI: 10.31773/2078-1768-2024-67-39-46
Article ID in the RSCI:
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Information about authors: Speshilova Elizaveta Ivanovna, research fellow of the Research and Educational Center for Humanitarian Urbanistics of the Higher Humanitarian School “Antonovo”, Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University (Veliky Novgorod, Russia). E-mail: e.speshilova@yandex.ru
Annotation: The article explores the urban environment as a cultural space filled with historical, social and symbolic meanings. The author relies on the semiotic approach proposed by Yu. Lotman, U. Eco, R. Barthes and M. Gottdiener, according to which the city is a diverse and heterogeneous text written by many authors. It is shown that diverse urban spaces are read by different urban actors or communities who interpret a particular place in the context of their individual or collective experiences. The author argues that in order to understand the city it is important to take into account its cultural code as a relatively stable system of fixing locally significant meanings that allow reading and interpreting the information encoded in the urban environment. Using Veliky Novgorod as an example, the author finds out how the cultural code is represented in urban spaces and what historical and cultural ideas, symbols and meanings are associated with a specific urban environment. According to the results of the survey of Veliky Novgorod residents, it was revealed that the most widespread is the description of Novgorod as an old, ancient, historical city, which is the source of Russian statehood and is known for its historical and architectural monuments. The author notes that attention to the forms of preservation, presentation and translation of local identity becomes especially valuable in the context of globalization with its characteristic tendencies to unify cultural processes and practices. Due to the symbolic nature of the cultural code, locally significant meanings, events and heroes are recorded in the collective memory, which makes it possible to identify urban identity and use the city’s cultural code as a tool for developing a sense of belonging to the urban community and strengthening the solidarity of urban dwellers.
Keywords: urban studies, cultural memory, semiotics of the city, urban anthropology, cultural turn, local identity
DOI: 10.31773/2078-1768-2024-67-39-46
Article ID in the RSCI:
Article file: Download
Information about authors: Speshilova Elizaveta Ivanovna, research fellow of the Research and Educational Center for Humanitarian Urbanistics of the Higher Humanitarian School “Antonovo”, Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University (Veliky Novgorod, Russia). E-mail: e.speshilova@yandex.ru
Annotation: The article explores the urban environment as a cultural space filled with historical, social and symbolic meanings. The author relies on the semiotic approach proposed by Yu. Lotman, U. Eco, R. Barthes and M. Gottdiener, according to which the city is a diverse and heterogeneous text written by many authors. It is shown that diverse urban spaces are read by different urban actors or communities who interpret a particular place in the context of their individual or collective experiences. The author argues that in order to understand the city it is important to take into account its cultural code as a relatively stable system of fixing locally significant meanings that allow reading and interpreting the information encoded in the urban environment. Using Veliky Novgorod as an example, the author finds out how the cultural code is represented in urban spaces and what historical and cultural ideas, symbols and meanings are associated with a specific urban environment. According to the results of the survey of Veliky Novgorod residents, it was revealed that the most widespread is the description of Novgorod as an old, ancient, historical city, which is the source of Russian statehood and is known for its historical and architectural monuments. The author notes that attention to the forms of preservation, presentation and translation of local identity becomes especially valuable in the context of globalization with its characteristic tendencies to unify cultural processes and practices. Due to the symbolic nature of the cultural code, locally significant meanings, events and heroes are recorded in the collective memory, which makes it possible to identify urban identity and use the city’s cultural code as a tool for developing a sense of belonging to the urban community and strengthening the solidarity of urban dwellers.
Keywords: urban studies, cultural memory, semiotics of the city, urban anthropology, cultural turn, local identity
