INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURAL RESEARCH

Ekaterina SUROVA

Russia, St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg State University. Faculty of Philosophy.
Department of cultural studies. PhD, senior lecturer.

The Principle of Identification in Culture

In the last century the principle of identification, a problem area in modern culture, and the urge to characterize historical and cultural models of identity, have gained special prominence in cultural discourse. This article studies the construction and specific function of the identity principle. It examines the increasing intensity of the dynamics of changing figurative representations, which became more apparent in Europe in the beginning of the ХХ century as the crisis of identity arose. On a massive scale, the dynamics of changing identity threatens individual integrity and results in individuals aspiring to identify themselves with narrow and exclusive groups, changing the I-identity position to We-identity. The high intensity of change in the available identity images is precisely described, for example, in N. Elias' works. This article investigates the processes which have led to changes in the cultural basis of identity, the theoretical field of notions and concepts, and the systems of the images accompanying the identification process.

Key words: Identity, identification, figurative representations, the self, integrity, identity typology

Natalia TRUBNIKOVA

Russia, Tomsk.
Tomsk polytechnic university. Humanitarian faculty. Head of the Department.
PhD in history, senior lecturer.

Scientific and Political Discourses of Identity: the Path of Self-determination or "Invention of traditions"?

The author analyzes the main theme and ways of applying the concept of ‘identity’ in scientific and political discourse. In researching the logic of ‘social constructivism’ the key emphasis is on the social, cultural and political factors that form public consciousness and in many respects define the ideological and value orientations of the modern world. In political logic, the problem of the conflict of identities has special importance. In expressing the attachment of certain individuals or groups to certain territories, identity as an analytic category implicitly collapses to many descriptive parameters. The principal complexity is connected with a sense of ambiguity. Having arisen as a construction of scholarly discourse, ‘identity’ has shifted to a political context, where it is used by ethnic and religious groups as a means of self-affirmation. This ‘fixed’ concept is peculiar also to scholarly literature devoted to the description of complicated political processes where it is expressed in ideas of gender, race, ethnicity, and nationalism, and often reifying the phenomenon in question. Without realizing the fact that identity is always a product implanted historically and socially, many authors try to insert ‘identity’ into the historical process, titling their articles ‘the politics of memory’, ‘identity construction’, ‘factory of places’, ‘identity territories’, and ‘the invention of traditions’. Modern discussions around the concept of ‘identity’ aspire to overcome schematic ‘perusal lattices’ in research devoted to problems of identity, and to develop more sophisticated tools of analysis that would be able to capture the processes of mastering and transforming signs in social groups.

Key words: identity, social constructivism, reification of categories, discourse, culture, cultural science, historical memory, nation, regionalism, cross-country-cultural communications

Basya NIKIFOROVA

Lithuania, Vilnius.
The Lithuanian institute of cultural research (Vilnius).
The Department of modern philosophy, the senior scientist. PhD, senior lecturer.

Homo Europaeus: Religious and Secular Challenges

The author’s objective is to define “European identity” and the modern myths that have arisen around it. The article addresses the secular nature of Europe as a synonym for peace and prosperity and religion as a source of division and danger. Currently around these myths arises the differentiation of Homo Europaeus into the Western- and Eastern-European, in their relation to religion, metaphysics, and history. A dichotomy has emerged between the two most important types of Homo Europaeus, which differ in cultural heritage. The secular and materialistic Homo Europaeus prevails in Western Europe and the more spiritual and metaphysical prevails in the East. The author explores the consequences for identity and values perception in the new European situation, wherein borders are merely symbolic. Moving into the sphere of values, the protection of borders, traditional values, and national conditions mainly characterizes the Eastern European mentality. For the Western “European” such post-materialist values as personal expression, new environmental awareness, openness to the Other, and a high tolerance for racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity are inherent. In the sphere of religion, the values of the Western “European” translate into championing everyone’s right to practice their religion, and from the secular standpoint, a “de-territorialization,” in which the world is traveled not only by people, but by people with their cultural and religious traditions. The author discusses these problems and the ambiguity of their interpretation.

Key words: Homo Europaeus, European identity, religion, secularization, religious pluralism, “de-territorialization”

Andrey BOBRIKHIN

Russia, Ekaterinburg.
The Russian State Professional Pedagogical University.
College of Arts, the senior teacher. Senior lecturer.

Representations of Ethnic Identity in Modern Culture

The innovative development of Russia raises questions regarding the historical orientation of national identity, the generation /construction of identity, deconstruction of the historical experience of image-making, and considerations of identity as a figurative-symbolical vision. In the traditional society, ethnic identity is not a problem. Ethno-cultural identity is largely absent in a traditional discourse, but dominates ‘traditionalist’ discourse. The age-old Russian experience of designing ethno-cultural identity and the search for a national character shows a wonderfully repetitious scheme in which symbols and signs of this identity, being formulated, presented, and exposed, are perceived by the culture and its carriers as alien, external, “foreign”. Sincere attempts by the ‘designers of identity’ to replicate ethno-cultural images and try on ‘national clothes’ appear farcical. This article considers images of traditional ethnic culture in modern cultural space. National culture is considered as a source of the symbols contributing to the formation of models of ethnic identity. Ethnic identity is based on images of traditional national culture and history and is an identity with a common past.

Key words: ethnic identity, social designing, indexes of identity, social mythology, urban visual communications

Tatyana KRUGLOVA

Russia, Ekaterinburg.
The Ural State University named after A.M. Gorky. Faculty of Philosophy.
The Department of ethics, aesthetics and the theory and history of culture. PhD, professor.

Works of Social Realism as Evidence of “Revolution in Feelings”: Existential Problems of Characters in Bbooks by Arkady Gaidar

This article focuses on the analysis of identity forms and structures as they are presented in the literary texts of a specific period. Two decades after the beginning of a new revolutionary cycle in Russian history we have a chance to develop a deeper understanding of what happened to us in the 20th century. The author offers a new approach to analyzing any historical type of art. Art is perceived as invaluable evidence of the past epoch and, above all, of its people. Art in different epochs creates a self-image for contemporary readers and for future generations; however, they leave unconscious tracks and something remains hidden. In this article the texts of Socialist realism are treated as some of the most representative documents of the age and as the key to understanding essential things that were happening to people during the Stalinist modernization. Though the last generations of the Soviets rejected the works of Socialist realism as insufficiently reliable evidence, the author argues that Socialist realism is not only a style; it is an outlook on the world, containing a special type of axiology and psychology. The article reviews the works of one of the most appealing and captivating authors of that age, Arkady Gaidar.

Key words: image of the epoch, self-awareness, Social realism, Soviet identity

Olga KIRILLOVA

Ukraine, Kiev.
National Pedagogical University named after M. P. Dragomanov.
The Department of cultural science. PhD in philosophy, senior lecturer.

"The French Lieutenant’s Complex" in Culture: Psychoanalysis, Identification, Postmodernism

The article focuses on the creation of new strategies of identification as described in postmodern fiction, using as an example the novels by J. Fowles. These strategies are interpreted, borrowing Lacan’s psychoanalytic terminology, as the so-called “chef-d’oeuvres socials.” One such strategy is described in the article as “The French Lieutenant’s Complex,” which identifies the subject with the history of his fundamental trauma.

Key words: subject, identification, “chef-d’oeuvres sociales”, “The French Lieutenant’s Complex”, transferent text

Lev YAKOVLEV

Russia, Saratov.
P. A. Stolypin Volga Region Academy of Public Administration.
The Department of sociology, social policy and regional history.
PhD in sociological sciences, professor.

Pluralism and the Individualization of the Processes of Identification as an Effect of Globalization

Quite a few investigators interpret new phenomena in contemporary mass culture as dehumanization. Dehumanization occurs when the attention of an author, reader, or viewer shifts from the character and values of human communities to alternative attributes and there is a crisis in traditional models of identification. Some authors interpret this process as dehumanizing. The author defines it differently, as substituting tolerance for xenophobia. In the socio-cultural context, xenophobia is an expression of a fear of loss of identity. In the author’s opinion, this crisis is a manifestation of a general crisis of modernity. Globalization suggests the homogenization of economic, political and cultural spaces, such that the existing social community and forms of social organization are replaced by social networks. The inevitable result is an individualization of processes of identification.

Key words: identification, globalization, socio-cultural space, modern, postmodern, social communities, the social network organization, social change, individualization

Vladimir KONEV

Russia, Samara.
Samara State University. The Department of philosophy of humanitarian faculties. Head of the Department.
PhD in philosophy, professor.

Monologues in the Dialogues Between Commonality and Difference

This article examines the dialogue or quasi-dialogue about commonality and difference as categories of culture. In the course of a quasi-dialogue, two protagonists, according to the content of the discussion, constantly slide over to their interlocutor’s position. One inclines toward the tradition of cultural studies, the other one to philosophical reflection, though neither position is pure. Thus the characters have symbolical "names", and the dialogue seems rather like a discussion among diplomats, where each simply delivers a long speech about his intentions, and the whole thing looks like a roll call of cocks in the morning.

Key words: the One, Difference, distinction, identity, Plato, dialogue, philosophy of culture, Spengler, cultural history, responsibility, Bakhtin, an ideal, Deleuse, ontological difference, valuable distinction, individuality

Alexander LYUSY

Russia, Moscow.
Russian Institute for Cultural Research, the seniour rearcher.
PhD in cultural science.

Parade of Utopias

The Utopia of Unity is regarded as an optical axis for dreams, images, and national disorders of social reality. According to A. Gusseynov, philosophy sets Utopian coordinates for culture when it describes the future, rather than when it formulates in its own (narrow) idea of Utopia. Philosophers create their Utopias in the course of formulating their doctrines and systems. The problem of philosophy is the same as that of the modern society: the absence of ideal prospects and a comprehensive, philosophical, and reasonable ideal that can inspire practical efforts toward the perfection of life. The old Utopia, which hoped for happy transformation of the world by means of science and technology, has failed and a new Utopia has not yet been developed. The research presented in this article asks how coordinates are being set within the framework of systems for self-determination in culture, and how those coordinates of self-determination correspond to figurative systems of thought and language.

Key words: utopia, the One, dream, daydream, night dream, ideal, self-determination of culture

Tomas KAČERAUSKAS

Lithuania, Vilnius.
PhD in philosophie. Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.
Department of Philosophy and Political Theory.

Cultural Studies in Lithuania: the Ideas and the Names

The article examines cultural studies in Lithuania. The author interprets three periods: 1) the interwar period, 2) the post-war period that covers both cultural research in Soviet Lithuania and research conducted by Lithuanian emigrants abroad, and 3) the post-Soviet period. The author interprets works by a number of prominent Lithuanian cultural researchers based on the following premises: 1) cultural studies are inseparable from the discourse of modernity, even when we speak about the postmodern cultural situation and its representatives; 2) culture should be interpreted as an integral whole available for philosophical reflection; 3) cultural studies hover between regional identity and global tendencies; 4) cultural studies should be developed with respect to hermeneutic intentions; 5) cultural phenomena have been used by cultural studies in reference to the world we inhabit as cultural environment, and our creative role within it; 6) researchers in cultural studies participate in both the vertical cultural community of a certain region and the horizontal, international scholarly society; 7) cultural studies is emerging as an interdisciplinary discourse, i.e. as a result of “long way” (Ricoeur) tactics.

Key words: cultural studies, idea of culture, region, identity

Olga CHURAKOVA

Russia, Arkhangelsk.
Pomor State University named after M. V. Lomonosov.
PhD in history, senior lecturer.

The Symbolical Representation of Women in Traditional Cultures of Northern Europe and the Preservation of Ethnic and Gender Identity of Northern Women

Northern Eurasia is a marginal zone between cultural being and mythical non-being, the border between physical place and fairy tale, a pole of the universe. This ultimate world creates its own features of ethnic and cultural identity. Ethnological and gender studies allow us to form social and cultural systems that offer the possibility to reflect and decode the macrocosms and microcosms of ethnic and gender sign systems. The modernization and urbanization of modern culture, the transformation of social hierarchy, the subversion of cultural values, ethical norms, and gender roles tend to result in a crisis of traditional ethnic and gender identity. Is it possible for traditional Northern cultures to return to old values and patriarchal gender settings? To answer this question, the author applies analytical methods of cultural studies to study of the symbolical presence of women in traditional cultures of the Northern Europe.

Key words: women studies, identity, gender, myth, Northern people

Michail KUZMIN

Russia, St. Petersburg.
Newspaper «CHASPIKNEWSPAPER». Editor of department of culture.
Poet, art critic, journalist.

Thirst for Topicality — is this a Thirst for Acknowledgment? An Interview with Valery Savchuk. Part 1.

IThis article presents an interview with Valery Savchuk, a well-known scholar of modern culture, artist, and curator It includes a brief retrospective journey into the history of modern art, and discusses current features of the dynamics of the artistic process. In considering how the identity of an artist is currently being shaped and developed, Savchuk analyses Russian and foreign philosophical and artistic experience, illuminates ‘hot spots’, where a contact of subjectivities is occurring, and reveals the mechanisms and forms of cultural influence. A distinctive artistic measure of identity is connected not only with the sociopolitical environment, but also with the dynamics of identity, the concepts of tolerance and ‘open-mindedness’ that contextualize experience and the understanding of reality. Perceiving and adopting the hypermobility of the structure of the world in this way, modern artist obtains new possibilities for self-presentation. Valery Savchuk answered Mihail Kuzmin‘s questions.

Key words: modern artistic process, contemporary art, art project, visual nature, subjectivity, revolt, social, corporality, trauma

Michael STEPANOV

Russia, St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg State University. Faculty of Philosophy.
The center of mediaphilosophy. Scientist.

Interview with Prof. Elisbeth von Samsonov. "Body, Machine and Art"

In an interview with Michael Stepanov, the famous Austrian philosopher Elisabeth von Samsonow discusses topical issues of modern philosophy and the arts: How to transform the concept of soul and body in a technologized world? Is there an alternative to trans-humanism with its cult of the machine and hybridization? What happens to the body in modernity?

List of publications Elisabeth von Samsonow on the site of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Key words: Elisabeth von Samsonow, body, machine, media and contemporary art

Alina VENKOVA

Russia, St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Institute of Cultural Research. Deputy director.
PhD in cultural research, senior lecturer.

The Transgression of Media in the Philosophy of Dietmar Kamper and the Critical Theory of Rosalind Krauss (on Dietmar Kamper's Body. Violence. Pain and Rosalind E. Krauss's Perpetual Inventory)

This article explores the concept of “the transgression of media” in the philosophy of Dietmar Kamper and the critical theory of Rosalind Krauss. The analysis is based on Dietmar Kamper’s book Body. Violence. Pain (a collection of articles, recently translated into Russian) and Rosalind E. Krauss’s book Perpetual Inventory. The article shows the similarities and differences in the theoretical approaches of the two authors to such concepts as dematerialization of media, formlessness, performative act, post-medium condition, and mediation of memory.

Key words: media, transgression, performative, formless, postmedium condition

Tatyana BYSTROVA

Russia, Ekaterinburg.
The Ural State University named after A.M. Gorky. PhD in philosophy, professor.
The scientific editor of the magazine « Academic bulletin Ural SRI project RAABS».

Implementation of Cultural Identity in the Architectural Space of Education: Universities in China

The object of this article is to analyze the architecture of modern Chinese universities. The author explores the influence of the long spiritual tradition of China on the approach to design and interpretation of architectural objects. The author analyzes the influence of Taoist and Confucian aesthetics on the formation of educational space.

Key words: spiritual tradition, architecture, Taoist aesthetics, Confucian aesthetics, educational space, university architecture

Anna KONEVA

Russia, St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Institute of Cultural Research, head of department.
PhD in philosophy, senior lecturer.

Fashion: Presentation of Individuality and Identity Codes

This article regards fashion in the context of modern culture as a paradigm of difference. In this paradigm, diversity and individuality constitute the most relevant values. The paradigm of ‘difference’ emphasizes visual presentation, which presents only demonstrated differences, not essential differences (the spectacle society, G. Debord). Fashion is one of the most important cultural mechanisms for “affirming difference” (G. Deuleuse).Fashion clearly tends towards a universalism of forms and attention to one’s own national sources. The presentations of individuality crystallize into a combination of types or codes, and the codes per se are forms of identification practices, and rules of social recognition. Fashion develops a new consciousness in modern culture — the “runway consciousness” — where image manipulation is more important than the quest for existential foundations. However, the contemporary space of daily experience constitutes a labyrinth, wherein the path is determined by the formats or concepts of choice. The competition of identities is a current challenge in the world. In the process of self-identification through visual codes, by finding I-confirmation in symbols of fashion, advertizing, and branding, the subject of “spectacle society” becomes distinguished and diversified not only in virtual culture but also inactuality.

Key words: cultural paradigm, difference, individuality, identity, image, fashion

Maria YAKOVLEVA

Russia, St. Petersburg.
Herzen State Pedagogical University. Department of theory and history of culture.
PhD in cultural research, senior lecturer.

Review of the Book "Morphology of the Riddle" by S. Y. Senderovich

In reviewing The Morphology of the Riddle by S. Senderovich, the author offers a full analytical and cultural overview of the book, devoted to the description of the foundations, the topics, and the methodology of a new field, the morphology of the Riddle. Exploring The Morphology of the Riddle allows one to speak about the urgency and novelty of the approach as well as the primacy of the message. Traditional approaches to analyzing the phenomena of national culture cannot demonstrate the potential of such a "cultural genre" (Senderovich's term). The Morphology of the Riddle not only provides a necessary update to the analytical system of a scholarly field, it changes the way the riddle of culture is perceived. For example, Senderovich defines the “gaps”, i.e. collision points in the strategies of discussion, opening new levels of understanding regarding the phenomenon of a riddle. The reviewer classifies Senderovich’s study of culture as an "open work”, conducted at the boundaries of knowledge, and a “must read” for anyone who reflects on the essence of culture.

Key words: morphology, semiotics, hermeneutics, riddle, national culture, text, border, paradox, poetics