(IJCRSEE) International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education Vol. 2, No.1, 2014.
SEMIOTICS OF SOCIAL MEMORY IN URBAN SPACE: THE CASE OF VOLGOGRAD (STALINGRAD)
Dr. Irina Yanushkevich, Volgograd State University, Russia E-mail: [email protected] Received: April, 14. 2014. Accepted: May, 26.2014. Original Article UDK 711.523(470.45) 316.334.56
Abstract. Social memory as a kind of collective about the semiotic approach to urbanistic stud- memory is connected with the strategies and practices ies two directions can be taken into account: of perpetuating the memory about important events, and the structural analysis of sign systems which city as a commemorative space can be viewed as a sign focuses upon their interrelationships in the and as a text. The semiotic means encoding social phe- semiosphere of the city, and the phenomeno- nomena and events represent the system of denotation, logical analysis of sign processes emphasizing while the ways of place naming represent the culturally the role of the human environment (umwelt) conditioned system of connotation operating behind in the use of signs which causes changes in the denotation code. The semiotics of social memory the urban landscape. The semiotic approach was examined by the example of the city of Volgograd to the urban landscape studies in various (Stalingrad), the landscape of which appeals to a most aspects is regarded fruitful in the research of significant historical event – the Great Patriotic War many scholars (Barthes, 1982; Greimas, 1986; (World War II) – and can be conveniently described by Jachna, 2004; Kostof, 1991; Rose-Redwood means of Ch. S. Peirce’s classification of signs in which et al. 2009; Singer, 1991). Thus, T. J. Jachna icons include signs denoting war heroes and represented (2004) describes the connection between by their sculptural images; indices include signs denot- urban space and digital communication tech- ing artifacts associated with the war events; symbols nologies and argues that the digital layer of a are represented by toponymy signs characterized by the city’s infrastructure is causing re-formulation connotations of heroic deeds; all these signs representing of ‘the urban’ as a complex, multidimensional cultural and political values specific for the Volgograd semiotic system. In Rose-Redwood et al. society. The semiotic density of social memory repre- 2009 semiotic approaches are applied to the sentation may be considered a ground for shaping the examination of commemorative toponyms. city’s ‘imagined community’ (the term suggested by B. Linking semiotics to politics, the authors indi- Anderson, 1983) of a particular kind. cate that the interdisciplinary study is espe- Keyword: Social memory, Historical memory, cially rewarding because it allows exploring Imagined community, City-text, Semiotic code, Toponymy. place naming in its interrelation with political power throughout the course of history. In that way, commemorative priorities influenced by 1. INTRODUCTION certain ideology can be recognized through toponymy. The aim of the article is to analyze the means of representation of social memory and cultural values in the urban space using the 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS semiotic approach. Semiotics as the study of signs grouped Urban landscape can be described as a into systems of codes analyzes the processes particular system of communication where of constructing and understanding meanings places, buildings, architectural styles, urban based on the denotative correlation with the rites and ceremonies, the very lay-out of the cultural values of a given society. Speaking city, as well as the names of its streets code meanings in shapes, forms and words. Big cities, in particular, concentrate principal Corresponding Author national sets of signs representing cultural Irina Yanushkevich, Volgograd State University, values of local societies. Significant historical Volgograd, Russia, changes result in the changes of urban semi- E-mail: [email protected] otics when many old sign systems carrying
www.ijcrsee.com 43 (IJCRSEE) International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education Vol. 2, No.1, 2014. old meanings are supplemented by a number Modern scholarship defines social of new symbols standing for new values. The memory as a complex intertwining of public old and new signs are interwoven into semio- morals, values and ideals; it is a phenomenon spheres of new cities. As D. Stevenson (2003, which can be subject to philosophical, socio- 93) states, logical, historical, psychological, and linguis- “Cities are stages for the great triumphs tic research. In the works of scholars belong- and tragedies of humanity – sites for the events ing to the cultural-semiotic approach (Лотман, and interactions which define the ages. <…> 2004; Assmann and Czaplicka, 1995; Rüsen, In the city, the result has been a change in the 2005) social memory is considered in the cul- relationship between its material and symbolic tural aspects through its relation to the means aspects”. of mass-communication which are able to The semiotic relations in semiosphere transform in the course of time and, conse- manifest themselves as the relations between quently, to give rise to different types of think- the interpreting system and the system inter- ing about past. These scholars state that cul- preted. Signs used by a society can be fully tural memory has ‘text’ nature and represents interpreted by means of language signs, but a combination of two basic elements: canonic not vice versa. Thus, language turns out to be texts and the means of their decoding which an interpretant of society and involves soci- ensure the topicality of these texts regardless ety. So, when speaking about codifying social of the stage of the society progress. The struc- experience by language, the term ‘sociosemi- tural approach (Levi-Strauss, 1963, Foucault, otic code’ seems to be appropriate. 2002, Barthes, 1982) is connected, by its meth- Semioticians state (Никитина, 2006) odological premise, with the cultural-semiotic that a sign standing for a unit of human expe- one; it emphasizes the out-of-time structures rience reflected in human’s consciousness is which penetrate all the strata of social real- connected with the two basic forms of percep- ity. The post-structural approach (Baudril- tion of the environment: space and time. Three lard, 1994, Nora, 1989, Анкерсмит, 2003) spatial vectors set up the coordinates of a sign examines the dynamic changing of social phe- referring it to name, object, and meaning. The nomena (including social memory) in spatial fourth coordinate – that of time – links it to aspects and thus introduces the notion of ‘the other signs in a linear chain providing it with topology of social memory’ which accentuates sense. The process of coding experience per- the idea that places and landscapes laden with ceived by man underlies the classification of cultural significance prevent social ‘amnesia’. signs according to the time axis, that is, clas- A French sociologist M. Halbwaches sifying is connected with spiritual activity (Halbwaches, 1950) has convincingly dem- and cognition which operate with senses. The onstrated that the main function of collective space of senses is connected with material memory consists in upholding the cohesive- world which, when being reflected in mind ness of the society and its reproducing by and transformed into spiritual nature, objecti- way of transmitting the commonly shared fies senses in various forms: nature and soci- history rather than preserving its past. This is ety phenomena, objects of material culture, the reason why the collective memory is fre- behavior, oral speech and its written form, quently embellished, falsified, and mystified. thereby representing texts or signs. All these M. Halbwaches connected social memory with commonly recognized forms represent social the work of social power mechanisms. Social meanings; they are always communicable and memory as a kind of collective memory deals socialized. with the knowledge of the past and the pres- The store of social meanings is social ent, about historical events and historical per- memory consisting of a materialized (retro- sonalities, and includes emotional experience. spective) part and a live (current) part. The Social memory keeps up group identities and materialized part comprises two kinds of is understood as a history of ‘collective men- meanings: 1) functional – the meanings of arti- talities’ (metaphorically defined by P. Nora) facts which represent their purport, and 2) sign which may coincide neither with each other – the meanings of texts representing the plane nor with the official discourse. Social memory of content. As is put in (Соколов, 2002), live results from social constructing (the term sug- memory deals with non-imprinted meanings gested by P. L. Berger & T. Luckmann, 1966), which are represented by knowledge, beliefs, therefore, the way in which the past is called and social feelings. These mental meanings up depends on the power of the group which are invariants of sign meanings which are free creates the memory of its own. from the material form. Historical memory as a kind of social
www.ijcrsee.com 44 (IJCRSEE) International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education Vol. 2, No.1, 2014. memory arises from the time or spatial ‘bun- culturally conditioned system of connotation dles of memory’ (or ‘lieux de memoire’, operating behind the denotation code. according to Nora) with which the society As is well known, the connection associates its memory: memorials, celebra- between a signifier and a signified which is tions, museums, anniversaries, and so on. obligatory for any sign can be motivated (con- These ‘places of memory’ are constructed and ditioned in this or that way and, thus, expli- reconstructed according to the needs of the cable), and non-motivated. In human’s mind, present. After such social tragedies as World motivated connections (or associations) are of Wars I and II, the Holocaust, Stalin’s repres- two kinds: by contiguity and by resemblance sions the collective memory has acquired ethi- of phenomena. Charles Sanders Peirce proved cal connotations, besides social and religious that in semiotics the said relations embrace all ones. Social memory represents such kinds of possible kinds of connections between the sig- events as a certain system of images, opinions, nifier and the signified of any sign. In accor- symbols and myths and often imparts sym- dance with these three kinds of connections bolic meaning to the events and personalities: (by contiguity, by resemblance, and non-moti- it recognizes in a certain event or an individual vated) Peirce postulated the existence of three the embodiment of the spirit and desires of the classes of elementary signs: indices, icons, whole epoch endowing them with the intrin- and symbols. The proposed classification of sic features of the events and people of the signs allows to see the essential processes past. By citing as examples the events from of semiosis; moreover, it correlates with the the historical past of the people, the society is three ways of perceiving time by a person. In imposed on with a certain set of values, and his work “Existential Graphs” (Peirce, 1973), the transmission of social norms, morals and Peirce describes such correlation: rules of conduct takes place, i.e., in the broad “Thus the mode of being of the symbol sense, the reproduction of culture is fulfilled, differs from that of the icon and from that of and on the basis of the proper image of the the index. An icon has such being as belongs past the national or group identity is shaped. to past experience. It exists only as an image Nowadays none of the political elites of the in the mind. An index has the being of pres- world can but influence social memory trans- ent experience. <…> The value of a symbol mitting through the mass historical education is that it serves to make thought and conduct and other channels a definite system of values rational and enables us to predict the future”. and notions regarding the historical heritage Pivotal here is that all the three types of of its country, thereby manipulating its pres- signs being connected with social memory and ent and future and constructing an imagined belonging to different paradigms allow using community. their coding potential for creating denotative- ‘The policy of collective memory’ is connotative space which marks an individual associated with the strategies and practices city as whole and unique. directed to the shaping and reproducing iden- I will examine the interaction of these tities, first and foremost, national and ethnical. paradigms and signs by the example of the Among the ways of implementing ‘the policy city of Volgograd (Stalingrad) in which social of memory’ there can be found out constructing memory about the important historical events memorials and monuments, celebrating his- is very strong. Social memory can be consid- torical events and significant dates which are ered a ground for shaping the city imagined important at the state or regional levels, stim- community of a particular kind. Departing ulating historical research and publications from the idea of B. Anderson that an imag- on socially relevant issues, commemorating ined community is a community of fellow- significant events and noted people. In urban members united (or, rather, they are imagined landscape these practices include building up to be united) by common ideological dispo- memorials and naming streets, parks, squares, sitions, and, to a great extent, by commonly etc., with appropriate names, thereby creating shared cultural priorities and social behavioral a special urban space rich in references to the patterns, and taking into account his idea that event to be remembered. From this point of “word’s multiple significations, nation-ness, view city as a commemorative space can be as well as nationalism, are cultural artifacts of viewed as a sign and as a text, that is, within a particular kind” (Anderson, 1983, 48), I will the semiotic and linguistic paradigms. Soci- use semiotics as a tool for analyzing the con- osemiotic means encoding social phenomena nections between cultural and political pro- and events represents the system of denota- cesses having their roots in the historical past tion, while the language code represents the of the city of Volgograd.
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3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION the collective memory and are represented by their sculptural images, e.g. marshals V. Chu- Two significant components of the his- jkov and G. Zhukov, division commander V. torical past have influenced the social memory Kholzunov, Severomortsy (the North Sea sol- of the Volgograd imagined community, shaped diers), the war official of Cheka (security offi- the city landscape and represented its image cer), a soldier of the Pavlov’s detachment who on the political map of Russia: twice in its his- defended the central city square, soldiers in the tory the city performed the frontier post – first, Mamaev Hill complex, Komsomol members as a former Cossack military settlement in the in the Komsomol Park, seaman M. Panikakha, XVI c. (it was called Tsaritsyn from 1589 to and the panorama “The Defeat of the Fascist 1925, from the Turkic name of the river Sary- Army near Stalingrad” which is performed Sy ‘Yellow Sands’, the Volga River nowadays) on canvas and installed in a building of 120 and second, as the dead stop in the Nazi army meters round and 16 meters high. A special offensive in 1943. I will focus on the means monument in honor of the demolitions dogs of commemorating the Great Patriotic War is going to be constructed in Volgograd: it will (World War II) and show how the big commu- commemorate their great services during the nity of Volgograd keeps up social and cultural war. values of a modern city in connection with its Indices (signals correlating with and historical heritage. pointing to something) include signs designat- The study of cities as texts draws atten- ing artifacts associated with the war events. tion of various scholars. They consider the city These are armaments being out of use nowa- as semiotic layering of material facts (archi- days, put on pedestals and having become mon- tectural styles, materials for designing build- uments: 18 tanks of famous T-34-76 series of ings of various destination, the city lay-out, 1942 indicating the first line of defense, Yak-3 museums, monuments, statues, and so on) rep- interceptors, a U-2 fighter-bomber, a BK-13 resenting the city landscape which can reflect armored boat, a special fire-boat participat- social and political structuring of the city, ideo- ing in transporting food and ammunition to logical grounds and social priorities in the life besieged Stalingrad, a soldier’s helmet with a of its dwellers (cf. political semiotics as one shot hole in it. In miniature, these ‘indices’ can of the possible approaches in Rose-Redwood be seen at the exhibitions of the war armament et al. 2009). Thus, much of the recent scholar- models made with great verisimilitude by the ship has touched upon large cities of the world hands of young citizens. As a new tradition in and the capitals of the states which underwent commemorating the Great Patriotic War with geopolitical changes resulting from the chang- special artifacts, on 9 May 2011 all the partici- ing of power regimes, the contestation of the pants and spectators of the events in honor of local authorities, or the nationalistic aspira- the Victory Day could take away khaki field tions (Azaryahu, 1997; Gill, 2005; Light, caps which were given them by the members 2004; Palonen, 2008; Rose-Redwood, 2008; of the city youth organizations. Vuolteenaho and Ainiala, 2009; Yeoh, 1996). Symbols (an arbitrary representation of However, as M. Azaryahu rightly points out, the thing in the world), connoting signs, are of much interest can be the study of provincial represented by artifacts (e.g. the statue of the cities and even small towns (Azaryahu, 2011, Motherland calling to fighting; the Eternal 29) as they do not undergo significant changes Flame symbolizing eternal remembrance of owing to the sluggishness of their authorities the fallen for the country; it has been carried to and to the stability of social memory about other cities suffered from the War; the figure important events. of Mother mourning over her Son by the Lake Volgograd as one of the provincial cities of Tears; an old poplar enclosed in red gran- (though with the population exceeding one ite as the only tree in the center of the city million people) can be considered a commem- which survived the Stalingrad battle). Since orative city because most of its memorials and 2005, by the initiative of the youth organiza- 15 % of street names appeal to one historic tion “The Students’ Society”, a new tradition event – the Great Patriotic War (World War II). has become part of the Victory Day: a Geor- The semiotics of the city can be ade- gian ribbon (originated from the ribbon to the quately described by means of Peircean clas- Order of St. George the Victorious, the high- sification of signs. Thus, icons (a ‘picture’ of est war award of the Russian Empire, since a thing or a person; physical resemblance of 1769, with narrow black-and-yellow stripes what it stands for) include signs denoting war – ‘smoke and fire of the battle-field’) is given heroes whose images have been preserved in freely to those who wish; it is received as a
www.ijcrsee.com 46 (IJCRSEE) International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education Vol. 2, No.1, 2014. symbol of national unity and of the pride in and devoid of evaluative connotations hinders the national past and is bound to bags, cars’ their interiorizing of these locations and shar- antennae, tied on arms and lapels. ing common social feelings and emotions. All these material structures are placed During the years after the Great Patriotic in urban space according to definite patterns to War none of the streets named after the war construct a semiotic fabric of the emotionally heroes were renamed; moreover, for the last laden city. two decades some old streets have received Symbolic function is also performed by new names connected with the war events and language signs denominating streets and city heroes. New streets in new-built quarters have squares in honor of the war heroes and char- been named after the painters, artists, compos- acterized by the connotations of their heroic ers, writers and poets who have glorified the deeds. These signs can be divided into two heroes of the Stalingrad Battle; these people sets: proper names of heroes (the onomastic have been chosen by the city community’s signs) and place names (the toponymy signs). voting. Members of the City Expert Commit- The set of onomastic signs includes: tee think this will favor the patriotic feelings – names of famous persons: marshals among the youth. (Marshal Rokossovsky Street), generals (Gen- Experts are sure that street naming eral of the Army Shtemenko Street), young should follow historical tendencies, and they Guards heroes (Oleg Koshevoi Street), young receive support from most of the city dwell- pioneer heroes (Sasha Chekalin Street), war ers. Thus, in the summer of 2011 the mem- heroes – soldiers of various war crafts (streets bers of the regional youth organization “The named after: radio operator Zina Maresieva, New People” put forward the idea of renam- tank man Markin, sniper Chekhov); ing Lenin Street into Sergei Bagapsh Street – collective denominations of heroes (the second President of Abkhazia who had named after their commander (Gorokhovtsev died just by that moment). The idea was dis- Street – the detachment under Colonel S. F. cussed on the Internet forum of the city site, Gorokhov); and the participants of the discussion opposed – denominations of divisions (51st this idea on the ground that historical names Guards Street) and armies (8th Air Fleet Street) should be kept untouched. Vladimir Lenin distinguished themselves in the war events. has turned out to be not decommemorated as Toponymy signs having connotations of belonging to the period of nation-building and the heroic confrontation with enemies include state-formation and, in general, as being part denominations of streets, avenues and squares of the historical heritage of the country (once connected with the places of battles (Stalin- called the USSR) which is now being slightly grad Heroes Avenue) or the defense of cities prettified and romanticized. In line with the (Sevastopol Defense Street), and with the above-mentioned opinion, there is a point of completion of the war events (Stalingrad Vic- view to which a vast majority of both the city tory Square, the Revival Square) as well as community and the local authorities adhere – with the names of the cities which participated it concerns returning the city streets their tra- in the war (Port Said Street, Prague Street). ditional historical names though in the form of Part of city streets and squares names doubling them by modern names. This action accentuate the connotations of collective is considered to help people maintain generic heroism displayed by the representatives of memory and foster moral values. various war crafts: Signalers Street, Riflemen Social memory relating to such a com- Street. The semantics of heroism is manifested plex event as the Great Patriotic War is coded through the direct evaluative denominations with the help of complex (mixed) signs. To (Heroic Street, Guards Street) and the indirect these the following signs can be referred: ones based on the symbolism of war artifacts – memorial plaques as a combination of having positive evaluative connotations in the a sign artifact (a decorative plate commemo- context of war (Red Stars Street, Red Ban- rating a famous person or an event) and a lan- ners Street). The emotionally laden streets of guage sign (a description), e.g. Volgograd might be compared with the streets “Here, November 24th, 1942, after three of some cities of the world, which have no months of fierce fighting against the German- names but are numbered. The absence of street Fascist aggressors, the group of forces under naming does not impede the cognitive process Colonel Gorokhov of the Stalingrad army met of identification in the urban space; however the forces of the Don army under General the fact that the city locations are not bound Rokossovsky. Glory to the heroes of the Stal- to the social experience of their inhabitants ingrad battle!”
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– rituals represented by: political stability, if not passivity. Volgograd а) theme guided tours around the places is part of the so-called ‘red belt’ (including, connected with the war (characterized, as besides Volgograd, some other regions of well as rituals, by a definite order of actions), Central Russia, mostly agricultural where the including a sign text rich in the vocabulary mentality of the dwellers is highly conserva- related to the domain of war (a guide’s story), tive): the Communist Party (CPRF) though of and toponymy signs (names of the places con- a new type is a frequent winner in the elec- nected with the war events); tions of the city administration. But the local b) celebrations of the war anniversaries authorities representing the Communist Party (military parades) combining sign artifacts neither exert pressure on the people nor sup- (banners, medals, photos of war heroes and port the cult of Stalin’s personality as the latter veterans), signs denoting time (dates of war is required by the old communists. For the last events or heroes’ life and death), toponymy two decades the debates on renaming Volgo- signs denoting places of meetings or com- grad back to Stalingrad have been held not memoration of the fallen heroes, signs denot- once but each time this action failed to suc- ing persons (heroes’ and veterans’ names), ceed: the amount of those who wish to raise sign texts (war songs, speeches rich in spe- Stalin’s name from the past does not exceed cial vocabulary), sign actions (marching, the eight per cent. In 1961 the city received a order of speaking of the local authorities at politically neutral name ‘Volgograd’, and two the meeting on the city square, the ceremony of the three monuments to Stalin were pulled of wreath-laying); on May 9, for the first time down and the third one – on the embankment after the war, an old tank T-34-85 took part in of the Volga-Don canal – was replaced by the the military parade in Volgograd; in April it statue of Lenin as a less cruel leader. Stalin’s was raised up from the bottom of one of the personality is frequently referred to in anec- Volgograd region rivers and restored at the dotes (Lenin’s name is much less frequent) – in Volgograd tractor works. this way fearful phenomena are “carnivalized” The most complex signs are war (the term suggested by Mikhail Bakhtin), i.e. memorials (the Museums of War Glory; the made fun of, to neutralize the negative con- Mamaev Hill; the Stalingrad Battle Panorama; notations. Nowadays the name ‘Stalingrad’ the Museum of Memory, also known as the used as a brand in, for example, advertising is Museum of Paulus, – the place of field mar- related to the Stalingrad Battle rather than to shal F. Paulus’s capture; the Rossoshki war Stalin himself. cemetery of the Soviet and German soldiers The local authorities persistently shape fallen in the Stalingrad Battle), the semiosis the image of the hero-city (the information site of which combine icons, indices and symbols of Volgograd on the Internet is called ‘Alti- represented by all kinds of signs considered tude 102’ (www.v102.ru); it is the height of above. the Mamaev Hill), they do not object against Material signs used for commemorat- setting up youth pro-communist societies, and ing important historical events are backed rely on other city organizations, for example up by some behavioral patterns based on the the Cossacks, which support them. On the appropriate feelings of people in these envi- whole, the population of the city is loyal, if ronments. Thus, the so-called Post No 1 has not indifferent, to the CPRF; moreover, the been popular among Volgograd schoolchil- citizens approve of the patriotic orientation dren since 1965: dressed in the war uniform, of its activity and par-take in the youth camp training guns in hands, boys and girls per- “The Patriots of Volgograd”, Centers for patri- form symbolical guard duties near the Eternal otic education, youth patriotic clubs which, Flame on the Square of Fallen Heroes in the besides other activities, hold role plays based center of the city. The educational policy of on the historical events on the territory of the the local authorities has made participation in former city of Stalingrad. this action prestigious, and many schoolchil- Volgograd is a city of the commemora- dren of the city do their best to be honored tion of the War, and the semiotics of the whole with it. city serves this purpose. Everyday life of the Such semiotic density of material culture, citizens goes on amid the monuments to the activities, rules and social codes of behavior War which cannot but influence their world- influences the minds of the citizens in creating view. By the words of Rose-Redwood et al. their imagined community. In this respect, the 2009, the official discourse of history passes imagined community of Volgograd is charac- into a shared cultural experience that is embed- terized by the patriotic orientation and by the ded into practices of everyday life.
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4. CONCLUSIONS ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies 10. International E-Journal for Social memory becomes one of the Critical Geographies, 1(1), 28-33. key elements determining the present state- Barthes, R. (1982). The Empire of Signs. New York. of-affairs of the society and actively shaping New York: Noonday Press. its future. It can foster some social and politi- Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and Simulation : Uni- cal processes, but at the same time hamper or versity of Michigan Press. block others. Social memory as well as histor- Berger, P.L. & T. Luckmann. (1966). The Social Con- ical memory has been used for the purpose of struction of Reality. A Treatise on Sociology of manipulating the minds of the people. Histori- Knowledge. Garden City, NY : Anchor Books. cal memory becomes quite a remarkable char- Foucault, M. (2002). The Order of Things: An Archae- acteristic of people’s mode of life, in many ology of the Human Sciences. Routledge. respects determining their intentions, mood, Gill, G. (2005). Changing Symbols: the Renovation general feeling and behavior and indirectly of Moscow Place Names. The Russian Review influencing their minds thereby constructing 64(3), 480-503. an imagined community. Greimas, A.J. (1986). For a Topological Semiotics. The In the city of Volgograd the past is living City and the Sign: An Introduction to Urban in the cultural memory of the society being Semiotics. New York: Columbia University superimposed on the ideological values of the Press. 25–54. present. The imagined community of modern Halbwaches, M. (1992). On collective memory, Chi- Volgograd can be described as patriotic, ortho- cago (IL) : The University of Chicago Press. dox, and patriarchal. Based on the historically Jachna, T. J. (2004). Cyburban Semiotics. http://www. significant past, these social values are not rec- academia.edu/947003/Cyburban_Semiotics ognized as politically charged and are shared (visited March 30, 2013). by most citizens. Young people, members of Kostof, S. (1991). The City Shaped: Urban Pattern and the Internet social networks, often indicate Meanings through History. Boston: Bulfinch their views as orthodox and patriotic, some- Press. times communist. But this is a general under- Levi-Strauss, C. (1963). Structural Anthropol- standing of order and patriarchal character ogy. (Trans.) C. Jacobson & B. Grundfest Scho- typical of the Russian identity and intrinsic to epf, NY: Basic Books. those young people who are brought up within Light, D. (2004). Street Names in Bucharest, 1990– the historically approved Russian cultural tra- 1997: Exploring the Modern Historical Geogra- ditions maintained by social memory. phies of Post-Social Change. Journal of Histori- The imagined community of Volgograd cal Geography 30(1), 154-172. built into the urban landscape is shaped by Nora, P. (1989). Between Memory and History: Les semiotic means including signs of material Lieux de Memoire. Representations 26, 7–25. culture and symbolic rituals reflecting social Palonen, E. (2008). The City-Text in Post-Communist and cultural values of this community. Budapest: Street Names, Memorials, and the Politics of Commemoration. GeoJournal 73(3), 219-230. Conflict of interests Peirce, C.S. (1973). Existential Graphs. The Hague : Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers.
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