Casus Pyalmiae: A city dweller and his village

Abstract

On the example of the Karelian village Pyalma, the author considers the construction of the image of the Russian traditional Northern village by former city dwellers. Based on their own ideas about the rural authenticity, they represent rural traditions to urban tourists, whose knowledge of the rural is determined by popular culture and is not supported by practical skills. By comparing the history of Pyalma with other examples of the contemporary public work with natural-cultural heritage in North-West Russia, the author shows that the typification and museumification of traditional rurality in many villages are determined by the individual desire to preserve them and ensure their development by attracting tourists and introducing activities of the 'economy of impressions'. The author notes that for most 'seasonal' residents (local and urban summer residents), the historicity of the place is not as important as the natural-infrastructural features of the village location. Thus, today urban projections of rurality in historical settlements are clearly divided into general and private, commemorative-tourist and personal economic practices, which together form a post-productivist 'new rurality' of historical villages in the Russian North.