About borders and identities

When the editorial office invited me to write a few words about the North-Western region-how it is different, and what is similar to the rest of Russia, Europe or not, it seemed to me more than curious.

No, not at all a general conversation - about similarities, differences, searches for "own identity", etc. -These reasoning are as much as you like, and about almost any places.

The other day I had a chance to visit Belgrade - and there I listened to the same speeches from the locals. And about the specific local character, and about the features of culture, and that Serbia is, of course, Europe. In confirmation of which even the words of the acquaintances of the Bulgarians were given, who, supposedly, are surprised: "It is strange, here we are - Europe, but you are not." What can be seen, by the way, is a wonderful bicaprequency of the concept of "Europe": as a cultural space and as the territory of the European Union. The same motive with their variations is easily picked up in Istanbul - then proudly explaining how European the city has managed to become European and how Europeanized the country has been Europeanized, on the contrary, diligently drawing differences - from religious, when only the Christian world is Europe, to domestic ones - and, regardless of the fact that it will become the grounds of distinction, they are further accepted to sink them as a source of their own, as a source of their own, as a source of their own "identity", then complain - as a reason for the impossibility of becoming quite "Europe".

And even more so, any humanitarium is inclined to talk about the boundaries, identities and related plots - after all, his profession, in essence, boils down to the ability to see the common in the apparent to various and, on the contrary, to distinguish between what appears the same.

Here, for example, the Sever. Real portal itself, if it is quite popular, will carry out partial assembly of this territory for its audience - through the creation of a common information space

I was curious in the proposed topic how the subject of discussion itself was allocated-the North-Western region. After all, it includes Petersburg with the Leningrad region-a combination that invariably causes historical and philological delight-both the Murmansk region with the Arkhangelsk, and Pskov from Kaliningrad, etc. It is difficult to say what is in common with each other - with the exception of inclusion in the same federal district. Kaliningrad, for example, is more likely because of the principle that, as an exclus, he actually does not fit anywhere, but to create a separate federal district for the only area is a strange solution. Search for the common in St. Petersburg and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and try to describe them within the framework of a single “identity” is the task is much more complicated than trying to construct the unified “identity” of Petersburgers and Muscovites.

In this example, you can see how administrative division gives rise to questions to reality - which eventually begins to correspond to the questions asked. As, for example, from the time of the Perm province it is possible to talk about the “Permians” and their characteristics - not in terms of describing the characteristic features of the inhabitants of Perm, but by transferring, spreading or modifying them to the provincial borders - or, accordingly, highlighting Yekaterinburg, follow new integrity.

And at the same time - this is about the power of the borders. They can be carried out by chance-or have one, quite intelligible logic-for example, the logic of military districts-and have little in common with the logic of cultural, economic or some other. But over time-provided that the new boundaries will be repeatedly repeated in different interactions-they will gain their own reality: once they could be drawn in a completely different way, then they become "natural."

For example, the Sever. Real portal itself, if it is quite popular, will carry out partial assembly of this territory for its audience - through the creation of a common information space. News from these regions will be neighboring - and from others, even the nearest ones, will be in a completely different context, already in the federal frame.

This experience-with the northwestern region as a special whole-seems to me very instructive. Since we are talking about a very small historical time - less than two decades - and a relatively small density of ties that does not concern either state borders, or general Federal programs and projects, etc. And about people who are only a “population” in these borders-in any way, within the framework of a region that are not collected in some, even formal, community, subjectivity. Nevertheless, this region, at first, existing as one among a number of other administrative divisions, acquires its own reality and density with the course of time, acquires - through descriptions and self -descriptions, through the questions asked in relation to it as a whole and given answers - general characteristics.

An external look, the optics of power becomes - reproducing, including through neutral or in direct opposition - a look imprinted in everyday life. So in the future, this power should disappear - the borders themselves will not disappear anywhere. Being at a certain point in time arbitrary, they then for a long time, already by themselves, through the routine of human interactions, through the prevailing description languages, are able to reproduce without support from above and even confronts them. And if the economy, geography, and culture reinforce these boundaries - they are able to overcome centuries, which, within the framework of human existence, is the same eternity.

Andrey Tesl - philosopher

The "Opinion" expressed in the heading of the point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial office