Veronika I. Abramova

Associate Professor, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor of the Chair of the Russian language and Literature

Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

(Tula, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2022-3-71-80

Abstract. The objective pursued by the author of this research is to analyze regional identity, which is expressed through verbal symbols, of the students studying at the Russian Philology and Document Science Department of L. Tolstoy Tula State Pedagogical University. An association experiment method was employed in the course of the research, special questionnaires were drawn up, and a poll was conducted. As a result of the research a ranked list of regional identity symbols fixed in the students’ consciousness was made. The list includes the following in percentage decreasing order: Tula cake, samovar, weapons, Yasnaya Polyana, Leo Tolstoy, monument the mother-in-law, Kulikovo Field, Belyov pastila, Kremlin, monument to the tail, accordion, metal, chemistry, Levsha, craftsman, Polenovo, Three Bayonets, Kazanskaya embankment, Bezhin Lea. The picture was completed by evaluative adjectives collected during the experiment. Tula in the students’ mind is “beautiful”, “home”, “cosy”, “heroic”, “great”, “old”, “small”, “hospitable”, “youth”, “valorous”, “tourist”, “tasty”. When comparing the list of the symbols with potentially possible ones (according to the essentialist concept) and with symbols being promoted (constructivist model), both similarities and discrepancies were revealed. Neither of the models coincided in terms of the most powerful symbol of the region. The Tula cake is such a symbol for the students, whereas weapons and Leo Tolstoy rank first in the proposed models. Many of the symbols suggested in the essentialist and constructivist models were not mentioned by the students at all, or their percentage was quite low. The conclusion, which can be made as a result of the research, is as follows: regional identity cannot be confined within the framework of only one approach and depends on many factors.
Keywords: Tula, symbol, brand, region, identity, model.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Abramova, VI 2022, ‘Symbols of Tula regional identity: essentialism, constructivism and field research’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 3 (11), pp. 71–80, http://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2022-3-71-80 (in Russ.)

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