Sociocultural Potential of Museums: Identity and Local Solidarity
On April 12, 2023, within the framework of the XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development, a session "Sociocultural Potential of Museums: Identity and Local Solidarity" was held (Moderator: N. Bolshakov (ILSIR, HSE University).
The speakers' reports were thematically timed to the project of the Russian Scientific Foundation "Cultural Citizenship and Local Solidarity: the Experience of Social Inclusion of the Audience of Russian Museums", implemented on the basis of the ILSIR, HSE University.
Tatiana Vlasova (ILSIR, HSE University, UdSU) shared the results of a study on the possibilities of cultural participation for the formation of local and ethnic identity on the example of rural museums and clubs in the Udmurt Republic. Thus, the village club is the only institution for organizing leisure activities for different categories of the population, so there is close interaction between the recreation center, museums, schools and rural administration. And it is in cultural institutions that conditions are being created for grassroots activity of various categories of rural settlements, primarily for young people and people of retirement age.
Danila Ivanov (ILSIR, HSE University) presented an analysis of inclusion in museums from the point of view of organizational and systematic levels, where art museums appear, on the one hand, as a support for differentiation, and on the other hand, as carriers of democratic values.
Continuing the discussion on the formation of local identity, Konstantin Obukhov (ILSIR, HSE University) made a report "The place of the museum in the space of a provincial Russian city: case of Memorial estate of P.I. Tchaikovsky in Votkinsk". According to the results of the study, the museum and museum activity for the residents of Votkinsk is not fundamental from the point of view of leisure, but along with this there is a certain core of citizens, consisting mostly of middle-aged and older women, which demonstrates active consumption, including socio-cultural character. At the same time, the topic of interest of citizens is shifted towards traditional forms of art and local art with the representation of local history.
Svetlana Ovodova (MGGEY) also expanded the concept of "locality" with her speech on the transition from the discourse of Soviet modernity to decolonial optics in the representation of local cultural specifics in museum expositions on the example of expositions about the culture of the Finno-Ugric peoples of Ugra.
Among the invited participants of the section, who also participate in the grant – Roman Abramov, Irina Shuvalova, Ekaterina Dolgova, and other listeners, there was a discussion of the presented local cases, which allowed to assess the socio-cultural potential of museums for the formation of cultural citizenship at a high level.