INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURAL RESEARCH

Vladimir KAGANSKIY

Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
senior researcher, PhD

The Situation of the Border and Logico-semiotic Boundary Types

A concept of border is common for many disciplines. The similarity of concepts is demonstrated by description in logical-semiotics terms. Several cases of border are discussed. A dual-approach typology of borders is described. On the one hand we classify cases of fragmentation and dissection of entities, on the other hand we classify processes and events in social, cultural and landscape coordinates. We suggest to recognize several new types of borders: Divided - cut off fragments, symmetric – asymmetric, positive-negative transition zones, non-incorporated – double incorporated sites, core – border. The methods of investigation: Husserl eidetic intuition, travelling as a cognitive practice, theoretical geography approaches (three layers of descriptions—phenomenon, aerial photograph, map), semiotics, border studies. The article is based on personal empathy and eidetic examination of life of a border.

Key words: border, cognitive graphics, limology, delimitation, parageography, the border paradoxes, knowledge representation, the problem of delimitation, territory, a bundle of borders, land zoning, demarcation, a situation of a border, theoretical geography, types of borders, functions of borders.

References

[Download] [869 Kb]

Sergey CHEBANOV

St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Philological Faculty, Dep. of Applied Linguistics, Professor, Dr. Sci. (Philology).

Alexandra STEPUKOVA

St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Philological Faculty, Dep. of Applied Linguistics, Postgraduate student

The Diversity of Boundaries as the Variety of Distinguishers of Collective categories

Assuming the traditional for logic differentiation between collective and distributive concepts of boundaries act as distinguishers of the collective concepts’ referents, and the subjects act as distinguishers of those of the distributive concepts. The discovery of mass and populative concepts standing in the same row allows to explore the connection between different types of concepts and types of distinguishers more accurately. In this case the boundaries are considered as the distinguishers for the populative concepts, for which (like for the distributive concepts) subjects are also act as distinguishers. The referents of mass concepts have no distinguishers.
In this approach the logical status of boundaries is explored that can differ in their cognitive status depending on a) the pattern of the subject-object relationships, b) boundaries of loci-spaces-geometries, c) temporal boundaries, d) boundaries in phase spaces, e) boundaries in chronotopes, Umwelts, lifeworlds (Lebenswelt). At this point the status of temporal boundaries as boundaries is doubted due to the fact that their distinguisher is the subject. On the other hand, the thorough analysis of the boundaries in phase spaces (and also in chronotopes, umwelts) shows that the physical space is a phase space marked in post- Renaissance European culture.
In view of this fact the fundamental character of categories of loci and their universe, where the transition from one locus to another is accomplished according to certain rules, is demonstrated. Different rules of orders (trains) based on many-arity (at least binary) relationships of neighbourhood, hierarchy and inheritance are valid for different universes, and this fact allows to specify certain space, time and value. The boundaries in different universes have different logical status, sometimes very intricate (for example, the phase space of physical parameters turns into an aggregate of loci – areas – of a phase diagram, that correspond with the qualitatively different conditions of the objects described by this diagram, these areas having their own boundaries).
In practice (for example, in the geologist’s work) the logical status of boundaries is being constantly reconstructed, and this is not noticed by the practitioners.

Key words: distinguishing, distinguisher, distinguished, collective terms, distributive terms, mass terms, populative terms (populative object), boundaries, space, locus, geometry, temporal boundaries, time, duration, period, stage, phase, subject-object relationships, phase space, chronotope, Umwelt, lifeworld (Lebenswelt).

References

[Download] [632 Kb]

Leonid TCHERTOV

St. Petersburg, Russia, PhD

On semiotics of spatial borders

The concept of the border is considered in the paper in terms of spatial semiotics in relation to its specific categories: body, place, spatial form, etc. The borders of meaningful bodies or places are included into the structure of an autonomous and separate space which is semiotized by means of a certain spatial code. Each of these codes has its own grammar rules, and the borders of its significative spatial elements are arranged according to these rules in the mode of expression. One can also reveal a special demarcation code, where spatial borders are included into the contents and are marked by various semiotic means. The borders signified by means of this code are able to fulfill semiotic functions, in particular, their establishment or removal can be a symbol of some important changes.

Key words: spatial border, meaningful body, meaningful place, spatial form, autonomous and separate spaces, spatial codes, demarcation code.

References

[Download] [416 Kb]

Dmitry CHERNYKH

Institute for Water and Environmental Problems, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Barnaul, Russia
Leading researcher, Doctor of Science in Geography, Associate Professor

On Landscape Boundaries: an Unorthodox View of a Physical Geographer

The landscape concept is one of the most attractive forms for representation of spatially distributed information. The concept is based on 1) the layered organization of information in geographic space, 2) the hierarchical organization of geographical space, 3) the borders as an integral part of geographical space. Spatially, the landscape makes Social Sciences and Physical Geography closer. The issue of constancy - inconstancy of landscape boundaries itself is unpromising. Speaking of the landscape boundaries, a researcher resorts to a "time" category in the long run. The implementation of social activity into spatial form is a powerful land forming factor. Cultural diffusion is one of its manifestations. Some manifestations of cultural diffusion are landscape ones, e.g. economic behavior and value orientation of the population. Political limits can also form the landscape boundaries under certain conditions, but such situations should not be considered as universal ones. The concept of invariant suggests good prospects for determination of landscape boundaries. Invariant is a set of stable characteristics of the landscape accepted by a researcher or an observer. The issues discussed above are illustrated by the examples of landscape studies in West Siberia and Altai.

Key words: landscape, border, space, hierarchy, invariant, spatial turn, spatialization, cultural diffusion, Siberia.

References

[Download] [403 Kb]

Irina KONOVALOVA

Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciencies, Moscow, Russia
Doctor of Science in History, principal research fellow, vice director of the Institute

Borderlines as a tool of description in medieval Islamic geography

The paper deals with one of the leading ways of world description in medieval Islamic geography — drawing borderlines (natural, ethnographic, administrative, social, linguistic, religious) — and examines the role of the basic principles of differentiation in the creation of various images of space. The practice of differentiation is studied in three different scales — global, regional and country. The first part of the paper examines the configurations that the ancient system of dividing the earth’s surface in the latitudinal climate zones acquired in the Islamic geography — it has become a tool of ecumene division into zones of barbarism and civilization. The second part analyzes the principle of religious and political differentiation, which allowed Islamic scholars to develop an idea of the imperial state, to build a hierarchy of world empires and to reflect on the place of Islamic countries and peoples in the world geopolitical context. In the third part the possibility of differentiation as a means of discovering and fixing the novelty is considered. This issue is discussed on the Arab descriptions of the Rus people — from their first appearance on the transcontinental trade routes in the 9th century to the process of formation of their state depicted by Islamic geographers of the 10th century by means of the image of the “Island of the Rus”. A conclusion is made about the role of differentiation as a universal principle in structuring and interpretation of the source material, as well as in building various formats of presentation.

Key words:Islamic geography, borders, boundaries, the Middle ages, climate theory, Byzantium, Eastern Europe, Ibn Khurradadhbih, Ibn Rustah, the Balkhi school of geographers, al-Idrisi.

References

[Download] [497 Kb]

Еlena VLASOVA

Perm State National Research University, Russia
Associate Professor of Journalism Department, PhD

“Geographically in Asia”: The Desemiotization of the Eurasian Border in the Ural Travelogue of the 19th Century

Question about the Eurasian border was and still is a very important factor of the geopolitical state of Russia. An appeal to the Urals XIX century travelogue allows to specify those meanings, which define the position of a Russian society to the phenomenon of the Eurasian border in the period of an active forming of a state ideology. Undertaken analysis of the travel descriptions have revealed following features of its interpretation: instability of the localization, replacing “Asia” with a title that is more important for the Russian space - “Siberia”, mismatch of the geographical and mental boundaries, and uncertainty of the main meaning. Sematic reduction of the Eurasian border was maintained by another influential factor, connected with the forming of a local identity. By the end of the 19th century the transit image has been overcame and this fact reduces the significance of a border in general. As a result, an idea of the Eurasian frontier did not get self-developing emotional and semantic content – not within the Ural space nor outside of it. Nowadays the Eurasian border acquires a new geopolitical meaning and becomes a very important resource of the national and territorial branding. The more significant becomes the reference to the past and understanding of its experience.

Key words: Eurasian border, travelogue, Ural travelogue of the 19th century, mental map, image of the Urals.

References

[Download] [429 Kb]

Olga DESYATKOVA

Vyatka State University, Kirov, Russia
Associate Professor of the Philosophy and Cultural Science Department PhD

The Boundaries of Earthly and Otherworldly in Ethno-cultural Landscape of Vyatka Mari

The article deals with the semantics of Mari ethnic and cultural landscape. With this purpose, Mari sacred groves and ponds located throughout the southern regions of modern of Kirov (Vyatka region) are studied. Geographic features are discussed from the point of view of the place occupied by them in Mari mental geography in which they are endowed with sacred meanings. The idea that the sacred groves and ponds have the status of border landscapes, as a territory, develops the boundaries between «its» and «alien»: worldly and other- worldly, earthly and subterranean, sinful and righteous spaces. The semantics of border landscapes is interpreted by recourse of traditional Mari religion and mythology, as well as syncretic worldview Vyatka Maris, combining paganism and Christianity.

Key words: ethno-cultural landscape, mental border, Mari paganism, mythology, Vyatka region, sacred groves and ponds.

References

[Download] [417 Kb]

Vladimir ABASHEV

Perm State University, Russia
Head of Journalism Department, Professor, PhD

Anastasija FIRSOVA

Perm State University, Russia
Associate Professor of Tourism Department, PhD

Strolling and Guided Tour in the Context of other Bodily and Discourse Practices of Urban Space Exploration

The article examines the experience of testing implicit and explicit boundaries, and also spatial and temporal ones in the urban practices and in the subcultures - traditional (strolling and guided tour) and extreme ones (drifting, roofing, digging, parkour). Border constructing and border crossings are being studied as a source of texts about the city: verbal and visual texts. Strolling and guided tour are being considered as the main source of self-description of the city. Semantically the boundaries here are being the cultural symbol of the territory.

Key words: City, bodily and discourse practices, cultural pragmatics, structure of Space, border, strolling, guided tour, text.

References

[Download] [387 Kb]

Galina RYLKOVA

University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
Associate Professor of Russian, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Ph.D. in Slavic Studies

Extremes in the Relationship of the Poet and the Crowd Illustrated by A Poem without a Hero by Anna Akhmatova and Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

The article examines the forms in which the widely recognized “poet-versus-crowd” paradigm manifested itself in Soviet culture, using “A Poem without a Hero” by Anna Akhmatova and “Doctor Zhivago” by Boris Pasternak as Illustrations. The relationship between the poet and the crowd assumes extreme forms when the crowd narrows down to the poet’s inner circle of admirers and sophisticated interpreters. A work’s text becomes a species of a concentration camp, in which, depending on the writer’s disposition, both readers and characters, as well as the work’s creator, are suffering and perish.

Key words:poet and crowd, readership, art, artist, creativity, psychology of creative personality, Silver Age, text, concentration camp, boundary, outline, Akhmatova, Pasternak, Belinkov, Dante, Rank, Agamben, Heidegger.

References

[Download] [514 Kb]

Alexander LYUSIY

Research Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage named after D.S. Likhachev
Researcher, PhD

Symbolical Frontier Guard

The subject of boundary activity, or «the symbolical frontier guard”, is presented as the keeper and the violator of borders at the same time. It is the Leviathan in oceanic space, a bear - in continental. Its image is based on an werewolf. The analysis of the ontologic and gnoseological principles of knowledge and communication are kept here. The purpose of such analysis is a detection of pragmatical, syntactic and semantic rules of the corresponding type of the symbolical activity.

Key words: symbolical frontier guard, subject, state, freedom, will, semiotic, marking, other.

References

[Download] [447 Kb]

Alexander KRAMER

Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy, St.Petersburg, Russia. Postgraduate Student

Borderlines of a Concert Hall: Three Viewpoints

The article considers some aspects of the problem of borderlines given via sociocultural context of interconnections of music, architecture, musician, listener in concert hall architecture. A concert hall is regarded as a both place and a space, a ‘cultural object’. The article considers the most important features of concert and concert hall, such as: architectural borders doubling (in covers), borders in reality doubling (as is v. as if), ways from the doors to the hall, borders between listerers’ and performers’ spaces. Also the article briefly considers some the questions of mental - psychological borderlines during a concert and differences (borders) between ‘music’ and ‘not-music’.

Key words: Border, borderline, concert, concert hall, doubling of borders, covers, way as a borderline, listerers’ and performers’ spaces, mental state borderline.

References

[Download] [360 Kb]