NEW RURALITY AS CONSTRUCTED BY TOWNSPEOPLE. A CASE OF THE PYALMA HISTORICAL VILLAGE IN KARELIA

On the example of the Karelian village of Pyalma the article considers the construction of the image of a traditional Northern Russian village by former and current townspeople. Based on their own ideas about the authenticity of the rural, they represent that rural tradition to urban tourists, whose knowledge of the rural is predominantly mediated by popular culture and is not supported by practical skills and abilities. By comparing the history of Pyalma and other examples of contemporary public work with natural and cultural heritage in Northwest Russia, it is shown that the typification and museumification of traditional rurality, characteristic today for many regions, is largely due to the individual desire to preserve the villages and ensure their development by attracting tourists and activities in the space of the “impression economy”. It is noted that for the majority of “seasonal” residents of such settlements, whether they are local or urban summer residents, the historicity of the place is not of fundamental importance, in contrast to the natural and infrastructural features of the location of a particular village. It is concluded that urban projections of rurality in historical settlements, seen today, are gradually more and more clearly subdivided into common and private commemorative-tourist and personal economic practices, which together form a post-productivist “new rurality” of historical villages in the Russian North.