Personalist Images in Identity Politics at the Local Level

Abstract

The article examines the technologies of using personalist images in the structure of identity politics at the local level. Attention to local identity is related to the political factors of territorial development. The transcripts of focus groups and expert interviews, media materials, and materials from Internet sources were used as the empirical basis. The following technologies of using personalistic identifiers have been discovered across the urban and rural areas of the Krasnodar Territory: nomination technology (assigning names of prominent figures to cultural, educational, medical and other objects — universities, museums, theaters, etc.); technology of monumentalization (installation of monuments, busts, sculptural compositions); legending technology (a set of methods and techniques that create informal figurative and mythological concepts to form a certain image of the character); technology of special events (establishment of prizes, festivals, sports events, as well as regional and municipal awards). It was ascertained that personalistic images can be used both to demonstrate the territory’s inclusion into the common cultural and historical space of Russia (as in the case of M. Lermontov), and to highlight the distinctive specificity of the territory, and its cultural and multi-­ethnic diversity (as in the case of the Kuban Atamans of the Cossacks). The study explored and described the following characteristics of personalist identifiers: the historical period to which it belongs, its status and areas of activity, as well as its role and significance for the territory in question. The results of this study can serve as a basis for conceptualizing identity politics and for characterizing the inclusion of personalist images into the structure of symbolic politics at the local level. The development of political and managerial practices based on the use of personified images actualizes the instrumental importance of local identity as a resource for territorial development.