History as a Social Resource in Hinterland Development

Abstract

The past in itself has no value and doesn’t even exist. However, separate elements of the narrative about it can acquire the actual symbolic meaning serving the needs of constructing individual and collective identity. If adequate social technologies are available historical narrative can materialize in the modern practice of socio-economic development of localities. Historical narrative in scientific or mythological form, being tied to geographic locations, demonstrates the ability to be transformed into tourist attractions as basis of modern socioeconomic development of localities. This technology is the conversion of symbolic historical events in the strongholds of tourist development that is particularly important for small towns and villages in the Russian hinterland, often deprived of any foundation for development. Individual identity is constructed through autobiographical narrative, often taking the form of a return to his/her birthplace. Collective identity is constructed through the formation of tourist flows, heading to iconic locations of national or regional history. Modern Russia has shown many examples of such conversion, which is, as a rule, spontaneous and rooted into the logic of common sense. The inclusion of the conceptual model of the transformation of history — personal and collective — in the territorial development strategy could enhance the effectiveness of this process. In this article the theoretical analysis of the materialization of the symbolic resources of the past in modern socio-economic development is based on the data of empirical research of the Russian heartland in different regions of the country conducted in 2011-2014.