URN:NBN:fi:tsv-oa7031 DOI:10.11143/7031 The island monastery of Valaam in Finnish homeland tourism: Constructing a “Thirdspace” in the Russian borderlands
The Orthodox island monastery of Valaam in Russian Karelia is today a popular destination for Finnish tourists visiting Russia’s western borderlands. Many of these tourists are descendants of the Karelians who had evacuated the area following World War II. The monastery’s institutionally sanctioned...
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Geographical Society of Finland
2013
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:4873d1f7fa77465789356697ec410c6c 2023-05-15T17:00:17+02:00 URN:NBN:fi:tsv-oa7031 DOI:10.11143/7031 The island monastery of Valaam in Finnish homeland tourism: Constructing a “Thirdspace” in the Russian borderlands Mikula, Maja 2013-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.11143/7031 https://doaj.org/article/4873d1f7fa77465789356697ec410c6c EN eng Geographical Society of Finland http://ojs.tsv.fi/index.php/fennia/article/view/7031/6253 https://doaj.org/toc/0015-0010 https://doaj.org/toc/1798-5617 doi:10.11143/7031 0015-0010 1798-5617 https://doaj.org/article/4873d1f7fa77465789356697ec410c6c Fennia: International Journal of Geography, Vol 191, Iss 1, Pp 14-24 (2013) homeland tourism Valaam Karelia Finland Russia borderlands “thirdspace” Geography (General) G1-922 article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.11143/7031 2022-12-30T21:47:23Z The Orthodox island monastery of Valaam in Russian Karelia is today a popular destination for Finnish tourists visiting Russia’s western borderlands. Many of these tourists are descendants of the Karelians who had evacuated the area following World War II. The monastery’s institutionally sanctioned genealogies construct it as the civilizing force, which had brought Christian enlightenment to the local heathen population. This discursive template is played out in the way the place is presented to visitors, with each highlight telling a carefully constructed story that promotes the monastery’s significance for the Russian religious and national identity. Yet, drawing on lived experience, as well as on popular culture, family lore and meanings from collective memory, the Finnish visitors break the monolithic official discourse and produce a complex “thirdspace” in their own measure. This paper is based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews conducted during a homeland visit to Ladogan Karelia in June 2010. Article in Journal/Newspaper karelia* karelia* karelians Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Fennia – International Journal of Geography 14 24 |
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English |
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homeland tourism Valaam Karelia Finland Russia borderlands “thirdspace” Geography (General) G1-922 |
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homeland tourism Valaam Karelia Finland Russia borderlands “thirdspace” Geography (General) G1-922 Mikula, Maja URN:NBN:fi:tsv-oa7031 DOI:10.11143/7031 The island monastery of Valaam in Finnish homeland tourism: Constructing a “Thirdspace” in the Russian borderlands |
topic_facet |
homeland tourism Valaam Karelia Finland Russia borderlands “thirdspace” Geography (General) G1-922 |
description |
The Orthodox island monastery of Valaam in Russian Karelia is today a popular destination for Finnish tourists visiting Russia’s western borderlands. Many of these tourists are descendants of the Karelians who had evacuated the area following World War II. The monastery’s institutionally sanctioned genealogies construct it as the civilizing force, which had brought Christian enlightenment to the local heathen population. This discursive template is played out in the way the place is presented to visitors, with each highlight telling a carefully constructed story that promotes the monastery’s significance for the Russian religious and national identity. Yet, drawing on lived experience, as well as on popular culture, family lore and meanings from collective memory, the Finnish visitors break the monolithic official discourse and produce a complex “thirdspace” in their own measure. This paper is based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews conducted during a homeland visit to Ladogan Karelia in June 2010. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mikula, Maja |
author_facet |
Mikula, Maja |
author_sort |
Mikula, Maja |
title |
URN:NBN:fi:tsv-oa7031 DOI:10.11143/7031 The island monastery of Valaam in Finnish homeland tourism: Constructing a “Thirdspace” in the Russian borderlands |
title_short |
URN:NBN:fi:tsv-oa7031 DOI:10.11143/7031 The island monastery of Valaam in Finnish homeland tourism: Constructing a “Thirdspace” in the Russian borderlands |
title_full |
URN:NBN:fi:tsv-oa7031 DOI:10.11143/7031 The island monastery of Valaam in Finnish homeland tourism: Constructing a “Thirdspace” in the Russian borderlands |
title_fullStr |
URN:NBN:fi:tsv-oa7031 DOI:10.11143/7031 The island monastery of Valaam in Finnish homeland tourism: Constructing a “Thirdspace” in the Russian borderlands |
title_full_unstemmed |
URN:NBN:fi:tsv-oa7031 DOI:10.11143/7031 The island monastery of Valaam in Finnish homeland tourism: Constructing a “Thirdspace” in the Russian borderlands |
title_sort |
urn:nbn:fi:tsv-oa7031 doi:10.11143/7031 the island monastery of valaam in finnish homeland tourism: constructing a “thirdspace” in the russian borderlands |
publisher |
Geographical Society of Finland |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.11143/7031 https://doaj.org/article/4873d1f7fa77465789356697ec410c6c |
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karelia* karelia* karelians |
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karelia* karelia* karelians |
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Fennia: International Journal of Geography, Vol 191, Iss 1, Pp 14-24 (2013) |
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http://ojs.tsv.fi/index.php/fennia/article/view/7031/6253 https://doaj.org/toc/0015-0010 https://doaj.org/toc/1798-5617 doi:10.11143/7031 0015-0010 1798-5617 https://doaj.org/article/4873d1f7fa77465789356697ec410c6c |
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https://doi.org/10.11143/7031 |
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Fennia – International Journal of Geography |
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