Mapping the university space: Strategies of spatial appropriation in the everyday experience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33910/2687-1262-2020-2-1-69-78Keywords:
cultural space, university campus, everyday life, place of memory, informal space, “student lore”, anthropology of cultureAbstract
Recently in Russia, there has been a lot of debate about the university of the future. The focus is largely on educational programs, approaches to teaching and learning as well as career paths of graduates. However, the future is also about the everyday experience, which is crucial to decision making and success. The authors refer to the university as a physical environment of academic communities, and offer algorithms to study the everyday life on a university campus. The paper presents the results of the field research of the everyday life on a university campus from a student perspective. The research was carried out in 2009–2018 among the students of Saint Petersburg (Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, St. Petersburg State University, Folk Arts State Higher School).
The paper reports that in addition to the university’s formal spatial structure, students construct a stable informal system of spatial and time axes, including sounds, smells, colors, objects, texts, and situations. On the informal level, students attach symbolic meanings to places as long as these meanings are important to the student community. The university space, as described by students, appears organized and differentiated; it also determines the identity of students and the prescribed norms of behavior. The research found that informal knowledge and strategies of the appropriation of space are more or less stable and may be passed down to future generations. Emotional and intellectual perceptions of the formal and informal concepts of the university space mainly depend on the efficiency of communication between students, academics, and university management.
References
ЛИТЕРАТУРА
Бахманн-Медик, Д. (2017) Культурные повороты. Новые ориентиры в науках о культуре. М.: Новое литературное обозрение, 502 с.
Вахштайн, В. (2017) Пересборка повседневности: беспилотники, лифты и проект ПкМ-1. Логос, т. 27, № 2 (117), c. 1–48. DOI: 10.22394/0869-5377-2017-2-1-44
Куприянов, П. С., Садовникова, Л. В. (2009) Место памяти в памяти местных: культурные смыслы городского пространства (по материалам интервью жителей московского Зарядья). Антропологический форум, № 11, с. 370–407.
Никифорова, Л. В., Рон, М. В., Тихомиров, С. А. и др. (2011) Пространство университетской повседневности: прикладное исследование в формате культурологической экспертизы. Вестник Герценовского университета, № 7 (93), с. 60–70.
Степанов, А. В. (2016) О месте. Этнофеноменологический очерк. Антропологический форум, № 28, c. 199–220.
Флёри, А. (2009) Улица как географический объект. Социологическое обозрение, т. 8, № 3, с. 30–36.
Bayne, S., Gallagher, S. M., Lamb, J. (2014) Being ‘at’ university: The social topologies of distance students. Higher Education, vol. 67, no. 5, pp. 569–583. DOI: 10.1007/s10734-013-9662-4
Chase, L. (1992) Imagining utopia: Landscape design at Smith College, 1871–1910. The New England Quarterly, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 560–586. DOI: 10.2307/365822
Gashkova, E. M., Berezovskaya, I. P., Shipunova, O. D. (2017) Models of self-identification in digital communication enviroments. The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS, vol. XXXV, pp. 374–382. DOI: 10.15405/epspbs.2018.02.44
Holloway, S. L., Jöns, H. (2012) Geographies of education and learning. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 482–488. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-5661.2012.00542.x
Hopkins, P. (2011) Towards critical geographies of the university campus: Understanding the contested experiences of Muslim students. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 157–169. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-5661.2010.00407.x
Nikiforova, N. (2015) The concept of technology and the Russian cultural research tradition. Technology and Culture, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 184–203. DOI: 10.1353/tech.2015.0009
Nikiforova, N. V., Bylieva, D. S., Lobatyuk, V. V., Voronova, L. S. (2017) The problem of “sign field” creation for the Russian national technology initiative. 4th International multidisciplinary scientific conference on social sciences and arts SGEM2017, book 6, vol. 1, pp. 117–124. DOI: 10.5593/SGEMSOCIAL2017/HB61/S7.14
Shipunova, O. D., Mureyko, L. V., Serkova, V. A. et al. (2016) The time factor in consciousness construction. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, vol. 9, no. 42. DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2016/v9i42/104226
Sturner, W. F. (1972) Environmental code: Creating a sense of place on the college campus. The Journal of Higher Education, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 97–109. DOI: 10.1080/00221546.1972.11774936
Whisnant, D. E. (1979) The university as a space and the future of the university. The Journal of Higher Education, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 544–558. DOI: 10.1080/00221546.1979.11779993
REFERENCES
Bachmann-Medick, D. (2017) Kul’turnye povoroty. Novye orientiry v naukakh o kul’ture [Cultural turns. New orientations in the study of culture]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 502 p. (In Russian)
Bayne, S., Gallagher, S. M., Lamb, J. (2014) Being ‘at’ university: The social topologies of distance students. Higher Education, vol. 67, no. 5, pp. 569–583. DOI: 10.1007/s10734-013-9662-4 (In English)
Chase, L. (1992) Imagining utopia: Landscape design at Smith College, 1871–1910. The New England Quarterly, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 560–586. DOI: 10.2307/365822 (In English)
Fleury, A. (2009) La rue: Un objet géographique. Sociologicheskoe obozrenie — Russian Sociological Review, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 30–36. (In Russian)
Gashkova, E. M., Berezovskaya, I. P., Shipunova, O. D. (2017) Models of self-identification in digital communication enviroments. The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS, vol. XXXV, pp. 374–382. DOI: 10.15405/epspbs.2018.02.44 (In English)
Holloway, S. L., Jöns, H. (2012) Geographies of education and learning. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 482–488. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-5661.2012.00542.x (In English)
Hopkins, P. (2011) Towards critical geographies of the university campus: Understanding the contested experiences of Muslim students. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 157–169. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-5661.2012.00407.x (In English)
Kuprianov, P. S., Sadovnikova, L. V. (2009) Mesto pamyati v pamyati mestnykh: kulturnye smysly gorodskogo prostranstva (po materialam intervyu zhitelej Moskovskogo Zaryadya) [Memory locus in the in the memory of the locals: Cultural meanings of the urban space (based on Interviews with Moscow Zariadie inhabitants)]. Antropologicheskij forum, no. 11, pp. 370–407. (In Russian)
Nikiforova, N. (2015) The concept of technology and the Russian cultural research tradition. Technology and Culture, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 184–203. DOI: 10.1353/tech.2015.0009 (In English)
Nikiforova, N. V., Bylieva, D. S., Lobatyuk, V. V., Voronova, L. S. (2017) The problem of “sign field” creation for the Russian national technology initiative. 4th International multidisciplinary scientific conference on social sciences and arts SGEM2017, book 6, vol. 1, pp. 117–124. DOI: 10.5593/SGEMSOCIAL2017/HB61/S7.14 (In English) Nikiforova, L. V., Ron, M. V., Tihomirov, S. A. et al. (2011) Prostranstvo universitetskoj povsednevnosti: prikladnoe issledovanie v formate kulturologicheskoj ehkspertizy [The space of everyday life of university campus: Applied research in the format of culturalogical expertise]. Vestnik Gertsenovskogo universiteta — Bulletin of Herzen University, no. 7 (93), pp. 60–70. (In Russian) Shipunova, O. D., Mureyko, L. V., Serkova, V. A. et al. (2016) The time factor in consciousness construction. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, vol. 9, no. 42. DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2016/v9i42/104226
(In English)
Stepanov, A. V. (2016) O meste. Etnofenomenologicheskij ocherk [About place. An ethno-phenomenological essay]. Antropologicheskij forum, no. 28, pp. 199–220. (In Russian)
Sturner, W. F. (1972) Environmental code: Creating a sense of place on the college campus. The Journal of Higher Education, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 97–109. DOI: 10.1080/00221546.1972.11774936 (In English)
Vakhshtayn, V. (2017) Peresborka povsednevnosti: bespilotniki, lifty i proekt PkM-1 [Reassembling the everyday: Drones, elevators, and the MT-1 project]. Logos, vol. 27, no. 2 (117), pp. 1–48. DOI: 10.22.394/0869-5377-2017- 2-1-44 (In Russian)
Whisnant, D. E. (1979) The university as a space and the future of the university. The Journal of Higher Education, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 544–558. DOI: 10.1080/00221546.1979.11779993 (In English)
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Larisa V. Nikiforova, Maria V. Ron, Sergey A. Tikhomirov, Anastasia S. Makashova
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The work is provided under the terms of the Public Offer and of Creative Commons public license Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows an unlimited number of persons to reproduce and share the Licensed Material in all media and formats. Any use of the Licensed Material shall contain an identification of its Creator(s) and must be for non-commercial purposes only.
