The article is about the domestic culture of a vanishing generation – Canadian exile-Estonians – and its role in their national identity. The refugees’ adaptation process and community sustainability are supported and influenced by material culture and visual representations: the familiar objects from earlier times that have a symbolic meaning for them. Even random items, which were brought along accidentally, have developed a deeper meaning. The unique language of these objects helps the refugees to overcome difficult cultural dilemmas and maintain their individual and collective identities. The strategies that helped to design the appropriate domestic and cultural environment were used in order to survive the first years in exile; later on the new environment became self-evident. The refugees of older generations find it important that their descendants preserve the Estonian cultural identity. The domestic environment is seen as the most important component in preserving culture because home is the centre of our spatial world and home design is significant from the point of view of cultural identity. Social networking with compeers outside the domestic environment is not less important. The ones living apart and communicating less with other Estonians assimilate into the new culture more easily. Exposing Estonian items in home design is individual – some refugees are proud of their heritage, some are not. Depending on that, it is different how many Estonian items can be found in one’s home. As the informants belonged to the active Estonian community, emphasising Estonian cultural identity was clearly perceivable. In discussions with the informants it appeared that not in all Estonian households the heritage was proudly presented. In domestic environment some refer to their heritage as an important part of their lives, for others, being an Estonian is something marginal and just a part of their past. Despite the efforts of the older generation to preserve Estonian culture in Canada as it is being remembered from the childhood when they lived in Estonia, the process of acculturation is under way. This research supports the two-dimensional acculturation model, which says that a human being can belong into two or several cultures, whereas the strengthening of the affiliating one does not weaken other affiliations. The informants have preserved features of Estonian culture in their homes, and Canadian culture is being treated with the same respect. Canadian-Estonians’ material culture in domestic environment is unique as it is being influenced by a multitude of factors. Estonian features are disappearing or other aspects are becoming more important when presenting the Estonian heritage within every new generation. The main reason for it is selective memory, which shapes the descendants’ cultural identity and exile culture. Home reflects and shapes cultural identity. From one point of view, we design the environment surrounding us, but from another, the environment surrounding us designs ourselves. The more we live in certain environment conditions, the more the values represented in that environment entrench themselves. For that reason, parents are the designers of Estonian cultural identity, presenting Estonia and Estonian culture to their children and influencing the development of Estonian culture in Canada.
Kultura udomowiona i sprywatyzowana, w relacji do tej praktykowanej w przestrzeni publicznej, coraz bardziej zyskuje na znaczeniu. Uczestnicy życia kulturalnego, mimo szacunku dla kultury zinstytucjonalizowanej, w praktyce preferują pozainstytucjonalne formy aktywności, które są w stanie zapewniać sobie samodzielnie. Niniejszy artykuł dotyczy Święta ulicy Za Stodołami, nieformalnej inicjatywy kulturalnej, zorganizowanej przez grupę sąsiadów. Badania miały charakter etnograficzny. Będąc częścią badanego zdarzenia i analizując je od wewnątrz, autorka przyjęła emiczną strategię badawczą. Celem badań było utworzenie mikromonografii procesu uczestnictwa w kulturze w obrębie grupy sąsiedzkiej oraz wyodrębnienie cech charakteryzujących udomowione uczestnictwo w kulturze. Rozważania osadzono w paradygmacie interpretatywnym. W procesie gromadzenia danych wykorzystano obserwację uczestniczącą, rozmowy nieformalne oraz analizę materiałów fotograficznych. Analiza uzyskanego materiału badawczego pozwoliła wyodrębnić kilka cech charakteryzujących udomowione uczestnictwo w kulturze, są to: aktywność i współudział uczestników w tworzeniu danego wydarzenia, otwartość na relacje międzypokoleniowe, międzygeneracyjny przekaz wartości, zorientowanie na budowanie relacji towarzyskich oraz dobrowolność zachowań. Owe cechy stoją niejako w opozycji do tych charakteryzujących uczestnictwo zinstytucjonalizowane, a kryje się za nimi zupełnie inna jakość doświadczania kultury: nie odbiorcza, konsumpcyjna i bierna, a zaangażowana, aktywna i twórcza.
EN
Domestic and privatized culture, in relation to that practiced in public space, is gaining more and more importance. Participants of cultural life, despite their respect for institutionalized culture, in practice prefer non-institutional forms of activity that they can provide themselves on their own. This article relates to Za Stodołami Street Festival, an informal cultural initiative organized by a group of neighbors. The research was of ethnographic character. Being a part of the event and analyzing it from the inside, the author adopted an emic research strategy. The objective of the study was to create a micromonography of the process of participation in culture within a neighborhood group and to distinguish features characterizing domestic participation in culture. The presented reflections have been grounded in an interpretative paradigm. The data were gathered by means of participant observation, informal conversations and analysis of photographic materials. The study conducted allowed to distinguish several features characterizing domestic participation in culture, such as: activity and co-participation of attendees in the creation of a particular event, openness to intergenerational relations, intergenerational transmission of values, orientation on building social relations and voluntary behavior. These features are somewhat in opposition to those characterized by institutionalized participation, and a completely different quality of experiencing culture emerges from them: not receiving, consuming and passive, but involved, active and creative.
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