The youth urban workshop in Kaliningrad and the book project “Myths and legends of Selma”

Abstract

The paper presents a case study of a youth workshop on urban studies and sociocultural programming, which operated in Kaliningrad in 2019-21 as part of the program of the International Film Festival “On the Edge. West.” About 10 high school students from various schools in the city conducted field anthropological research on oral history, local identity, and current problems of the vernacular Selma district. This territory began to be developed on the northern outskirts of Kaliningrad in the second half of the 1990s. Now it is the largest post-Soviet district of the city, consisting of several residential complexes of multi-storey new buildings. Residents of the city often perceived it as the most uninteresting area of Kaliningrad because it was built very recently and did not have a rich history. However, under the guidance of the author of the article, high school students collected a wealth of material on the history of the district, assembled a collection of urban legends and vivid oral narratives about Selma, as well as mental maps created by residents. In addition, the workshop participants used methods of visual anthropology: they took ethnographic photographs of the area and collected visual artifacts such as advertisements on entrances and vernacular graffiti. After analyzing the collected materials, the young researchers wrote the book “Myths and Legends of Selma Urban District”. The publication of this unusual book about a new district of the city became an important event for Kaliningrad, was actively discussed in the local media, and also influenced community building among Selma activists. This case shows that the film festival’s program of educational and socio-cultural projects using anthropological methods can work as a tool for spatial development and community building.