HOW THE IMAGE OF A PLACE SHAPES IDENTITY: FRAME, AFFORDANCE, AND FRONTIER (ON THE MATERIAL OF A SOVIET GUIDEBOOK TO CRIMEA)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32999/ksu2786-5118/2026-55-1Keywords:
Southern Ukraine, Crimea, identity, frontier, politics of memory, tourism, guidebooksAbstract
Purpose. To clarify how the image of a place shapes the identity of a historical subject and to propose a theoretical and methodological model that explains not only the content of an image but also the mechanism of its influence. The classical imagological approach, while productive in describing images, stops at the level of representation and leaves open the “black box” problem – the gap between the image offered and its actual reception by a concrete person. Methods. A three-level model is applied, integrating frame analysis (E. Goffman, R. Entman), affordance theory (J. Gibson, D. Norman, I. Hutchby), and frontier theory reconceptualised through the notion of the “contact zone” (M.-L. Pratt), complemented by a human-centred approach and the optics of memory politics. The model is tested on the Soviet tourist guidebook “Crimea. Guidebook” (Simferopol, 1969). This source is used purely as an object of scholarly analysis, not as a reliable source of facts – the study of the very mechanisms by which the Soviet regime constructed images of Crimea is precisely what this article is about. Results. The study shows how the frame of a “resort paradise” is embodied in a material carrier; how the affordances of the edition – durability, the visual priority of the cover, the hierarchy of visibility in its structure, and the programming of movement through the tourist route – render the image effective and turn it into lived experience; and how the notion of the frontier explains the opposing reception of the same carrier by different subjects, above all the deported Crimean Tatars, Armenians, and Greeks. The analysis demonstrates that frame, affordance, and frontier operate not as separate instruments but in synergy: the frame defines what is offered to be seen, the affordance shows through which properties of the carrier this offer becomes effective, and the frontier indicates where and by whom this experience is lived. Conclusions. An image becomes identity not automatically but through a material carrier lived by a concrete subject in a concrete space of displacement. The proposed model expands the theoretical foundation for studying the transformation of identities and mass images of Soviet Crimea (1954–1991) and can be applied to a broader corpus of sources – film materials, posters, and the press.
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