Title: The 'embodiments' of Stalin in the tourism landscape of Moscow
Authors: Magdalena Banaszkiewicz
Addresses: Institute of Intercultural Studies, Jagiellonian University, ul. Gronostajowa 3, 30-387 Cracow, Poland
Abstract: The purpose of the article is to present the problem of creating the image of Joseph Stalin by Moscow's tourism industry. On the basis of material collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews, the paper presents different 'embodiments' of Stalin, which can be found in the strict centre of the Russian capital city. The analysis conducted from the anthropological perspective aims to shed light on the process of commodification of dissonant heritage. Moreover, it invites to the further discussion on the relationship between memory, dissonant heritage and tourism development in the eastern Europe.
Keywords: Moscow; Stalin image; memory; dissonant heritage; tourism anthropology; post-Soviet heritage; souvenirs; Joseph Stalin; tourism industry; commodification; tourism development; Russia.
International Journal of Tourism Anthropology, 2016 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.221 - 234
Received: 08 Mar 2016
Accepted: 21 Sep 2016
Published online: 24 Jan 2017 *