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English

ID: <

10670/1.1vl6pz

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Where these data come from
The soviet dachas in Kazan: a case to interrogate new urban-rural networks

Abstract

International audience Dachas are a central part of the Soviet cultural heritage and have durably impacted Soviet life (LOVELL, 2003; CALDWELL, 2011). Originally meant for noble families and their leisure (LOVELL, 2003), they have been widely democratized during the second half of the twentieth century to overcome the successive crises of the Soviet agro-food industry. These individual plots fed poorest urban populations by providing access to arable land (BOUKHARAEVA & MARLOIE, 2015). Thus, they completed the agricultural production of the countryside (BOUKHARAEVA & MARLOIE, 2015). If these spaces are traditionally occupied by urban people, they maintain relations between rural and urban spaces and transform the “Homo Sovieticus” into a “homo mobilis” travelling between the city and the countryside. (ТРЕЙВИШ, 2014). Dacha bring into light urban-rural relations in the USSR, ruralisation of cities and urbanisation of countryside (НЕФЕДОВА,2013). In this article, we aim to re-examine the classic understanding of urban-rural relationship through the Soviet dacha. We would like to show the dacha as a space where city and countryside interpenetrated, creating new rural-urban networks and new rural-urban life style in soviet Russia and until today. With this aim, we will rely on the data collected during our doctoral research in Kazan from 2012 to 2017. Our paper will be based on qualitative data composed of interviews conducted with several generations of dačniki. Added to this, we conducted interviews with local authorities, farmers, gardening associations and researchers. These interviews are completed by a survey about gardening practices within the dacha. Our investigations will lead us to expose three types of hybridisation between urban and rural: - A spatial hybridisation has been formed around collective gardens (in Russian sadovye tovariščestva) since the plots of dacha have both urban characteristics (hierarchical and orthogonal organisations) and rural characteristics (structure of vegetable gardens using market gardening techniques).- An economic hybridisation has been established since the 1960s in Kazan as agricultural practices have necessitated strong relations between farmers from nearby rural villages and urban dačniki. - A cultural and social hybridisation has crystallised because the dacha has become a real part of the daily Soviet life. Indeed, they have created a fusion of rural and urban lifestyles.

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