The Rural Borderland House: Functional‑Spatial and Ritual-Symbolic Specificities

Abstract

This publication reviews the monograph by Polish researcher and PhD in Architecture Magdalena Sulima, which addresses the topics of architectural and ceremonial specifics of traditional rural housing in border territories. under-studied in Russia: Sulima, M. Dom pogranicza w kulturze wsi podlaskiej. – Białystok: Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Białostockiej, 2018. – 277 p. The novelty of the work lies in identifying the specific features of the borderland from the perspective of preserving archaic elements in house-building, structuring of home space, and its use in calendar and family rituals. The monograph may interest Russian-speaking readers not only due to its interdisciplinary approach to studying the house and dwelling but also for defining the specifics of border identity and developing its typology. Further studies of dwellings in zones of intensive ethno-cultural contact can broaden the relatively scarce domestic tradition of understanding and conceptualizing the dwelling as a frontier topos.

Keywords

• house
• dwelling
• household
• ceremony
• holiday
• ritual
• borderland
• self-identification