Local Identity and Everyday Life in the Suburbs of Kyiv (A Case Study of Hlevakha Community)

Abstract

The article examines the problem of Hlevakha community’s local identity formation on the basis of field research and personal author’s observations. Local identity is the primary level of territorial identity and the result of identifying individual with the local community, the sense of involvement in the events which take place in the territory of inhabitance. It is formed under the influence of collective and individual experiences and cooperation within the local community. Local identity is examined through the comprehensive analysis of its components. According to traditional social and physiological approaches, we may define emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components of local identity. The emotional component includes a set of emotions, moods, and feelings related to the individual’s belonging to his/her regional community. The cognitive component involves the individual’s awareness concerning his/her community, its way of life, traditions, history, socioeconomic and political conditions, etc. The behavioral component is defined as certain readiness for actions on the basis of individual social needs and a certain way of life. The research of emotional component of local identity shows a high level of emotional connection of Hlevakha inhabitants to the township and their closeness with other members of the community. Analysis of the cognitive component reveals that the members of the community lead both rural and urban way of life; the respondents mentioned a large amount of positive changes in social infrastructure and also spoke about necessity of its further development and improvement. To describe the behavioral component of local identity, we conducted the analysis of social media and online resources, in particular local websites and online communities in Facebook and Viber. The results of the survey show that the respondents are interested in the life of their local community primarily as observers and are poorly involved in the social, political, and cultural life of the township. The author considers that the citizens’ initiative and cooperation with local authorities can become an important driver of changes in the social infrastructure of Hlevakha.