Memorial culture of young people: monuments of Krasnodar in the perception of high school students

The present study explores the changes of memorial culture from the position of actor-network theory. In the process of interaction between individuals and monuments, there is an establishment of the system of meanings reflecting the representation of historical events of the region. In order to answer the question about the content of the changes in the network of memorial culture, monuments are considered as a social ‘sign’, consisting of ‘signifier’, represented by the material object, and ‘signified’, i.e. meanings and images that people read when they come into contact with the monument. Conducted among high school students, the study showed that the content side of monuments tends to shift from historical discourse to the understanding of memorials as landmarks in urban space. It follows that memorial culture today is being transformed into a topographic network.