Transformation of the system of political symbols in the Russian Far East in the 21st century

Introduction. The presented paper is a study of political symbols in the Russian Far East. We are going to discuss not only memorials, but also state symbols, works of art, texts - all the things that shape a world view. The aim of the study is to find political symbols that are universal for the entire Far East region, and to assess their political mobilization capacity. Methods and materials. The article is based upon field studymaterials conducted in regional centers of the Far Eastern Federal District of the Russian Federation in the spring of 2019. In theoretical terms, the work is based on symbolic politics studies of O.Yu. Malinova, S.P. Potseluev, M. Edelman. Analysis. In the course of the study, we identified several groups of political symbols with mobilization capacity. The first corpus of political symbols is related to the Soviet symbols of victory over Japan. Struggle for the use of these symbols is between the regional branches of the Communist Party and regional authorities. To put things into perspective it is important to assess the impact of Japanophobia on the further development of regional partnership with Japan. The second corpus is the symbols of Russian expansion to the Far East (worship crosses, monuments to pioneers). These symbols are a focal point of struggle between representatives of indigenous peoples, on the one hand, and Cossacks and military-patriotic organizations, on the other hand. Results. In the course of the study of the Russian Far East, we found out that, despite the complicated transformations of the past thirty years, the region is still represented as a unified symbolic space. At the same time, a number of symbolic conflicts and the devaluation of meanings have been observed.