marked in the thesis by their real names and positions.
I have a different degree of familiarity with each of them: from friendly relations, to those I was meeting for the first time. It is worth to note that in both cases, I tried to stick to the same format of conversation, although it is obvious that the meetings with strangers lasted for a shorter time than with familiar persons. I was pleasantly surprised that even strangers, who just learned about the theme of my research, always have expressed a wish to meet. Moreover a waiting time for a meeting was relatively short, even despite of a high official status of the respondent and his/her busyness.
Another observation: almost all of my interviews I have appointed by Facebook or other online social networks. This applies both to my friends and strangers (even high ranking officials). In all cases, online social networks have played the role of an effective communication channel, which is to some extent eliminates the social status of the respondent and makes his/her more accessible for communication.
In my opinion, a significant role was played by the fact of presence of «mutual friends» on online social networks. This fact serves as an effective recommendation and partially replaces the initial phase of familiarity, because it is always possible to make inquiries about the person beforehand. Although Kaliningrad is a town with a population of nearly half a million people, nevertheless, it is a «big village», where many know each other. This is especially noticeable in certain professional circles (among journalists, academics, social activists, politicians e. t. c.).
The venues of my interviews were cafes, offices and breaks during events and conferences.
The sample interviews allowed my respondents to move away from the structured aspect of the conversation and give a response in broader framework of the designated theme. Although, it was largely possible with the second group of respondents.
The second group of respondents is «ordinary people». This group is more numerous and includes a variety of people. Almost all of them are mentioned in the text of the thesis anonymously (under fake names) or under real, but without family names. I have only few familiar people among this category of respondents.
The type of interactions with the second group may be divided into interview (which were planned in advance) and conversations that occurred spontaneously. Interviews were conducted during the events at the opening of thematic exhibitions, scientific conferences and seminars. I should also mention the sporadic conversations that took place in public transport. Here I mean traveling from Kaliningrad to Poland (Gdansk and Olsztyn) and Germany (Potsdam) by bus.
The conversations on the border, while waiting for the border and customs control, as well as with applicants for Schengen visas, who submitted their documents to the General Consulate of Poland and Germany in Kaliningrad, were devoted to the cross-border mobility and perception of Kaliningrad as a borderline region. With some of these people I have managed to become acquainted and to meet again to clarify some questions. In Poland, mainly in Gdansk and Sopot, I was looking for places that are particularly popular among Kaliningradians, who travel there for recreation and shopping of popular products and foodstuffs.
Since many Kaliningradians «migrate» on weekends to «Trójmiasto»32 my field of research literally «overflows» across the border and rushed for 120 kilometers into the EU, «carpets» the cobbled streets of the old town of Gdansk, corridors of shopping malls, seafront of Sopot, theatrical annual processions of the St. Dominic Fair, yacht festivals and new shopping centers, arrayed along the Polish-Russian border.
On the other hand, my experience of research and teaching at the Baltic Federal University of Immanuel Kant helped me to establish contacts with students of universities of Kaliningrad, with whom I have organized pre-scheduled interviews.
My affiliation with the institution «from the West», which is the Humboldt-University, initially caused the «mixture sense of wonder» among the respondents of my research. The interest of Russian researchers, mostly political scientists and sociologists, considered as usual. Interest on the part of the West is expected only in respect to the lighting in the news and usually in a negative context. The fact that I am conducting an academic study has caused slight bewilderment: «It cannot be! We are interesting for researchers from the West?»
Secondly, my respondents were surprised after I said that I am conducting research in «European Ethnology». They asked with curiosity: «They are interested what we eat, drink, how looks like our housing is and what we daily wear?»
At this point, I should refer to Buckowski33, who is of the opinion that still exist knowledge hierarchies, when researchers from the west and their study met with more respect among the field. As explanation for this attitude Buchowski considers a kind of inferiority complex among anthropologists from Central and Eastern European countries, who research the post-socialism. In my case, it was quite the contrary, because people, who are unfamiliar with me, took me as a researcher from the «Western Europe».
Buckowski explains this approach as reaction on colonial pattern of thinking. According to Buchowski, western anthropologists often reject locally produced theories, because they would classify it as ideologically contaminated. The western anthropologists pursue the goals to preserve their interpretations and discourse sovereignty and to legitimize their scientific position34.
In conversations some respondents expressed ambivalent feelings of suspicion and of respect to me at the same time.
During interviews with respondents from both groups I felt their aspiration to «explain» features, problems and possible prospects of Kaliningrad, as part of a cross-border space and as a «European» city. I felt their aspiration to use me as a reporter on the line to the west. This confidence appeared after a few respondents said about it directly. One opinion united almost all respondents: «It is „nice“ and „right“ that they are interested in us».
How was the search and identification of fields for interviews and participant observation? Field was found at scientific conferences, at educational institutions, informal youth hangouts, in the corridors of the official regional authorities, media expert communities of journalists and political scientists, in the queue on sale of European goods, on the state border (on the way to it, during customs and pass control and during my stay abroad in bordered zone).
As Baumbach emphasizes the main agents involved in creating and sustaining «regions of culture» and «regions of identity» are acting by communicating shared traditions, customs, and values include a wide range of different sites and media devoted to the promotion of regional history and the creation of a regional collective consciousness. This is exemplified through museums and monuments, traditional fairs and festivals of art35. Therefore events and actions, which aimed at maintaining or reconstruction of historical traditions and values, have been my priority in time of field research. Among them are public holiday of «Long sausage»36, historical reconstruction37, «Week of Prussia cat»38. By these and other events I held participating observations.
As Welz considers «participating observation is used by the European ethnology often only to provide additional background and contextual knowledge»39. Through those events and holidays I was looking for this
«Trójmiasto» is urban agglomeration consisting of three Polish cities of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot.
Buchowski, Michał: Hierarchien des Wissens in der ostmitteleuropäischen Anthropologie, in: Poehls, Kerstin; Vonderau, Asta (Hrsg.): Turn to Europe. Kulturanthropologische Europaforschungen, Berliner Blätter: Ethnographische und ethnologische Beiträge, Heft 41, Münster 2006.
Buchowski, Michał: Hierarchien des Wissens in der ostmitteleuropäischen Anthropologie, in: Poehls, Kerstin; Vonderau, Asta (Hrsg.): Turn to Europe. Kulturanthropologische Europaforschungen, Berliner Blätter: Ethnographische und ethnologische Beiträge, Heft 41, Münster/Hamburg/Berlin/London 2006. S. 37—38.
Baumbach, Sibylle: Conceptualising «Region», «Identity» and «Culture», and mapping approaches to regions of culture and regions of identity. In: Baumbach, Sibylle (ed.): Regions of culture – regions of identity. Trier 2010, p. 1.
First «Day of long sausage» noted by 1520, when the butchers of Königsberg produced a long sausage and carried it to the downtown. The idea to revive this holiday was proposed by the management of the World Ocean Museum in Kaliningrad. Nowadays a sausage has a total length of about 200 meters.
Historic reconstruction of battles of knights of the Teutonic Order, as well as the battle of Gumbinnen in 1914, the battle of Friedland in 1807 and the Battle of Preussisch Eylau in 1807 became regular and widely popular among Kaliningradians and tourists.
The prototype for the «Prussian cat» is the hero of the novel by E. T. A. Hoffmann «Lebensansichten des Katers Murr».
Welz, Gisela: Ethnografien europäischer Modernen, in: Binder, Beate; Göttsch, Silke; Kaschuba, Wolfgang; Vanja, Konrad (Hrsg.): Ort. Arbeit. Körper. Ethnografie Europäischer Modernen. Münster 2005. S. 25.
