<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The paper tells the story of the shaping of a Soviet oil-shale mining city - Kohtla-Järve, Estonia - by contrasting the public sphere represented by photo-albums with private ones represented by life-stories. The reason for Kohtla-Järve's existence is oil-shale and its usage as political tool has caused the city's rise and decline in the socio-economic turmoil of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. Yet, as contradictory as we would like to think results of visual representation analysis and a biographical approach concerning Soviet and contemporary worlds are, they both still broadly follow political and socio-economic circumstances. Imagery and life-stories are not poles apart, they just focus on different things; representations are somewhat rooted in real life and biographies are partly lived in public space.</p></abstract>

The paper tells the story of the shaping of a Soviet oil-shale mining city - Kohtla-Järve, Estonia - by contrasting the public sphere represented by photo-albums with private ones represented by life-stories. The reason for Kohtla-Järve's existence is oil-shale and its usage as political tool has caused the city's rise and decline in the socio-economic turmoil of the 20th century. Yet, as contradictory as we would like to think results of visual representation analysis and a biographical approach concerning Soviet and contemporary worlds are, they both still broadly follow political and socio-economic circumstances. Imagery and life-stories are not poles apart, they just focus on different things; representations are somewhat rooted in real life and biographies are partly lived in public space.

Public and private shaping of Soviet mining city: contested history?

Centre for Landscape and Culture, Estonian Institute of Humanities, Tallinn University, Uus-Sadama 5, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia

European Countryside

{"article-title":"Public and private shaping of Soviet mining city: contested history?"}

The paper tells the story of the shaping of a Soviet oil-shale mining city - Kohtla-Järve, Estonia - by contrasting the public sphere represented by...

Public and private shaping of Soviet mining city: contested history?

Published Online: Nov 25, 2010

Page range: 132 - 150

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10091-010-0010-8

Keywords
representatsioon, biograafia, elulugu, maastikumuutus, sotsiaalne ruum, tööstus, põlevkivi, Eesti

This content is open access.

Public and private shaping of Soviet mining city: contested history?

Published Online: Nov 25, 2010

Page range: 132 - 150

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10091-010-0010-8

Keywordsrepresentatsioon, biograafia, elulugu, maastikumuutus, sotsiaalne ruum, tööstus, põlevkivi, Eesti

This content is open access.

Keywords
representatsioon, biograafia, elulugu, maastikumuutus, sotsiaalne ruum, tööstus, põlevkivi, Eesti