How to read a local text? Aloud? Audio guide “Yalguba. Connecting times”

Abstract

The article examines the experience of creating the audio guide Yalguba: The Connection of Times, designed to preserve and present the local cultural text of a Karelian village. The project is grounded in an emic approach and seeks to “give voice” to the village through residents’ memories embedded in physical space. The authors describe the methodology of “memory routing”, understood as the identification of significant places and oral toponyms through archival research, mental maps, go-along interviews, and active community engagement on social media. As a result, two tour routes (short and extended) were developed, incorporating narratives of local history, everyday life, and both sacred and mundane practices. The project’s theoretical focus shifted from the idea of documenting a single local text to the analysis of its multiple versions, associated with different socio-age groups of residents, including long-term inhabitants, seasonal residents, and migrants. The article addresses broader questions concerning the ethics of memory research, the construction of heritage, and the potential of such projects to foster internal community consolidation and dialogue with external audiences.