DNIPRO RAPIDS VS DNIPRELSTAN: REPRESENTATION IN THE MAGAZINE «ZORІA» (1925–1934)

Abstract

For centuries, the Dnipro Rapids attracted the attention of travelers, artists, and scholars. For centuries, the Dnipro Rapids have been a subject of interest for travelers, artists, and scholars. They shaped the perception of the uniqueness of the Dnipro Nadporizhzhia – the region upstream of the Dnipro rapids – as a space where the forces of nature became both an obstacle and protection, as well as an aesthetic and cultural centre. The construction of Dniprelstan (the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station) in 1927–1932 marked a turning point: the emergence of this facility led to the loss of an important natural and cultural complex.

The aim of this study is to conduct a content analysis of references to Dnieperstan and the Dnipro Rapids in a leading regional periodical of the 1920s – the literary, scholarly, and socio-political journal «Zoria» (Dnipropetrovsk, 1925–1934), where a local discourse on nature, science, and industrial transformations was being shaped.

Based on 102 issues of the magazine, 31 publications (138 pages, or 2.7 %) were identified as those that demonstrate a change in representational practices. At the initial stage (1925–1926), there was a predominance of natural-historical and local-history emphases: the rapids were described as a unique natural phenomenon that influenced the development of the region. In the materials from 1927–1934, a more pronounced apologetic and propagandistic approach emerged, according to which Dniprelstan was constructed as a symbol of socialist progress and economic development, as well as a manifestation of collective effort and technical achievement. The analysis of «Zoria» makes it possible to trace not only the informational coverage of industrial processes but also a cultural shift in the perception of the Dnipro and the loss of local historical memory, which opens up prospects for further research in the fields of media history and cultural memory.