Problems of Preservation of National and Cultural Identity in the Context of Cultural Policy of Transnistria
Natalia Golub
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2022-14.3.2-448-467
Abstract:

This article analyzes the historical prerequisites that influence the formation of the identity of the population of Transnistria, based on the common language, history, culture and statehood in the conditions of polyethnicity and multiculturalism of the republic with a “deferred legal status”. Among the array of basic identities, the national-cultural one is viewed through the prism of regulatory, legislative, socio-cultural and linguistic policies aimed at protecting the cultural, educational and linguistic rights and freedoms of the Pridnestrovian people, strengthening the statehood of Transnistria with existing educational and cultural imbalances, as well as progressive reverse processes.

When considering the current state of interethnic consolidation, attention is focused on the problems of preserving national and cultural identity, its markers are singled out, transformational processes are identified due to historical, political and ethno-cultural interactions, the dynamics of the ethnic composition of the population of Transnistria is analyzed. It is noted that in the ethnic structure over the past 30 years, the Moldovan ethnos (initially being the backbone of the statehood of the newly formed country) has given way to the Russian one, because the share of Russian citizens is already more than a third of the population (33.8%). At the same time, a part of the Transnistrians already self-identify as the “Pridnestrovian people”. Thus, on the basis of the ideology of “Transnistrian internationalism”, which allows representatives of more than 70 ethnic groups to coexist peacefully, a new community is being formed, which makes it possible to observe the transformation processes taking place in the study area in dynamics. Focusing on “Russian culture”, the author focuses on the need to activate the mechanisms of creative bilingualism, the development of the ethno-festival movement, ethnographic event tourism of various ethnicities of the multinational Transnistria, which should be reflected in the ongoing State cultural policy.

The author presents the directions of activity for the preservation of the national and cultural identity of the Transnistrian people in the key of ethno-cultural, communication and infrastructural processes.

National Specifics of the Language Worldview
Elena Vaganova
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2022-14.2.1-197-211
Abstract:

This article presents the main approaches to the study of the national specifics of the language worldview. The relationship between the concepts of "worldview", "language" and "thinking" is determined by the ontological foundations of the formation of a linguistic picture of the world as a structural unity of ordered elements. The national specificity of worldview is determined by the subjective perception of reality, which is reflected in the worldview and the implementation of the received ideas and knowledge about the world in speech activity. National specifics includes historical processes and phenomena, way of life, living conditions, traditions, customs, national consciousness and personal self-identification. The worldview can be presented as a system of categories. The subject connection of categories goes back to the ideas of Aristotle. Aristotle defines categories as the most general concepts of the world and ways of knowing it. The role of categories in human cognitive activity is unique. They serve as a means of mental division, grouping, classification of surrounding objects and phenomena, that is, they help to organize the elements of the worldview. The concept of worldview and model of the world is related. Image of the world - is a system of coherent images of reality, reflecting the ethnic and cultural consciousness in a certain perception of the world. Ethnic and cultural image of the world is due to the system coordinates, through which people perceive and interpret the reality around them. The world model is a scheme that is filled in the minds of the displayed objects of reality, in other words, the content includes a picture of the world.

N.A. Berdyaev’s Chiliastic “Mirage” and Eurasianism
Igor Likhomanov
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2022-14.1.2-408-427
Abstract:

The article is devoted to the problem of N. A. Berdyaev’s ambiguous and contradictory attitude to Eurasianism - the ultra-right political trend of Russian emigration in the 1920s and 1930s. The author sees the reasons for Berdyaev’s rapprochement with the Eurasians in the collapse of the religious and mystical ideal that captured the philosopher’s imagination during the First World War. Under the influence of religious excitement that seized part of the Russian intelligentsia in the pre-war period, he believed in the nearness of the end of history and the onset of the millennial Kingdom of God on earth. According to Berdyaev, Russia was called upon to fulfill its historical mission in this final act of the world drama. This role (the “Russian Idea”) was to unite the East and the West in a global religious and cultural synthesis.

The revolution of 1917 destroyed Berdyaev’s eschatological ideal and forced him to radically reconsider his view.  From a Christian anarchist, he turns into a statesman, a defender of conservative values and social hierarchy. During this period, his social philosophy is very close to the ideology of fascism. But fascism was a pan-European phenomenon and in each country had its own original versions. The Eurasian movement was one of the varieties of Russian fascism. Berdyaev’s political sympathies brought him closer to this movement and became the main reason for long-term cooperation with its leaders. However, the commitment to the values of individual freedom and Christian personalism as the basis of his worldview did not allow Berdyaev to go far in his passion for right-wing conservative ideas.

In the late 1920s, he sharply criticized the totalitarian features of the Eurasian ideology. After the National Socialists came to power in Germany, Berdyaev gets the opportunity to compare European far-right regimes and creates a general theory of totalitarianism. In this theory, he uses Eurasian concepts and terminology.  Thus, Eurasianism becomes a model for him, on the basis of which he develops his theory of totalitarianism.

After the end of the Second World War, the philosopher got deeply disappointed. After the end of the Second World War, the disappointment of the philosopher was due to the failure of his hopes for a softening of the political regime in the USSR. He was again seized by gloomy forebodings of an unsuccessful end to human history. And although the hope for a favorable outcome of the struggle between good and evil did not leave Berdyaev until the end of his life, a sense of realism weakened those hopes and faith in the feasibility of the “Russian Idea”.

“New Religious Consciousness” as the Development of L.N. Tolstoy Main Idea of “Religion” – the Idea of Apostasy from Orthodoxy
Svetlana Malimonova
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2022-14.1.2-428-437
Abstract:

The work is devoted to the study of the new religious consciousness” from the point of view of religion, its comparison with other religious systems, and specifically with the religious and moral teachings of L.N. Tolstoy, with which the “new religious consciousness” has much in common. The teachings of L.N. Tolstoy were widely known, criticized by the Orthodox Church, and the figures of the “new religious consciousness” expressed a lot of critical opinions about the teachings of L.N. Tolstoy, they often refused to recognize him as an Orthodox. Nevertheless, they undertook the development of many of Tolstoy’s ideas, which later became the real basis of the “new religious consciousness”. Being in many aspects the development of L.N. Tolstoy teachings, the “new religious consciousness” criticizes “historical” Christianity, its dogmas, contains the ideas of a religious revolution, denies state power, autocracy, and also proposes to create a new religion, build the Kingdom of God on earth, etc. In addition, Tolstoyism and the “new religious consciousness” are also brought together by the fact that both Tolstoy and the figures of the “new religious consciousness” did not rely on Orthodoxy as such in their studies, because they could not even know it enough, because they did not have a systematic theological education, but their ideas were based on Gnosticism, Theosophy, Buddhism, paganism, etc. Therefore, it becomes possible to consider that the “new religious consciousness” not only has a lot of points of contact with the religious and moral teachings of L.N. Tolstoy, not only develops some of his ideas, but also follows the main idea of ​​his “religion” - the idea of ​​apostasy from Orthodoxy.

Populism/Neopopulism of the 19th-20th Centuries: Essence, the Problem of Unfulfilled Potential and the Relevance of Their Intellectual Heritage Today
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2022-14.1.2-438-452
Abstract:

Three main problems were brought up for discussion by the participants of the round table: What is the essence of populism/neo-populism? What potential aspects of populism / neo-populism were unrealized in the 19th-20th centuries and why? Is the old Soviet mantra about the “ideological collapse of populism” relevant today? How do we see the relevance of the intellectual heritage of populism/neo-populism? How and in what areas and spheres can it be used today and tomorrow?

The article by G.N. Mokshina “What is populism?” was offered as material for discussion. The article used materials from a survey of 32 specialist historians, who have attempted to propose their own formulations and approaches. During a lively discussion, the participants also discussed such problems as the need to clarify the conceptual apparatus and expand the terms populism / neo-populism, the relationship between populism / neo-populism and liberalism and various trends within populism, and came to the conclusion that it is necessary to continue the discussion.

What is a Nation for the New Generation of Russians? (Ethnic Self-Identification of Descendants of Mixed Marriages in the Context of the Worldview Paradigms of Our Century)
Svetlana Lourie
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.3.2-281-297
Abstract:

The article is devoted to the perception and understanding of the categories of the national, nation, patriotism and related values by the young generation in the context of an increasingly spreading postmodern and transhumanist worldview. The topic is considered on the example of an interview conducted by the author among students of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after Herzen (St. Petersburg).

The problem of ethnic self-identification of descendants from interethnic marriages is taken as a starting point. It is shown that it differs depending on whose point of view the phenomenon of “metisization” is considered. It was revealed to be the cultural, rather than genetic, basis of Russian self-identification among modern students (which seems to be traditional for the Russian ethnos), as well as the large role of the constructivist factor in ethnic self-identification. Constructivism is expressed in the fact that, in the opinion of a significant number of interviewed students, any descendant from interethnic families can choose any nationality, and not necessarily the nationality of one of the parents. In general, it is the students’ view that questions of national self-determination relate to the sphere of a person’s free choice.

To confirm the latter, some aspects of the youth value system were analyzed, such as the patriotism characteristic for today’s youth, nationality (including inter-ethnic marriages), the future and behavior patterns that one should be guided by. A significant part of the students surveyed tend to give preference to globalist values (different from traditionally Western ones) and adhere to post-Christian patterns of behavior. The category of a nation is losing its meaning, and the transhumanistic worldview is apparently gaining influence among the surveyed students. Ontologism begins to disappear from the perception of young people; the world for them is increasingly turning into a “constructor”.

The “Overkill” Phenomenon in Russian History
Alexey Teplyakov
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.2.2-303-326
Abstract:

This article analyzes the phenomenon of ‘overkill’, which usually accompanies human life as an example of non-constructive behavior. In this article, the author considers the ‘overkill’ phenomenon in the late Imperial and Soviet period in Russia, when overkill was de facto constituted and became one of the ways to manage society. The author proves that with the development of society, the government begins to need overkill as a means of effective management policy, which allows testing public opinion while achieving the goals set by the government. Taking on the task of implementing global and rapid violent changes, the government faces resistance from people. The author shows that overkill transitions from a household phenomenon to the one used by the state, gains a special quality. The overkill that occurs when the message of power is conveyed to the population is the simplest and most effective way to compensate for the lack of feedback mechanisms between the government and society. This phenomenon has proven necessary for the authoritarian and especially totalitarian authorities – they use it to legitimize themselves, explain mistakes, and declare people guilty. In the Communist system, overkill played an important role as a stimulator and regulator in political, socio-economic, and cultural life. Mobilization campaigns, so popular in the USSR, used this ‘overkill’ method as a prerequisite for success. Thus, ‘overkill’ has become an important and integral way of interaction between a dictatorial state and society.

Symbolic World of Modernizing Societies: Invented Traditions (The Case of Japan)
Olga Zinevich,  Yaroslav Chernenko
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.2.2-327-339
Abstract:

This article discusses the specifics of Japanese modernization laid down during the Meiji reforms, which is believed to have achieved a kind of viable synthesis of Western and non-Western patterns of behavior, thinking patterns, and complexes of symbolic elements and ideas. Japan in the second half of the 19th century was faced with the task of catching up with Western countries, which implied, for example, copying certain Western traditions and social institutions. Nevertheless, Japan managed to carry out its modernization quite successfully, without losing its national identity. Today Japan is already an object itself, whose modernization experience other countries are trying to copy. Thus, under the conditions of globalization, Japanese behavioral patterns and other socio-cultural elements are spreading.

The authors of this article utilize the concept of Eric Hobsbawm’s “invented traditions” to reveal the specifics of Japanese modernization. This approach assumes that Meiji modernity was designed or “invented” by some consensus of the Japanese elites of that time. Thus, in order to achieve modernity, Japanese elites had to “invent” traditions in a certain way, so that people could accept said traditions as their own. The invention of traditions itself, in turn, is a complex process of constructing socio-cultural patterns during which new practices and behaviors are made to seem older than they actually are, emphasizing their originality and connection with the people’s past.

In Meiji Japan, various groups of Japanese elites had their own designs for the invention of traditions, in other words, the achievement of modernity. The authors conclude that the winning model implemented by the Meiji government was quite successful and allowed Japan to compete with Western powers on relatively equal terms.

The “Turkish Ideal” in the Philosophy of Ziya Gökalp
Darya Zhigulskaya
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.2.2-340-350
Abstract:

Topic: The philosophy and views on the process of nation building of Ziya Gökalp – the revolutionary ideologist of Turkish nationalism and one of the founding fathers of Kemalism, who played a key role in the articulation of Turkish national identity in the early 20th century. It is hard to overestimate his impact on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk: the founder of the Turkish Republic described Gökalp as the “father of my thoughts”. Gökalp’s ideas come together in the concept of the “Turkish ideal” or “mefkure” (Turk. mefkûre). The principle of “mefkure” was subsequently adopted by the majority of nationalist thinkers.

Methodology: Contextual analysis of sources on the research topic; historical comparativism; synthesis and generalization of factual material.

Results of the study: Ziya Gökalp’s ideas were focused on the transition from the multinational Ottoman state to a national state and the promulgation of the Turkish Republic. They were largely derived from the philosophy of Émile Durkheim, including idealist epistemology, positivist methodology and solidarist corporatism - together known as positivist idealism. Gökalp’s ideas can be summarized as cultural Turkism, ethical Islamism and Durkheimian solidarism. Gökalp succeeded in synthesizing different philosophical approaches, while avoiding eclectic mixing of ideas.

Conclusions: Gökalp’s nationalism was heavily influenced by the West, though he tried to withstand this influence. The romantic principle of the “Turkish ideal” largely reiterates the concept of Volksgeist (German: “spirit of the people”) characteristic of German nationalism. Gökalp’s works clearly illustrate one of the key internal problems of Turkish nationalism – the question of how to restore national self-respect, which had been undermined by the prolonged decline of the Ottoman state and its stature in the eyes of the West. Gökalp’s philosophy clearly links the Young Turk ideology with the Atatürk regime. But in the course of his life, Gökalp’s views underwent significant changes, as he gradually turned away from the principles of the 1908-1909 revolution (constitutional monarchy, Ottomanism, Islamic reformism etc.) and laid the theoretical foundations of Kemalism and the modern Turkish state.

National-Cultural Organizations in the Siberian Ethnic and Migrant Urban Infrastructure: A Case Study of the Cities of Tomsk and Irkutsk
Victor Dyatlov,  Iraida Nam
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.1.2-283-304
Abstract:

The article explores one of the major points of contradiction in the interests and roles of Siberian urban actors with regard to so-called ‘national-cultural’ organizations (natsional'no-kul'turnye organizatsii, NKO, also known as natsional'no-kul'turnye avtonomii, NKA), ‘national-cultural’ associations, centers, foundations, etc., all of which are ethnic organizations. Specifically, it looks into why and how these organizations have become the centre of intersecting ethnic and migration discourses, what is their role and place in the urban infrastructure being created and used by migrants coming to Siberian cities, and how the relations between the state and national-cultural organizations formed at the regional level. Carried out in the Siberian urban centres of Tomsk and Irkutsk, our 30-year research into these questions (including thorough research methods such as observation, engagement in public events and public and advisory council meetings, interview and survey, analysis of documents and other materials released by national-cultural organizations as well as by the mass media) has enabled us to determine what place national-cultural organizations occupy in the migrant infrastructure of the two cities and to establish what kind of relations there is between these organizations and migrants from countries of the same ethnic origin – paternalistic or the one that allows leaders and activists from these organizations build their own social capital. The study of 2018 and 2019 – in-depth interviews and surveys held in Tomsk and Irkutsk – resulted in a substantial correction of the research results we had obtained in a few years prior to it. It revealed that the role migrants play in the local national-cultural organizations is not that of full members, rather, they act as an object of patronage on the part of the local ethnic elite deeply integrated into the host society (or ethnic activist groups that position themselves as such). In fact, the (social, economic and legal) support of these organizations provided to migrants is insignificant, and only a small number of migrants participate in cultural events organized by the local NKOs. Thus, these NKOs can hardly be seen as an element of the migrant infrastructure or an asset facilitating adaptation of migrants in these cities. It also became clear that migrants’ ties with their ‘historical homeland’/home countries, which the local national-cultural organizations take advantage of in sustaining their activities as well as the status of their leaders, often result in the issue of ‘conflicting loyalties’, especially when home countries actively conduct diasporic politics toward this category of their citizens abroad.