Concepts of “Ethnos” and “Nation” in the Terminological Continuum in Works by D. Olderogge

Abstract

The conceptual context within which D. Olderogge created his works (dominated of the Lenin-Stalin “nation theory” and the Soviet theory of ethnos) is considered in the article. The author of the article shows that the terminological continuum in the works by D. Olderogge testifies to his rejection of the prevailing views of the time. Such terms as “race”, “tribe”, “nationality”, “people”, “nation” and “national state” were used by him outside of any context of Stalinist dogma. In some works D. Olderogge question the Eurocentric periodization of history (the doctrine of socio-economic formations), and comprehensiveness of the stages of «ethnos” the sufficiency of the stage forms of the “ethnos” linked to the formations, applied by Soviet ethnographers. The scientist stated that there were many definitions of the concept of “ethnos”, but the generally recognized concept had not been worked out. The author concludes that D. Olderogge represented the evolutionary paradigm in ethnology and believed in the objective existence of ontologized communities with objective “ethnic” characteristics.