GENEALOGY OF UNIVERSITY ETHNOGRAPHY: DEPARTMENT, PERSONALITIES, TRADITION TRANSMISSION (TO THE 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF PROFESSOR G.E. MARKOV)

Abstract

The article is a tribute of respect to the memory of Gennady Evgenyevich Markov, a major Russian ethnologist, archaeologist and historian of primitive society, doctor in history, professor of the Department of Ethnology, Faculty of History, Lomonosov Moscow State University. The authors provide a detailed analysis of the scientific contribution and life path of the outstanding Soviet/Russian scholar and place their narrative in a broad socio-cultural and intellectual context of the country and society. G.E. Markov's biography is closely connected with the history of the Department of Ethnography/Ethnology at the Faculty of History, Moscow State University and serves as a serious basis for reconstructing the genesis of university ethnography and its dynamics over the course of nearly 85 years. Such a long period of existence of the university department and its sustainable effectiveness in training professional staff were essentially ensured by the high qualification of scientific and pedagogical staff, reliance on solid theoretical and methodological foundations and interdisciplinarity, a combination of conservatism with flexibility and adaptability to the challenges of the time, the ability to preserve disciplinary continuity and ensure the transmission of the scholarly tradition. All these components of the successful development of university ethnology are subjected to a comprehensive and balanced examination in the article. G.E. Markov's biography in all its typical and special manifestations forms the semantic core of the analysis and presentation. The authors offer their view on complex and sharply debatable issues of professional self-determination, the logic of scientific discovery, the correlation between field and desk research, the influence of ideology and politics on scientific thought. The article presents the authors' vision of the prospects for the development of the Department of Ethnology, based on a harmonious combination of ethnological and anthropological approaches to understanding the disciplinary framework, unconditional reliance on scholarly tradition and its authorities, the need to improve the methods of training in terms of instrumentality and practice-oriented nature, which will allow graduates of the department to be in demand and stay in the profession.