Intercultural Communication in the North Caucasus: Historical Aspect

Abstract

The article deals with the problems of intercultural communication in the North Caucasus. North Caucasus is considered as a region where there is a sharp contrast between own and others cultural traditions. We focused on the process of formation of the historical consciousness of the mountain peoples as a factor determining ethnic self-awareness, and thereby cultural and civilizational self-identification. We conducted the investigation of intercultural communication in this region which helps to show how mechanisms of intercultural communication and their consequences were implemented at various stages, including a dialogue with Russian culture over the past 200 years. We made the conclusion that the crisis of Russian identity actualized the ethnic, religious, North Caucasian and Caucasian self-identification of mountain peoples, moreover, in the civilizational and cultural opposition to Russia and Russians proper. In the North Caucasus, as in other societies, in times of crisis and disintegration processes, an archaic syndrome manifests itself, that is, a revival of a complex of archaic phenomena, ideas, stereotypes, and norms of behavior, blurring or narrowing of the sphere of rational perception of the surrounding reality, mythological thinking is being strengthened. If such views are preserved in the historical and national self-consciousness of the mountain peoples, the possibility of a polylogue and the interaction of various cultures in the region will be blocked for a long time.