Problems of the History and Historiography of the Peoples of the North Caucasus in the Studies of P.A. Kuzminov

Abstract

The article is devoted to the main historical and historiographic researches of Professor P.A. Kuzminov. It conventionally singles out several main blocks of research by the scientist, including works devoted to the historiographic study of the liberal reforms of the 1860s–1870s. in the North Caucasus, the processes of implementing reforms in the region, its socio-economic and political and legal development; works that analyze the methodological and organizational problems of modern Caucasian studies, the scientific and social activities of individual pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern historians, etc. The article also considers the work of P.A. Kuzminov on the collection and publication of historical sources on the history of the development of the North Caucasus at the end of the 18th - 19th centuries. The novelty of the article lies in the fact that in modern Caucasian studies there are no works devoted to the scientific biographies of individual scientists who, in their works, determine the course of development of research on certain problems of historical science. According to the authors, in the course of studying the biography of a scientist, it is possible only not to find interesting information about the life of an individual, but also to better understand the course of the organizational, institutional and methodological development of all science. The authors come to the conclusion that P.A. Kuzminov, on the basis of modern theoretical and methodological approaches, conducted a comprehensive historical and historiographical analysis of various problems of modern Caucasian studies. Most of the scientists works are devoted to the history and historiography of the liberal reforms of the 1860s-1870s. in the North Caucasus, various socio-political and agrarian issues of the development of the region during its integration into the Russian Empire.