Volodymyr Baran’s Ethnocultural and Ethnogenetic Studies

Abstract

The article analyzes the ethnocultural and ethnogenetic issues in the works of V. Baran, published by him in 1955–1991. It was found that during the totalitarian era, humanitarian science was under the powerful control of communist power, which required from the Soviet scientists to profess Marxism-Leninism and fulfil the tasks of the regime without deviating from the ideological matrix. This also concerned the observance of the theory which stipulated the stadial development of the mankind, the existence of the so-called ancient Rus nationality, etc. It is shown that the ethnogeny of Slavs and their ethnocultural development were among the priority directions of Soviet archaeology; therefore, V. Baran, with his interests in Slavs, was constantly involved in the research, but despite ideological pressure, avoided unnecessary conjuncture in favour of a well-considered scientific work. This referred to as somewhat politicized Cherniakhiv problems so Slavic ethnogeny in general. It is established that the scientist did not always manage to maintain his independent position; thus, he was forced to support the concept of the existence of the unified Ancient Rus nationality. In some of his texts, particularly in those that had gained the greatest publicity (namely, the collective monograph “Slavs of the Southeastern Europe in the Pre-State Period”), V. Baran advocated the existence of the Ancient Rus nationality at the time of the first Eastern Slavic state – Ancient Rus. It is proved that V. Baran, the founder of the Kyiv School of Slavonic Studies, together with his adhering colleagues, managed to create his own, qualitatively new concept of Slavic ethnogeny, grounded on the idea of the autochthony of the Slavs between the Dnieper and Odra. It is established that as a result of complex ethnocultural, social and ethnopolitical processes, which involved a number of cultures and cultural groups of Southeastern and Central Europe in the 1st–4th centuries, and at the end of the 4th and 5th centuries, the early medieval Prague-Korchak culture was created.