Intellectual Elite Research Articles

The Bohemian broadside on St Ivan of 1688 : the exception that proves the rule?

The goal of the paper is to present the broadside on St Ivan printed in Prague in 1688 as important evidence of the existence of vernacular illustrated broadsides in Bohemia in the late 17th century. The broadsheet, which is related to the Benedictine monastery St John under the Rock, near Prague, whose church also serves as a pilgrimage site devoted to St Ivan, obviously aims at shaping the multiple identities and affiliations of the Benedictine community. It clearly belongs to a kind of print production that was costly, and it seems to have been distributed as a gift, with the obvious purpose of providing the monastery with a means for creating and strengthening social ties. In addition, the intertextual connections of the broadside to a pilgrimage book of 1691 relating to the same monastery show how fluid the contemporary boundary was between broadsides and printed booklets. The use of vernacular language and genres typical of pilgrimage books indicates that, despite its graphical and literary ambitions, the broadside of 1688 was not intended exclusively for social and intellectual elites but was designed to offer multiple levels of reception for different kinds of readers.

Серия «Философия России ХХ века»: в поисках «русской идеи»

On September 29–30, 1922, a tragic event for the culture of Russia happened – the expulsion of its intellectual elite from the country began. The execution was replaced by exile. It was a heavy blow to the national culture. And when in the early 1990s this event was described and comprehended in the philosophi­cal literature, the formula “interrupted flight” became the leitmotif. In that time it was experienced and comprehended in this way. Today, however, after another two decades, we can say: yes, it was a terrible blow to Russian humanitarian thought, but its deep traditions still did not disappear without a trace. What did it cost to those who kept the threads of Russian philosophical thought – is a special topic – and we must also remember about them – about the fate of G.G. Shpet, P.A. Florensky, A.F. Losev, I.V. Popov and many others… But, one way or an­other, thanks to them, philosophical thought and intellectual domestic culture, de­spite all their seeming ephemerality and fragility, were preserved. They managed to preserve the tradition – despite external circumstances, despite attempts to in­terrupt it, destroy it, and passed it on to the next generations of humanitarians. To­day, to the assessments of this tragic event that took place a century ago, we want to add that efforts aimed at reviving in its entirety and updating the tradition of Russian philosophy continue. And reflections on these efforts, their philosophi­cal understanding is the topic of our article

The USSR – Czechoslovakia Commission of Historians: Particularities of Creation and Activities in the 1960s

In the article, the authors examine the history of the establishment and early years of the USSR – Czechoslovakia Commission of Historians. The relevance of the subject in question is conditioned, on the one hand, by the growing interest in the problem of the formation and functioning of “socialist science” in Russian and international historiography and, on the other hand, by the study of the methods and instruments by which the Soviet leadership reacted to the liberalisation of the political regime in Czechoslovakia and the search for ways to influence its intellectual elite. The authors draw on the archive collections of the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History, the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Archive of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In addition, they draw on sources of personal origin, contrasting official party documents with curious evaluative sketches. On the basis of these sources, the authors construct a study in two dimensions. The authors conclude that the creation of the commission was a political and ideological project, a circumstance which determined both the composition of the Soviet section of the institution and the topics chosen for joint studies. The Commission was established far too late to become an effective instrument for maintaining the prestige and authority of the Soviet Union even among Czechoslovak intellectuals, let alone the population at large.

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”: environmental-climate conspiracy theories and populism at the beginning of the Bolsonaro administration (2018-2020)

The main argument presented in this paper is that the environmental-climate conspiracy theories propagated at the beginning of the Bolsonaro administration helped to foster a populist ideology – that is, the idea that there is a moral struggle between the 'good people' against 'corrupt elites' and that the populist leader is the only legitimate representative of this people because he represents their moral values. To support this argument, we conducted a qualitative content analysis of 36 conspiratorial speeches around the environmental-climate issue delivered by five actors from the Bolsonaro administration top positions (Jair Bolsonaro, Eduardo Bolsonaro, Ernesto Araújo, Filipe Martins and Olavo de Carvalho) between 2018 and 2020. From this qualitative analysis, we evidenced a conspiratorial structure as follows: global, intellectual, technocratic, and left-wing elites seek to instrumentalize the environmental-climate agenda – in particular by ideological indoctrination and alarmism – to justify widespread control over the nations sovereignties and the individuals freedoms. It was found that unmasking and resisting environmentalism were the two main moral messages that this conspiratorial structure emanates. In the face of this moral struggle between truth and freedom, in which climate change and the Amazon are embedded, Bolsonaro is presented as a patriotic leader who defends sovereignty, development, and the interests of the people and the nation.

Аналитические материалы архива Н. И. Евдокимова как источник изучения военно-политической истории Кавказа XVIII-XIX вв.

The article analyses documents making up the collection of General Nikolai Ivanovich Evdokimov, a well-known figure of the military and political history of the North Caucasus of the 19th century. The collection is now stored in the fonds of the Russian State Military Historical Archive. The file consists of 17 parts, its volume exceeding 500 sheets. Despite the collection value, we have no general notion of the materials subjects, since the drafted documents inventory was compiled prior to the revolution of 1917 by the staff of the Military Scientific Archive of the General Headquarters. The study is to assess the topics and to analyse the content of the documents in the collection, clarifying the nature of Evdokimov’s military-administrative activities and tracing the wide range of his scientific interests. The materials mostly contain N.I. Evdokimov’s correspondence with his subordinates and administrators involved in the Caucasus governance. The collection contains documents of management and record keeping of military and administrative nature; materials on the general's biography; and the so-called "random papers": draft documents compiled by Evdokimov and extracts on current events in the Caucasus, which interested him. The most informative is part 11, collection of materials compiled both by Evdokimov himself and for him. The research has classified analytical materials of the collection into the following groups: documents describing the history of the Caucasus; documents on the relationship building with the highlanders; military-statistical descriptions of the regions, the Cossacks administration, and the Kuban region development. Of particular value are reviews compiled for Evdokimov on the basis of the 18th century records once stored in the now perished regional Geogrievsky Archive. Clerks’ copies of several known archival documents contain Evdokimov’s notes and comments, giving an opportunity to assess his attitude to the issues concerning the Caucasus policies raised by his contemporaries. The archive gives a clear insight on the nature of problems that worried the General, as well as intellectual military elite of the region, forming a “mental map” of the Caucasus, which was to determine the tone of regional studies for a long time.

“Mitteleuropa’s unique spiritual power has to flow into the common European culture” : György Sebestyén and cultural policies in Austria in the 1970s and 1990s

Austria’s ‘perpetual neutrality’, the price paid in 1955 for its independence and the withdrawal of Soviet troops, was the starting point of the Austrian ‘lone course’ to Mitteleuropa, carried out mainly thanks to the efforts of both political and intel- lectual actors. The fortunes of Austrian cultural policies received a considerable boost in the mid-Fifties, thanks to the efforts of Budapest-born Austrian writer and journalist György Sebestyén, who was to play a key role in the various stages of the Mitteleuropa process, favouring a transnational bond in the Danube region, which in the 1980s led Austria back into the middle of the action unfolding along and be- yond its Eastern borders. By exploring Austria’s cultural diplomacy with East-Cen- tral Europe from the 1950s to the 1990s, this article uses archival and press sources to show how political and intellectual Austrian elites constantly and skilfully devel- oped a new ‘transnational scenario’ in Mitteleuropa (even though the Iron Curtain constituted a fearsome border regime cutting the Alpine country off from its tradi- tional neighbours). This not only projected a new positive image of their country, veering between culture and dialogue, but also built new partnerships to buttress Austria as a cultural pioneer in the pan-European context.

The First Rome context of Filifei’s epistle: Orthodoxy and catholicism in Russia in 15th – 16th сenturies

The article is a trial of reconstructing one of the most important components of the culturalhistorical landscape of Russia at the 15–16th centuries, which is of paramount importance for understanding the essence of the ideas of monk of the Pskov Eleazar monastery Filofei, the author of the theory «Moscow as the Third Rome». According to the conventional opinion, relations between Russia and the West after the Ferraro-Florentine Council became irreconcilably hostile, and the perception of Catholicism, the «First Rome», was unequivocally negative. If cultural contacts persisted, it was only in spite of confessional differences. However, the situation of the late XV – early XVI centuries demonstrates a more flexible and pragmatic attitude of the Russian intellectual and political elite: society and the church remained faithful to Orthodox teaching, not inferior in dogmatic and canonical issues — such as filioque, communion with unleavened bread or the ecclesiastical supremacy of the pope, but were quite ready to assimilate Western experience. Even such prominent representatives of the church hierarchy as Avraamiy of Suzdal, Gennady of Novgorod and Metropolitan Makarius recognized that something could be learned from Catholics. Against this background, the position of Filofei, who considered everything emanating from the Western church to be the machinations of the devil, seems much more categorical and intolerant. According to the author of the article, this difference in the perception of the «First Rome» is one of the reasons for the weak interest of the Pskov elder’s contemporaries in the idea of the Third Rome. He sees the explanation of such a position of Filofei, on the one hand, in the specifics of the border position of Pskov, which is why the degree of hostility to the West was clearly higher here, and on the other hand, in the fact that the theory of the monk of the Eleazar Monastery was exclusively theological and had nothing to do with foreign policy, the structure of the Russian state or the perception of Western culture.

Debating nationalism: Bihari intelligentsia and the Swadeshi movement of Bengal

During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, the bhadralok advocated an idea of Indian nationalism that freely used Hindu myths, symbols and imagery and hence tended to exclude several multi-ethnic religious communities from its reach. A section of intellectual and political elites in Bihar saw this as a narrow projection of the idea of Indian nationalism. They challenged it as a form of Hindu nationalism and argued that a true idea of nationality could evolve in India only when backward regions like Bihar achieved a certain level of progress and development, as well as a separate sub-national political identity. They also rejected the revolutionary militant, nationalism that was gaining popularity among the youth. Exploring the tensions that played out between the bhadralok political elites and the intelligentsia in Bihar over the question of Indian nationalism during the Swadeshi movement of Bengal, this article argues for an emphasis on the sub-regional and secular aspects of nationalism and that the non-violent freedom struggle against colonialism was a critical dimension for understanding the rise of nationalism in early twentieth-century India.

Cantus fractus in Pre-Hussite Bohemia: Lost Repertories and Reconstruction Challenges

The relatively high number of chant books with notated cantus fractus after 1470 as well as their monumental and splendid appearance erroneously gives the impression that rhythmic chant performance only found its way into the liturgical repertory in Prague after the Hussite Wars (1419-34). But the first sources of rhythmically performed plainchant from Prague are much older, dating back to the 1380s. Additional evidence for this can be found in the so-called Jistebnice Cantionale from the 1420s or early 1430s, a source for the Hussite liturgy with numerous Hussite songs that includes vernacular sequences and Patrem chants notated in cantus fractus. Based on the recently confirmed Prague origin of the manuscript and its close connection to the Prague intellectual elite, the presence of the vernacular repertory suggests that a related, Latin repertory would have existed previously, presumably cultivated in the early fifteenth century. Inscriptions in the cantionale display the scribe’s struggles to notate rhythm precisely, which indicates that he was dealing with an entirely new idiom for which he lacked reliable written models.

Specifics of Intellectual Elite Preparation in Singapore

Specifics of Intellectual Elite Preparation in Singapore

ЮВІЛЕЙНА ФРАНКІАНА У ГАЛИЦЬКІЙ МІЖВОЄННІЙ ПРЕСІ

The article examines the rise of the cult of Ivan Franko in Galicia in the context of interwar social and political realities. The analysis focuses on the interpretive models designed based on the anniversary pieces of different genres published to commemorate the tenth and twentieth anniversaries of Franko’s death in 1926 and 1936. The genre- and matter-specific features are exposed on the basis of editorials and opinion pieces, memoirs, informational materials, and special anniversary issues. The ethnocentric and sociocentric vectors of the cult of the poet and their correlation with the images of Moses and the Stonecutter (Kameniar) are outlined. Based on the materials, the key problems related to the essence of the cult, matters such as the publication of Franko’s works, the ways to spark the mass reader’s interest in them, the need for thorough biographical studies as well as academic research into his artistic, scholarly and journalistic legacy, social and political activity are highlighted. Numerous memories of the iconic figures of Ukrainian culture such as Volodymyr Birchak, Leon Vasylevskyi, Katria Hrynevycheva, Dmytro Doroshenko, Uliana Kravchenko, Vasyl Lukych, Serhii Shelukhyn, Marko Cheremshyna, and others served as the basis for conclusions made concerning Franko’s influence on his peers and students, his relations with the contemporary intellectual elite (both Ukrainian and Polish), the correlation between his ideological beliefs and purely personal relationships. Another important aspect is the coverage of the criticism of works written by authors operating within the framework of the Soviet ideological doctrine, who tried to ‘appropriate’ Franko’s legacy by interpreting his worldview exclusively as revolutionary and atheistic. This criticism assumed different forms of narrative – journalistic, academic and even fictional (such as an image of Franko being shot by the Bolsheviks, if he had been alive and left for the Ukrainian SSR). Evidence obtained by monitoring informational press materials in the periodicals Batkivshchyna, Dilo, Literaturno-Naukovyi Vistnyk, Novyi Chas, Svit, Ukrainski Visti, etc. testifies to the wide ideological and geographical range of the celebrations in honor of Franko on the territory of Galicia. Keywords: cult of Franko, interwar Galician periodicals, anniversary articles, memories.

Was the Constitution of 3 May 1791 a Source of Inspiration for 19th Century Polish Constitutional Drafts? The Problem of Using Polish Constitutional Heritage in the Congress Kingdom of Poland in 1815 and 1831

The article focuses on the problem of using legal heritage based on the example of the Constitution of 3 May 1791. This issue is considered in relation to two selected moments in the history of the Congress Kingdom of Poland – 1814/1815 and 1831. What connects them and, at the same time, makes them unique periods in the political and constitutional history of Polish territories under the partitions is the relative freedom the Polish elites had in their right to decide on the constitutional foundations of their own statehood. In 1814/1815, Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski was granted the emperor’s consent to prepare a draft which, after corrections, became the basis of the Constitutional Act granted by Alexander I on November 27, 1815. Similarly, in 1831, after the dethronement of Tsar Nicholas I, the insurgent elites were free to embark on an unfettered constitutional debate on the systemic reform of the state. Both in 1814/1815 and in 1831, Polish political and intellectual elites faced a dilemma as to whether the Constitution of 3 May could serve mainly as a monument to and symbol of Polish history, or whether it still had the potential to be directly applied; and if so, then to what extent and under what conditions? The publication is devoted to exploring the answers to these questions.

Book Review: Kuzminov, Y., and Yudkevich, M. (2022). Higher Education in Russia. United States: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Well aware of the challenges presented by a thorough analysis of the higher education in Russia, Yaroslav Kuzminov and Maria Yudkevich make it very clear in the Preface of the book that their key idea was that “higher education is intrinsically intertwined with everything that happens in society, and thus with various social, economic, and political aspects of society’s functioning.” To this they add when they also point out that, in its turn, the higher education system shapes the intellectual elite by investing in new human capital, by spreading a system of values, and consequently enhancing the capabilities of individuals. As outlined in the same context, the authors focus on the performance of the higher education system with its quantitative, qualitative, and structural components, to which they add a clear explanation of the very design and features of these institutions as they continue to develop and change. The book is organized in 9 chapters, is introduced by a Foreword written by Philip G. Altbach, includes copious notes and references to help the reader fully understand the complexity of issues discussed throughout the volume, in an impeccable translation by Victor Sonkin, with a final revision done by Lisa Unangst.

SOVIET ANTI-RELIGIOUS PRACTICES THROUGH THE PRISM OF TEACHERS' MEMORIES

The article analyzes the Soviet public policy of «scientific atheism». The analysis was carried out on the basis of oral historical narratives, archival documents, local history materials. It is noted that in the second half of the 20th century the main way of fighting against religion and the church was mass atheistic propaganda. It was justified by the political doctrine of «scientific atheism» and reinforced by a system of state-administrative pressure. With the help of propaganda, the Soviet intellectual elite created an image of the church as an «internal enemy» in order to use it in the process of forming an imaginary community called the «Soviet people». The territorial boundaries of the publication were delineated by the Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, on the territories of which the memories were recorded. Attention is given to the textual analysis of memories, which in turn is oriented to the reproduction of the meaning that the teachers placed on their specific life experience today, as well as to the study of the sequence in which the events are arranged in the narrative now, in the present time. It is important in this context to understand the structural difference between what the narrators experienced and what they told, as well as to consider the narrative as containing purely contemporary interpretations and evaluations of the narrators. The article examines how former teachers recall the «struggle against religion», aimed at the atheization of society and their (co)relation to this policy. It describes the involvement of teachers in anti-religious practices which was a sign of the Soviet era, through the organization of educational and educational processes in such a way, to prevent schoolchildren from freely visiting temples or celebrating religious holidays. It was concluded that memories of participation in anti-religious practices reveal a deep psychological discomfort in former teachers, so they resort to psychological defense mechanisms, describing themselves as hostages of their chosen profession, as well as sufficiently formal fulfillment of the requirements of atheist education. Keywords: teachers, memories, anti-religious practices, atheism, Soviet era, totalitarianism.

Празднование 175-летия Московского университета в русском зарубежье (о методиках исследования)

The article defines research methods for studying the mechanism of formation of the cultural and historical identity of Russian emigrants of the "first wave" who survived such traumatic events as the 1917 revolution and the Russian Civil War. The author substantiates the most important research methods that will make it possible to combine the narratological study of commemorative practices with the mathematical analysis of mass sources that recorded the change in the situation of that part of the Russian intellectual elite that ended up in exile. As a basic principle for studying the anniversary celebrations on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of Moscow University, he puts forward a semiotic approach to this event, which was a symbolic embodiment of collective identity. Much attention is paid to the anthropological and pragmatic turns in the study of the history of universities, as well as the importance of emotional characteristics in the study of the value orientations of the academic community in the Russian diaspora. The prosopographic method is indicated as a way to combine narratological and statistical analysis of historical sources.

Expressivism, Pluralism, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “A Suggestion on the Negro Problem”

Expressivism, Pluralism, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “A Suggestion on the Negro Problem”

THE SPECIFICITY OF CULTURAL IDENTITY IN THE PROBLEMS OF MODERN MEDIA

The article is devoted to the study of the modern Ukrainian media («Chitomo», «Lirum», «Moviegram», «Your Art», individual materials of the publications «Ukrainian Pravda», «Ukrinform») topics in the context of cultural and art identity. After all, the realities of Russia’s war against Ukraine reveal the leveling and destruction of the Ukrainian nation, as well as an aggressive policy towards the territories. The article highlights the directions of modern media culture: literary, museum, musical, cinematographic, information-sociological, historical, visual. The article outlines the acute need to create a media space that is capable of defending national identity and giving a worthy response to the manipulative narratives of the aggressor country. Modern Ukrainian media in the cultural and art sense are rather multidimensional with regard to the thematic dimensions of the issues. In particular, the Ukrainian languages uniqueness, the book publishing market, the Ukrainian cultures popularization, which is not distorted by elements of inferiority, highlighting the directors and producers work at international festivals, the promotion of novelties in the audiovisual world, the creation of an online anthology (collection, publication and translation of Ukrainian writers texts about the war), archiving of memories and personal impressions of the Ukrainian intellectual elite, internet publication with author’s studies of visual art, informative discourse on animation, TV series, analytical materials on modern Ukrainian cinema, motivation in consuming Ukrainian content, dialogue with the world community. During a full-scale invasion, the cultural media establish a dialogue with the global community. The hybrid war that Russia has been waging for years has blocked all kinds of opportunities to show the international community the true features of our state, which is not blurred by expressions about «fraternal nations» and the like. Therefore, having learned about us now, the world has become more active in its desire to learn more about Ukraine, in its desire to cooperate. Narratives about the «greatness» of Russian identity are gradually shifting to another vector. Now the leading idea is the Ukrainian «indomitability», which is corrected by the motives of a complex identity in the difficult conditions of the aggressive policy of the enemy. Therefore, media cultures during a full-scale invasion are an integral element in the consolidation of society for the purpose of building new values and ideals, rejecting the ideas of convergence (undergrowth). The specificity of national identity can be seen in their polyphonic coloring materials, besides, such mass media are a powerful tool for popularizing Ukrainian culture (in particular, military) and history in the world context.

Промышленная политика «байденомики» в период смены технологического и мирохозяйственного укладов

The article considers the modern industrial vector of American economic policy. The course of economic policy formed by the end of J. Biden’s presidency – “bidenomics” – on the one hand, demonstrates a departure from the neoliberal course pursued in the last 40 years, and on the other hand, in terms of industrial policy, represents the development of the economic agenda introduced by the previous president D. Trump. His efforts in the area of domestic market protection and reshoring have had a partial positive effect, mainly in medium technology industries. The main programs of bidenomics aimed at reindustrialization are reviewed. The specific achievements of bidenomics in the economy as a whole, in the social sphere and in the field of industrial policy are analyzed. On the example of the solar energy industry, which belongs to the sixth technological mode, the main aspects of the fierce competition between the United States and China in the global markets of high-tech products are shown. In conclusion, a reasonable assumption is put forward about the achievement by the financial-industrial and intellectual elites of the USA of a relative consensus (“Tramp-Biden’s combine” of industrial policy) on the issue of radical change of the neoliberal paradigm of social development, which existed for more than 40 years.

Features of education and upbringing of children in noble families in Russia in the XVIII–XIX centuries

The purpose of the article is to study the peculiarities of raising children in the families of the Russian elite of the 18th-19th centuries, as well as its relevance for the modern development of pedagogical science. The author has carried out an analysis of family education in a noble environment in the works of representatives of the Russian intellectual elite of the 18th-19th centuries, which was based on a rethinking of the pedagogical ideas of humanism and enlightenment. When studying the works of scientists, methods of assessing the pedagogical heritage of the epoch were used, based on the historical reconstruction of pedagogical phenomena and their consistent understanding. The article points out that in the works of representatives of the Russian elite of the XVIII–XIX centuries the following main ideas of family education were proclaimed: the need to improve the interaction between the child and parents on the basis of humanism and faith in the success of the educational influence of parents on the personality of the child; understanding of education as a means of creating a perfect personality; the need for a harmonious combination of different forms of family education; respect for the personality of the child.

СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ ФОРМЫ, СОЗДАННЫЕ ИЛИ ИЗМЕНЕННЫЕ ПРОТЕСТАНТИЗМОМ В XVI - ПЕРВОЙ ПОЛОВИНЕ XIX В.: ОБЗОР

This article provides an overview of the social forms created or changed by Protestantism in the 16th – first half of the 19th centuries. It is shown that Protestantism not only used the old social forms, but also created new ones that formed the basis of a new type of Western society – civil society. An overview of already existing social forms is given: agricultural communes, representative assemblies and professional corporations, parties, schools and universities, church communities. The agricultural commune became the lot of closed groups that created their own mini-society. Noble and city assemblies, professional associations including informal associations of clergy (contubernias), parties became a platform for Lutherans and Calvinists. Protestant schools performed not only an educational but also a missionary function, universities were used to train pastors and preachers and to form a Protestant intellectual elite. The Protestant church community gave rise to such social forms as small home groups, colleges, commissions and committees. Educational and discussion clubs were actively used by Calvinists during the Dutch and English revolutions. The social creativity of the Protestants was intended to strengthen Protestantism in society and to promote the creation of a “new human” brought up in the Protestant doctrine.