Acculturation Policy Research Articles

High rates of probable PTSD among Ukrainian war refugees: the role of intolerance of uncertainty, loss of control and subsequent discrimination

ABSTRACT Background: Intolerance of uncertainty is a well-known predictor of post-traumatic stress symptoms following a traumatic event. At the same time, it is relatively unknown whether intolerance of uncertainty amplifies the effects of other adverse life events on PTSD symptoms among traumatized individuals. Objective: This article addresses this problem in a study of Ukrainian war refugees’ experiences with post-migration discrimination and powerlessness (loss of control). Method: 4972 forced immigrants from Ukraine took part in the study (90.2% women, Mage = 40.4, SD = 12.5) completing the PTSD-8 scale, measures of post-migration discrimination and loss of control experiences, and intolerance of uncertainty. Results: Almost half of respondents (47.5%) have probable PTSD. Regression analysis confirmed that war-related experiences, as well as intolerance of uncertainty, post-migration loss of control and experiences of discrimination were significant predictors of self-reported PTSD symptoms. Also, intolerance of uncertainty weakly moderated the effects of experienced discrimination and control deprivation on self-reported PTSD symptoms, so that the effects of adverse post-migration experiences were more pronounced among individuals high in intolerance of uncertainty. Conclusions: Understanding the effect of post-migration experiences on war refugees’ mental health is crucial for developing improved acculturation policies and fostering a supportive environment for forced migrants.

The Policy of Acculturation by Means of Education in the Russian Empire in the Second Half of the 19th — Early 20th Centuries: Conceptualization and Specific Historical Approach

The review article is aimed at solving a major scientific problem — conducting a comprehensive analysis of modern scientific approaches to the study of the policy of acculturation by means of education, carried out by the Russian Empire in relation to various regions of the country, including in relation to the southeastern frontier, namely nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples of Central Asian and Ural-Volga macroregions of the country in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries. The accumulated experience of scientific research on the history of acculturation by means of education in the post-reform Russian Empire makes it possible to pose this problem, and the need to determine further promising directions for scientific research into the policy of acculturation makes the topic of this scientific article relevant. The main results of the study are to clarify the main approaches to the study of the policy of acculturation of “foreigners” of the Russian Empire by means of education, generalize the most significant scientific experience in understanding the policy of acculturation in the post-reform decades, as well as identify the most promising issues for further study related to the problems of acculturation of nomadic and semi-nomadic subjects of the Russian Empire through the means of education.

Imperial Acculturation Policy in the South-Eastern Frontier Zone as a Subject of Study in Russian Historiography

The article analyzes the problems and conceptual approaches of research on the history of acculturation policy of the Russian Empire in relation to the annexed territories, which are reflected in the works of modern domestic researchers. The discussion around the acculturation model of understanding the empire as a methodological alternative to the colonial approach is summarized. The article notes the contribution of the researcher S. V. Lyubichankovskiy in the development of the concept of acculturation as a methodological basis for historical research, which, in his opinion, does not contradict the model of colonialism. On the contrary, both theoretical constructs complement each other. S. V. Lyubichankovskiy sees the advantage of the acculturation model in the fact that it is more universal, which allows successfully solving research problems. Through the prism of historiography the history of imperial policy on the integration of nomadic and semi-nomadic ethnoses inhabiting the zone of the south-eastern frontier into the economic and socio-cultural space of the Russian state is shown. The study of the main directions of acculturation policy in relation to the ethnic groups that inhabited the Ural-Volga and Central Asian territories is summarized.

The Policy of the Provincial Authorities of the Southern Urals in Relations with the Kazakh Population in Late Imperial Russia (1911—1916)

This article is devoted to the policy of the provincial authorities of late imperial Russia in the southern Urals in relation to the Kazakh population, its acculturation, using the example of four main aspects of interaction, namely education, health, cattle breeding, as well as agriculture, which appeared among the nomads under the influence of the Russian population. The policy of incorporation or acculturation of the nomadic Kazakh population was necessary to ensure stability in the multi-confessional and multicultural regions of the country, such as the southern Urals and the Volga region. This policy especially affected the formation of the education system in the 19th century, but only from the second half of it became systemic. This allowed the formation of the Kazakh intelligentsia. As for health care in the region, it can be said that the local authorities saw their main task as fighting epidemics, which they successfully coped with. In the field of agriculture and cattle breeding, attempts by the authorities to influence the nomadic population have been manifested since the second half of the 19th century, but only in 1911—1912 the policy in these industries became systematic and effective.

The Policy of Acculturation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Southeastern and Northwestern Outskirts of the Russian Empire: a Comparative Analysis

One of the most controversial issues in Russian history is the question of the territorial growth of our state. For a long time there were two mutually exclusive approaches in historical science. The first is that the annexation of new territories was the result, for the most part, of their conquests. The second — the entry of “colonies” into the empire was generally peaceful in nature and the driving force behind this process was economic development. The article analyzes the processes of acculturation that took place on two frontiers of the Russian state: in the European North and in Central Asia. The methodological basis of the study is the concept of acculturation. The main results of the study are the comparison of these processes on the example of a comparison of two regions. It is noted that, despite the significant difference in the period of interaction between different cultures in these regions, there are a number of similarities in the processes of acculturation. Also, positive results of acculturation were revealed.

Materials on the Historical and Statistical Description of the Orenburg Cossack Army as a Collection of Historical Sources for the Study of Acculturation Processes on the Southeastern Frontier of the Russian Empire

The article analyzes the historical sources collected in the Materials on the historical and statistical description of the Orenburg Cossack army. The four groups of source material identified by the author are extracts from the files of the military archive; legislative and regulatory legal acts; stories, travel notes and memoirs of Cossack officers; oral historical evidence — contains unique evidence of the imperial policy of acculturation in relation to the Orenburg Cossack army, occupying the frontier territory of the south-east of the Russian Empire and created by the government to protect this state border. The author comes to the conclusion that the historical sources presented in the Materials on the historical and statistical description of the Orenburg Cossack army reflect the confessional and ethnic processes in the army, the education of the Cossack spirit in military field conditions and in conditions of extreme captivity, allow us to understand the problem of formation among the Orenburg Cossacks and preservation of the Cossack identity.

Crimean Tatars and Kazakhs: a Comparative Analysis of the Imperial Policy of Acculturation in the Management System, Social, Military and Educational Spheres

The article examines the acculturation policy pursued by the tsarist government and regional authorities in relation to nomadic, semi-nomadic and sedentary peoples living in the Black Sea and Central Asian regions. Crimean Tatars and Kazakhs were selected for comparative analysis. The study analyzes the main directions of state policy pursued to integrate the Crimean Tatars and Kazakhs into Russia. These areas of work define the management system, social, military and educational spheres. The article also raises the question of whether the tsarist government had a unified program according to which the integration of nomadic, semi-nomadic and sedentary peoples took place in the southern and south-eastern outskirts of Russia. The chronological framework of the work is determined by the end of the 18th — beginning of the 20th centuries, since it was during this period that the Russian authorities carried out the main activities aimed at integrating the Crimean Tatars and Kazakhs into the empire. Archival documents, legislative acts, statistical data and scientific publications were used to cover this topic. The article indicates that this topic has not previously been the subject of special study. The study showed that the tsarist government did not have a single program in accordance with which the integration of the newly annexed peoples living in the southern and southeastern outskirts of Russia took place. In each individual case there were regional peculiarities. It is noted that the acculturation of the Crimean Tatars and Kazakhs in the management system, social, military and educational spheres cannot be assessed unambiguously. Administrative acculturation led to the gradual replacement of traditional institutions of power and the introduction of a general imperial system of management. Legislative consolidation of the rights of new subjects representing different class groups contributed to their rapid incorporation into Russian society. Acculturation in the educational sphere cannot be viewed unambiguously. The main task of the tsarist government in creating Russian-foreign schools was the gradual Russification of new subjects. At the same time, Crimean Tatars and Kazakhs, studying the Russian language and Russian literature, became familiar with the achievements of European civilization.

The Role of Scientific Institutions of the Orenburg Region in the Imperial Policy of Acculturation in the Second Half of the 19th — Early 20th Century

The article deals with the actual problem of the influence of scientific institutions of the Orenburg Region on the imperial policy of acculturation of nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th — early 20th century. The author states that, despite the turn made by modern researchers from the so-called “colonial approach” to a more flexible concept of “acculturation”, a number of problems still remain little studied. In particular, we are talking about the role of local scientific and educational institutions in the implementation of the imperial policy of acculturation. In the border Orenburg Region in the second half of the 19th — early 20th century, three scientific institutions functioned: the Orenburg Provincial Statistical Committee, the Orenburg Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and the Orenburg Scientific Archival Commission. Created largely on the initiative of the provincial authorities, these institutions were supposed to carry out not only a comprehensive study of the Orenburg Region, but also nomadic peoples living in Central Asia, on the one hand to answer the question of the possibility of spreading the influence of Russian civilization and culture, and on the other to develop specific mechanisms of acculturation policy. Based on the analysis of published and unpublished sources, the author identifies the following mechanisms of acculturation used by scientific institutions of the Orenburg Region: ethnographic and statistical research, museification and construction of the historical narrative of nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples. The author believes that Orenburg researchers, having collected a significant array of sources on the history, ethnography, culture and life of nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples, played an important role in preserving their ethnoidentity.

Management of “Features”: Administrative Practices of the Leaders of the Orenburg Region in the First Half of the 19th Century and Imperial Policy of Acculturation

The article attempts to analyze the administrative practices of the Orenburg military governors in the first half of the 19th century. in the context of the imperial policy of acculturation. The study made it possible to conclude that during the period under review, the local and central authorities followed the “policy of difference”, sought to preserve the special estate-legal status of the Bashkirs in comparison with the taxable population of the central regions, the Muslim religion, elements of the estate and ethnic estate court. The goal of the state was not to establish uniformity, but to solve domestic and foreign policy problems: ensuring the loyalty of the indigenous population and peace in the region; performing military service on the border line. The cantonal system of government, the creation of a primary system of new administration in the annexed or conquered regions were important channels of acculturation and mechanisms for the integration of indigenous peoples into the Russian administrative space.

The Military Aspect of Acculturation of the South-Eastern Frontier: the Service of “Foreigners” in the Russian Empire in the 18th — 19th Centuries

The frontier approach in the study of the acculturation process makes it possible to determine the basic features of the formation and development of the regions of the south-eastern borderland within the framework of the entry of non-Russian peoples into the development system of the imperial outskirts and the empire as a whole. The analysis of the main activities of the organization of military service of such peoples as Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Kalmyks leads to the fact that the service of “foreigners” in the army of the Russian Empire was a significant component of the acculturation policy and allowed attempts to diplomatically build trusting relations of nomadic peoples with the central government. The government was interested in integrating “foreigners” into the imperial system, legally securing the rights and duties of representatives of peoples as full-fledged subjects, investing in the development of national suburbs, creating upward mobility.

The Russian Imperial Acculturation Policy Targeting “Foreigners” and the Participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in It at the Turn of the 19th — 20th Centuries (Based on the Materials of the Orenburg Diocese)

The article is aimed at solving a following significant problem of modern historical science: determination of the content and use by the imperial authorities of the Church as a mechanism for implementing this policy. The authors analyze the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church as part of the state system of the Russian Empire, which undertook the task of not only spreading Christianity among non-Russian and non-Orthodox peoples, but also the task of involving them in the all-Russian cultural, civil, economic and political space. Based on the analysis of materials on the Orenburg diocese history, we suppose an attempt to reconstruct the mechanisms of economic and social development of the “foreigners” population of the Southern Urals, used by the Russian Orthodox Church with the support of the state. The methodological basis of the study is the modernization theory, which examines “acculturation” as a methodology of research into the interaction and mutual influence of “foreign cultures”. At present, historiography lacks special works that consider the Russian Orthodox Church as a necessary institution contributing to the acculturation of the subjects of the empire living on its outskirts. The main result of this study is the identification of the nature of the Russian Orthodox Church's activities targeting “foreigners” and their involvement in Russian cultural space. These activities include traditional missionary mechanisms on the example of the Orenburg Diocese, which at the turn of the 19th — 20th centuries included the Turgai and Ural regions with a significant number of nomadic and semi-nomadic auls. We generalized acculturation as Missions, established the degree of their effectiveness in terms of the formation of loyal layers of the autochthonous population of the Kyrgyz (Kazakh) Steppe.

TURGAI REGION IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY WORKS: IN THE CONTEXT OF “NEW IMPERIAL HISTORY”

The article deals with the Russian historiographical tradition of the pre-revolutionary period in relation to the Turgai region. The contribution of the main institutions of this region is analyzed: the Orenburg department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, the Turgai regional statistical committee, the Orenburg scientific archival commission. As well as the figures of these institutions, who were also officials of the colonial apparatus: V.V. Katarinsky, I.I. Kraft, A.I. Dobrosmyslov and others, as well as Kazakh researchers. From the position of “new imperial policy” the main reasons of research interest dictated by the study of the region for the purpose of further colonization are shown. Nevertheless, these works are of great informational value. The study allows us to define the activities of pre-revolutionary scientists, both research and service, as cultural regeneration, contrary to the modern assessment of Russian scientists characterizing it as an imperial policy of acculturation.

«С крайним старанием и без всякой оплошности...»: Вклад российского купечества в социокультурное и хозяйственно-политическое освоение Центральной Азии в первой половине XIX века

The study involves analysis of the participation of merchants in the process of establishing channels of political, cultural, and economic exchange between the Russian Empire, the Asian khanates, and the Kazakh steppe in the first half of the 19th century. The modern government practice of involving private sector in order to strengthen international relations makes retrospective analysis of cooperation between business representatives and officials in solving national problems more relevant. The study is to identify specific examples of entrepreneurs’ efforts in promoting Russia’s diverse interests in Asia and to demonstrate specifics of merchants’ work in execution of special assignments of the imperial authorities. The value of the article lies in the fact that the existing corpus of scientific works is mainly focused on the activities of merchants in collecting intelligence (i.e., specific espionage for Russia), while acculturational, mediatory, and clerical service of merchants remains outside the scope of national historiography’s attention. Its novelty is confirmed by the fact that the examination of this problem drawing on the materials of the Orenburg gubernia of the 19th century is being carried out for the first time. The ariclde draws on documents from fond 6 (Office of the Orenburg military governor) of the Joint State Archive of Orenburg Oblast (OGAOO). To assess the contribution of individuals to the multidimensional process of the Russian Empire’s interaction and rapprochеment with the Asian region in the 19th century, anthropological approach has been chosen as a methodological mechanism specially adapted to studying the problem of the “small man.” The application of the latest methodological concept of “imperial policy of acculturation” provides a better understanding of historical significance and specifics of economic, trade, political, and cultural contacts of nomadic population of the Kazakh steppe and settled culture of the khanates of Central Asia with business community of the Russian state. The merchants’ main area of responsibility was diplomatic, requiring their participation in resolving internecine conflicts of Kazakh clans, as well as search and ransom of the Russians held captive in Central Asia. The authorities’ key criteria in recruitment of entrepreneurs were their foreign trade success, which implied useful acquaintances in Central Asian cities and in camps of the Kazakh nomads, knowledge of the neighboring peoples’ languages, and advanced communication skills. The study may be useful to scientists studying the history of merchants in the 18th-19th centuries, issues of Russia's interaction with the states of Asia in the pre-revolutionary period, as well as specialists in regional history.

Acculturation Policies Targeting Siberia’s Muslim Communities in the Second Half of the 19th and in the Early 20th Centuries

The article examines the situation of Muslim communities in Siberia in the context of the acculturation policy pursued by the Russian Empire. Based on the analysis of archival sources, the article argues that the reforms carried out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were aimed at including the Muslim population of the country into the socio-cultural space of the empire. Russian attempts to gradually introduce Russian culture and way of life into a foreign environment were supposed to support the interaction between the Muslim population of Siberia and Russian immigrants. The education system was one of the instruments of the acculturation policy towards the Muslim peoples of Siberia. Attempts to introduce Russian culture were also made through influencing the economic life of Muslim communities. The ongoing reforms caused a lot of discontent on the part of the Muslim population. Also failing were the policies of the Russian Orthodox Church to make Muslims change their identity; its measures to support the newly baptized did not contribute to a mass conversion to Orthodoxy.

A vehicle for positive acculturation

Cultural diversity in Hong Kong has increased dramatically following a series of reforms in population and immigration policies after the unification of Hong Kong in 1997. Since then, cultural clashes between Hong Kong locals and mainland Chinese people have become one of the major social issues in Hong Kong. While intercultural clashes between people from different countries have been widely researched, those between people from different regions of the same country are rarely studied. Homogenizing and overlooking intergroup cultural clashes contribute to misunderstandings toward different cultures and resolving these clashes through social policies and services. Cultural research indicates that stereotyped beliefs are transmitted intergenerationally. Policy responses seek to nurture a harmonized society where perceived differences are respected and understood, rather than merely acknowledged. This study adopts narrative inquiry to examine the dynamics of acculturation, social identity, and intergroup contact among local and migrant parents and to explore avenues for promoting positive acculturation amid diversity. We observed four parents from mainland China and three local Hong Kong parents with children aged 4–13 who attended two discussion sessions about parenting. The findings revealed that promoting positive acculturation via parenting education is effective in promoting psychological adaptation at the individual level and reducing intergroup stereotypes at a cultural level. Training parenting educators in facilitating positive acculturation policies and programs for both sides are discussed.

Algerian Children’s Literature: From the Labyrinth of Colonialism to the Cornucopia of Postcolonialism

Non-Western children’s literature has received significant attention in the past few decades. African and Arab children’s literature is not the exception to this surge in interest. However, the countries and communities denominated as African or Arab encompass heterogeneous communities and ethnicities. African children’s literature often refers to literature in Central and Southern African countries, and Arab children’s literature is often Middle-eastern, leaving the genre underexplored in many countries part of both. This article is a precursory sketch of children’s and young adult literature in Algeria, tackling the question of the idiosyncrasies of the genre from a cultural-historical perspective. It exposes the substantial historical and linguistic factors that denied the genre of an organic metamorphosis. With 130 years of French colonization, intensive acculturation policies, and the astounding illiteracy rate among Algerians, the post-colonial Algerian government devoted efforts to tending to the wounds and the trauma deeply inflected by the French. The endeavor to restore the Algerian identity made children’s literature its first and most indispensable outlet of the process, similar to how it served as a resistance front during the colonial period. The article concludes by addressing the place of Algerian children’s literature on the international scale, the meager yet increasing scholarship interested in this research area, and recommendations for an open, ideology-free conversation between all parties involved in children’s literature production, circulation, and consumption to yield an auspicious trajectory for the future of the genre. Thus, the paper conduces to scholarship on African and Arab children’s literature.

Мусульманские подданные в имперской практике по аккультурации кавказских инородцев: исторический опыт Дагестана конца XIX - начала ХХ в. (на примере системы образования)

Modern realities regarding educational policy in the regions dictate the need to be guided by many nuances in Russia. The importance of education for non-Russians was also perceived as one of the most important components of the policy of the Russian Empire in the periphery, the main function of which was the nationalization of the peoples of the outskirts. Taking into account the fact that in pre-revolutionary Russia the "national school" was considered as a Russian national school, it is obvious that the presence of schools of other nations, for which Russian was not the mother language, could not take place. Based on this, the purpose of this article is to consider issues related to the policy of acculturation in the national periphery by introducing the state language — Russian in all spheres of life, including in the field of education. Dagestan was specifically chosen as a geographic area for the study, as a region of other cultures, where the vast majority of the population professed Islam, and the education system from time immemorial was an extensive network of Muslim religious schools. In the time we are studying, the latter became part of the so-called. "Muslim question" in the context of the general development of the Caucasus region. The attempts made to implement the policy of the "school-religion" tandem, the essence of which was to direct the Gentiles to the Christian-Russian future by establishing foreign schools and parochial education, did not lead to positive results. The chronological framework of the work covers the end of the 19th — beginning of the 20th centuries. The choice of such temporary boundaries was caused by the peculiarities in the political development of Russia under the conditions of the post-reform imperial-liberal model and the building of new relationships with the Muslim part of the population of the outskirts. As a result, a direction was developed that combined the loyal and delicate attitude of the authorities, on the one hand, and the manifestation of caution regarding Islamic life in the region, on the other, which took place throughout the entire period studied by the authors of the article up to the revolution of 1917.

Book review: The imperial policy of acculturation and the problem of colonialism (for example, the nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples of the Russian Empire): monograph / scientific. ed. prof. S.V. Lubichankovsky. Orenburg: Publishing center of the OGAU, 2019. 480 p.

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The problems of migration process in Maghrebian literary milieu

As a product of the North African region, Maghrebian literary phenomenon combines specific features of three cultures – Arab, Berber and French and today has a special place in the world literature. The purpose of the proposed article is to demonstrate how the colonization of the Maghreb, the expansion of the French culture, the policy of assimilation and acculturation, a resistance movement of the colonized peoples led to the literary bilingualism of Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco that intensified the literary process in the region in a specific way. The novelty of the article consists in the fact that it reflects the deep connection between the Maghreb Francophone literature and the historical and cultural context. The Maghrebian francophone literature was constituted as early as in the 50s of the last century, but only in the 60s, thanks to the works of A. Memmi and A. Katibi was recognized as a separate area in the world literature. Research methods are a complex of comparative and historical- literary approaches, The fundamental relationship between the Maghrebian francophone literature and historical and cultural context distinguishes it from the mass of the so-called colonial literature. Conclusions. The Maghrebian francophone writers covering the issues of identity and nationality, revival of identity and rebellion, loss of identity and exile, as well as women’s emancipation, determine the specificity of this literary movement. The most famous representatives of the Maghrebian francophone literature are A. Djebar, M. Dib, A. Memmi, M. Feraun, K. Yasin etc. The creative work of these writers identified a new type of literature: d’expression franзaise, nationally specific to each of these countries. This article researches the migrants’ problems and the search for identity in the context of Franco-Maghrebian literary phenomenon of the works of two French-speaking Algerian writers and A.Djebar and L.Sebbar.

ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ КАЗАХСКОЙ ИНТЕЛЛИГЕНЦИИ В УЧЕБНЫХ ЗАВЕДЕНИЯХ ОРЕНБУРГСКОГО КРАЯ: ОТВЕТ НА ВЫЗОВЫ ПОРЕФОРМЕННОЙ МОДЕРНИЗАЦИИ

The article summarizes data on the education of non-Russians of Kazakh origin in the so-called “Russian” secondary and vocational educational institutions of the Orenburg region (gymnasiums, teacher’s schools, paramedic schools, agricultural schools) during the period of post-reform modernization. It shows the typical career paths of Kazakh graduates of these educational institutions, reconstructs main difficulties accompanying the process of recruiting Kazakhs to these schools and studying in them. It is concluded that the policy of acculturation in the field of education implemented by the central and regional authorities was activated in the post-reform period in connection with the involvement of national minorities in the modernization processes of the development of outlying territories. The formation of the Kazakh intelligentsia in the Orenburg region and the adjacent Kazakh steppe was directly related to the educational and enlightenment policy of the imperial structures. The empire made great strides on the way of construction of a single socio-cultural space in the region, one of the components of which was the creation of an education system with the inclusion of both Russian-Kazakh and aul schools, and “ordinary” secondary and professional educational institutions that admitted non-Slavic population. As a result, Orenburg has become the city where the foundations were laid for the development of the Kazakh intelligentsia, and, consequently, for the consolidation of the Kazakh national identity. It is emphasized that it was not despite but thanks to the imperial policy of acculturation by means of enlightenment. The author concludes that the post-reform modernization challenge, associated with the contradiction between innovations penetrating the steppe and the lack of an opportunity in the “foreign” Kazakh environment to adequately perceive them and use the proposed infrastructure for the benefit of their own development, gave rise to an response in the form of Kazakhs integrated through the Russian educational system, who became the new elite of the Kazakh people — not by right of blood, but based on the acquired new competencies and outlook on life. This new national intelligentsia has become a powerful factor in the cultural and even state growth of Kazakhs within Russia.