Russian Anthropology Research Articles

“Dialogue” between Russian and (Post/Anti)Boasian Anthropologies

The article touches on the problem of self-perception of domestic scholars in a long on-going dialogue with American anthropology. The focus is on the figure of the latter’s founding father, who, as is known, maintained intensive contacts with many prominent Russian scholars (L. Shternberg, W. Bogoras, J. Averkieva, etc.). Thanks to him, they received their positions and degrees, weight in the scientific world. But there is much that is paradoxical in the Boasian influence on Russian anthropology. Bogoras, who was most strongly associated with him personally and adopted Boas’s fieldworks methods, nevertheless made little reference to him in his works. On the other hand, Averkieva, who quoted “Papa Franz” many times, practically remained unaffected by his intellectual influence. In the modern Russian history of anthropology, there is a growing desire to participate in the “sharing” of Boas’s legacy, together with their recognized American colleagues (G. Stocking, R. Darnell, etc.). However, the genealogy of professional connections between Russian and American anthropologists is not easy to construct. Mutual relationship sometimes appears in the most unexpected points (anthropological linguistics, physical anthropology), while parallels are often explained by “similar ways of thinking”.

Письмо из темноты: Рец. на кн.: Сергей Кан. Лев Штернберг: этнолог, народник, борец за права евреев / Пер. с англ. А. Глебовской. СПб.; Бостон: Библиороссика; Academic Studies Press, 2023. 694 с. (Современная иудаика)

The present review of the Russian translation of Sergei Kan’s book Lev Shternberg: Anthropologist, Russian Socialist, Jewish Activist constitutes a literary experiment. It endeavors to engage in a dialogue, presented in the form of a letter, with the central figure of the book, Lev Shternberg, the co-founder of Soviet and Russian anthropology, regarding the significant transformations it has undergone throughout the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st. The author pays close attention to the social and political contexts of these changes and how they affected the interpretations of Shternberg’s persona and ideas in Soviet times and today. This experiment extends the author’s reflections on the necessity of revisiting the history of anthropology and reintegrating it into the field itself. As American anthropologist Alfred Irving Hallowell suggested in the 1960s, we should conceptualize “the history of anthropology as an anthropological problem.” By this, the author intends to reconstruct a dialogue between the history of anthropology and the communities with whom anthropologists have engaged, as well as to foster connections between the history of anthropological ideas and ongoing discussions both within and beyond the discipline. These changes, as the author argues, have the potential to significantly expand the styles of anthropological writing and reveal new genealogies of anthropological knowledge.

The main directions of research of physical development in the context of psychology, psychophysiology, genetics and sports anthropology: а review based on the articles published in «Lomonosov Journal of Anthropology» for the last 15 years

Introduction. This work continues the series of articles devoted to the assessment of the main directions of auxology development in Russian anthropology. This part presents and describes the work of the staff of the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Department of Anthropology of the Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, as well as the Russian University Sport (SCOLIPE) and the Federal Science Center of Physical Culture and Sport (VNIIFK). Materials and methods. In this part of the work, articles devoted to the comprehensive assessment of the research of physical development in the context of psychology, psychophysiology, genetics and sports anthropology, which were published in the «Lomonosov Journal of Anthropology (Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin)» from 2009 to 2022 were used as a source of information. Results and discussion. The described works evaluate, firstly, the psychosomatic connections of self-esteem and soma parameters that determine it, as well as the specifics of the processes of growth and adaptation in biological and psychological aspects. Secondly, the intra-group variability of neurophysiological parameters (EEG parameters) and the analysis of their correlations with somatic indicators are considered. Thirdly, the contribution of genetic factors to the development of morphological trait systems, primarily associated with increased body weight and obesity, is evaluated. In addition, the results of studies devoted to the search for predictors of sports success and the analysis of the physical status of athletes of various specializations are presented. Conclusion. The number of works similar to those described in this review is steadily growing every year, which suggests an increasing integrative nature of anthropological research.

Main directions in the study of schoolchildren and youth’ growth in Russia: а review based on the articles published in «Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin» for the last 15 years

Introduction. This review is a continuation of the research devoted to the assessment of the development of auxology in Russian anthropology. The first part was devoted to a comprehensive assessment of the processes of growth and development of children from birth to 3 years old, living both in our country and in the countries of the near abroad. The analyzed sources describe factors influencing growth processes (evolutionary, climatic, geographical, ethnic and genetic factors, constitutional features of mothers, circumstances of intrauterine growth) [Permiakova, 2023]. This article examines and describes in more detail the main activities of auxologists, as well as physicians and psychologists working both within our country and in cooperation with foreign researchers from various academic institutions. Materials and methods. In this part of the work, the author analyzed articles devoted to the comprehensive assessment of physical development (as well as factors affecting it) of the school and student contingent living in Russia and some other countries. All these articles were published in Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin from 2009 to 2022. Results and discussion. Works in the designated area, on the one hand, analyze the physical development of children and youth of the Moscow region, on the other hand, assess the differences in the rates and dynamics of growth processes of residents of different regions of our country and abroad, including the secular aspect. In addition, representative samples are used to analyze socio-economic factors affecting these processes and determining the features of their course in a particular territory. Complex studies involving the relationship of somatic development indicators not only with socio-economic or environmental parameters, but also the psychological characteristics of the subjects are also important. Conclusion. The number of works devoted to the subject under study is quite numerous, which allows us to speak about the undiminished interest of domestic anthropologists in studying the problems of growth and development. The complex nature of most of them, among other things, indicates an integrative approach to solving the problems posed to this field of science. @ 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Main directions in the study of infants’ growth at Moscow school of anthropology: а review based on the articles published in «Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (MUAB)» for the last 15 years

Introduction. The present study is of a complex nature and is devoted to the assessment of the main directions of the development of auxology in Russian anthropology. To a large extent, this work is a continuation of the review of the activities of the laboratory of auxology of the Anuchin Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology of Moscow State University [Godina, 2010]. At the same time, the main directions of work are considered and described in more detail not only directly by the auxology laboratory, but also by other working groups of the same Institute, the Department of Anthropology of the Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, as well as other academic institutions. Materials and methods. Specifically, in this part of the work, articles devoted to the comprehensive assessment of the processes of growth and development of children from birth to 3 years old, which were published in the «Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin» from 2009 to 2022, were used as a source of information. Results and discussion. The studies conducted in this area affect a large number of aspects of physical development in infancy and early childhood – for example, factors influencing these processes (evolutionary, climatic, geographical, ethnic and genetic factors, constitutional features of mothers, circumstances of intrauterine growth) are analyzed on representative samples. Special attention should be paid to the work on the evaluation in comparative and secular aspects of growth processes and indicators of sexual dimorphism of children under 3 years of age in the countries of the former USSR. Conclusion. Despite the difficulties in working with a rather specific contingent, the fact that these works, together with the results obtained, lead us to conclude that this stage of ontogenesis is represented to a large extent in the works of domestic anthropologists, which allows us to use these data both in the field of interdisciplinary and interdepartmental research.

Особенности морфофизиологического развития сельских школьников Чувашии и Нижегородской области

Introduction. Due to the need to identify patterns of formation of the morphophysiological status of rural schoolchildren in modern intensively changing economic and demographic conditions, this work is devoted to the study of the characteristics of schoolchildren in Chuvashia and the Nizhny Novgorod region. Materials and methods. The results of the survey of children and youth of the Yadrinsky district of the Chuvash Republic (333 girls and 298 boys), as well as Russian rural schoolchildren living in the Arzamas district of the Nizhny Novgorod region (1930 girls and 1635 boys), aged 7 to 17 years, were used in the work. The examinations were carried out according to the program adopted in Russian anthropology, the total body dimensions were included and analyzed: body height and weight, BMI, chest circumference. In addition, the rate of ontogenesis in the examined girls was estimated: the frequency of menarche age was calculated in each group. Results and discussion. For schoolchildren of the Arzamas region of the Nizhny Novgorod region, large average values of total body size are characteristic, pronounced in the case of body height and chest circumference. Analysis of the percentile curves of the BMI of the surveyed contingent suggests a shift in the boundaries of variation of the indicator in the greater direction in Russians, especially in the area of increased values of the indicator corresponding to overweight and obesity. The frequency of occurrence of individuals with borderline BMI values in the examined groups does not demonstrate significant differences, which may be evidence of a similar nature of the shifts in physical development occurring in them. The analysis of the rates of ontogenesis using the age of menarche confirms the earlier puberty of schoolgirls of the Nizhny Novgorod region. At the same time, however, intergenerational analysis of tempos of ontogenesis confirms the continuation of acceleration processes in the Chuvash group, while no similar trend was found among Nizhny Novgorod residents. Conclusion. Russian and Chuvash schoolchildren, the results obtained allow us to make a cautious conclusion about the similarity of the shifts in physical development occurring in the groups of Chuvash and Russian schoolchildren, which are more pronounced in the case of the latter, as evidenced by the earlier puberty of Russian girls. The continuation of acceleration processes in the Chuvash group indicates that this group is in conditions of less social stability.

Introduction: The “Ontological Turn” in Russian Anthropology: Turning towards Materiality, Nonhuman Agency, and Hybridity

The authors in this thematic issue reflect on the current “ontological turn” in Russian social sciences and humanities, and especially on the influence the turn exerts on various anthropological sub-disciplines and research domains. This introduction reviews publications in Russian academic journals, article collections, theses, books, and book chapters that best illustrate current ontological preoccupations in Russian anthropology. The ontological turn encompasses diverse interests and topics and is often labelled as “material,” “object-oriented,” “speculative-realist,” or “praxiographic.” In fact, we are dealing with multiple interdisciplinary “turns” that intersect and overlap, while interlinking many domains of the biological sciences, geographical sciences, social sciences, and humanities. In Russia, the ontological turn (actor-network theory, material semiotics, symmetrical anthropology, sociology of translation, object-oriented ontology, speculative realism) unfolds in different domains of research that can be grouped into four main fields: 1) medical anthropology, body studies, and death studies; 2) urban anthropology; 3) anthropology of science and techno-anthropology; 4) museum anthropology and material culture studies. The contributions to this issue illustrate current research in medical anthropology, body and death studies, urban anthropology, technoanthropology, museum studies, as well as Siberian ethnography using the perspectivist model.

Our Inhuman Future or Tricks of Transhumanism

The article analyzes the concept of posthuman, proposed within the ideology of transhumanism. The author shows how, within the framework of this concept, the basic schemes of human reduction are built, due to which a person can be deduced from socio-cultural reality as a being and replaced by a special being, a posthuman. It is shown that it is due to the basic ontological and conceptual reductions that the temptation arises to replace a person with a new being, more perfect and almost immortal one. The article provides examples of the named reductions, such as: the reduction of a person as being to his biological body; reduction of human existence to the existence of separate biological bodies; reduction of human thinking to intellectual operations and functions, which, in principle, can be modeled and transplanted into a technical device; reduction of the highest human abilities (thinking, will, imagination, memory, feeling) to functional operations occurring in the brain, localized there, as a result of which they can be isolated, described, modeled, and then the model can be transplanted onto an artificial medium, having received artificial intelligence. The author proposes to develop a response to this challenge associated with the replacement of a person, proposes to develop a so-called anthropological alternative. The latter is, among other things, in building a new conceptual model, built using the already known basic scheme of mediation, developed within the framework of Russian cultural-historical psychology and anthropology. Thanks to this scheme of mediation, it is quite possible to build on a new basis a model of a man-symbol-machine system, with the help of which it is possible to build new cultural practices for the development and formation of a person's personality.

Виртуальная реальность сквозь призму социально-философского учения С. Л. Франка

The paper aims to analyse S. L. Frank’s socio-anthropological teaching, which in many respects turned out to be fundamental for Russian anthropology. The author carries out the search for hidden meanings, as well as the analysis of how virtual reality is understood in the ideas of the great philosopher. The progress in the interpretation of this range of problems is considered, the lines of correlation with modern society are drawn. As a result, there is an awareness that S. L. Frank’s teaching is useful for regulating modern relations emerging in virtual reality. Scientific novelty lies in the fact that no one has previously employed Frank’s research to try to propose options for regulating relations formed in virtual world. It is important to assess the role of the state in these social processes, to come to an understanding of the categories “virtual reality” and “personality” through the philosopher’s thoughts.

Repressed Vainakhs in the Social Memory of Deported Kalmyks

The article is devoted to problems regarding the perception of representatives of repressed Chechens in the social memory of repressed Kalmyks and its pragmatics, which have not been posed earlier in Russian anthropology. The sources used are field materials collected by the author, as well as published memories of the deportation of the Kalmyks and materials posted on Facebook by the Chechen group “We Remember. Deportation and return”. Results: Both exiled peoples had the status of “punished peoples”. But in the social memory of the Kalmyks, there remained exactly what the Chechens differed by - the practices of Islam, adherence to Sharia law and adat, gender traditions (polygamy, etc.) — those practices that reflected the identity of the ethnic group and worked to unite it. The Kalmyks remembered what seemed unusual, and single examples were carried over to the whole group. This essentialization of ethnicity in memory reflected a traumatic past and attempts for reconciliation with it.

О стенограмме лекционного курса Г. Ф. Дебеца на кафедре антропологии МГУ в 1954 г.

The subject of this study was a poorly readable 66 years old typewritten text. This is a transcript of twenty lectures by the outstanding Russian anthropologist Georgy Debets (1905–1969), a record of his training course “Anthropology of the Peoples of USSR”. In 1954, he taught it at the Department of Anthropology at Moscow State University. Initially G. F. Debets had intended to write a textbook based on this lectures, but he did not fulfill this idea. The characteristics of the training course are given in general terms. The main attention is paid to how G. F. Debets saw the history of anthropological study of the peoples of Russia. At the same time, certain changes were taken into account both in the theory and practice of anthropological studies that have taken place since the early 1950s. The 1st lecture was delivered on September 6th, 1954, the last lecture was dated to the end of December of the same year. The lecture transcripts are mainly 30–40 pages long, with the exception of lectures on the peoples of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, which fit in 50 pages. The first two lectures were devoted to the study of the history of the peoples of the USSR from ancient antiquity to the present, the 3–5th lectures dealt with the methodology of studying the modern and fossil population, meaning racial somatology and craniology. The 6th lecture outlined the principles of the classification of modern human races and described the various existing classifications. Five lectures (7–11th) were devoted to the review of the country's population paleoanthropology from the Paleolithic era until the Middle Ages, inclusive. The next nine lectures covered the anthropology of peoples living in separate geographical areas. G. F. Debets pointed that the course he taught was not about the history of Russian anthropology, so he would not touch on many works of the 19th century. The first lectures outline the stages of development of anthropological research of the peoples of the USSR and state the results of isolated stages, which are reflected unevenly. Both this periodization and the characteristics of the stages do not always coincide with the periodization that was presented in the university textbooks of anthropology that appeared later. For this reason, the transcript of lectures of 1954 is a valuable source both for the history of physical anthropology as a whole and for understanding the scientific views of one of the founders of modern anthropology.

The Population of the Bronze Age of the Lower Volga Region in the Works of Russian Anthropologists

Introduction. This work is a review of scientific publications on studying paleoanthropological materials of the Bronze Age originating from burial mounds of the Lower Volga region. Materials and Analysis. The paper begins with the analysis of articles and monographic studies of domestic authors, whose works were written in the period from the 30s to the late 80s of the 20th century. The so-called Soviet period in Russian anthropology is characterized by the dominance of the individual-typological approach in describing skeletal series of representatives of the Bronze Age cultures. The osteological collections from burial complexes of the Bronze Age of the Lower Volga region accumulated at this stage of the study were distinguished by a small number and low representativeness. The main conclusions were based on studying craniological samples. A great contribution to developing ideas on the racial and ethnic history of the Lower Volga region during this period was made by researchers G.F. Debets, V.V. Gizburg, V.I. Vuich, B.V. Firshtein, A.V. Shevchenko. The second part of the article is devoted to analyzing the results of anthropological research in the region in the works of modern Russian scientists.A distinctive feature of these works is that they are based on studying large-scale craniological series of broad temporal and territorial coverage. The studies of such scientists as A.A. Khokhlov, E.F. Batieva, A.A. Kazarnitsky, M.A. Balabanova use the complex approach in which classical methods of physical anthropology (craniology, osteology) are combined with the methods of statistical analysis and using data from Archaeology, Paleodemography, and Paleoecology. Results. The work shows the importance of using anthropological data as an independent source in paleohistorical constructions, as well as in the process of the archaeological study of various cultures of the Bronze Age that existed in the Lower Volga region.

Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part II

Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part II

Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part I

Reassembling history and anthropology in Russian anthropology: part I

Messages in a Bottle: Experimentality of Russian Anthropology in the early 21st Century

The author, who is the pioneer of the "experimental approach" in Russian anthropology, explains its causes and makes a review of the articles published by the participants of the First International Conference “Experiments and Experimentality in Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Studies | MAYDAY 2018” (Moscow, May 15-16, 2018). These are anthropologists' reflections about the ways of advancement of the discipline. According to them, it's possible to implement continuity and balance the old and the new. At the same time, the capacity of academic researchers seems to be sufficient for new ambitious projects.

Philosophical and anthropological aspect of A.A. Ukhtomsky's teaching about the dominant

Development context of scientific thought in the early 20 century let us see the origins of many ideas, that became fundamental in Russian philosophical anthropology. Ukhtomsky’s theory about dominant – the one of the most important in the psycho-physiological development of the 20th century. His ideas useful not only for theoretical physiology, anthropology, psychology, but also in practice, for labor, science and creative activity optimization. Dominant principle – is not only the main way of brain centers cooperation, but also all nervous system and body as a whole. It gives an opportunity to learn the contradictory and hard structure of human behavior, of a moral and creative person components, describes way of human attitude to the external environment as an active, not passive observer. Dominant connects rather elements in a single unit, moving in one direction, and present not only in physiology, but also in psychic experience, literature and art. In the philosophical-ethical attitude A.A. Ukhtomsky was developing the conception of “dominant on the other face”. It addresses on original person, see Interlocutor in his identity and uniqueness. The concept of morality of A.A. Ukhtomsky is based on the definitions of “honored interlocutor” and “double”. Deserve the Interlocutor – means to see in him something bigger, than own reflection. In the science work of A.A. Ukhtomsky we see systematic approach to the study of physiological discoveries and solving real-life problems. In an effort to understand, what a person is, how his mental development takes place, he doesn’t only makes actual discoveries, but also try to give them general scientific significance, to enter them into the general scientific system of knowledge. The systematic scientific approach is particularly relevant at the present time, when the amount of various information is growing exponentially, and the general concept of scientific knowledge, which allows to combine work in various fields of science, doesn’t exist. In our opinion, its base can give us the A.A. Ukhtomsky’s dominant principle.

SOCIO-EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE WORKING MAN FORMATION.

The paper analyzes a new for the Russian anthropology concept of the «working man», introduced in the Urals along with the propagation of a social and political movement «For the Working Man Protection»; the semantic content of the «man» and «labor» notions being observed as well as the process and problems of the working man formation in the modern world. The author emphasizes the asymmetry of the socio-economic and vocational educational infrastructure, along with the contradictions between the labor market demands for the technical and technological profile workers and the existing educational qualification structure of vocational schools. In author's opinion, the disorganization of labor training in comprehensive school and deficiencies of vocational education hinder the process of the industrial working man formation. The professional orientation system is criticized for being unable to meet the demands of modern economy and provide the young people with the adequate concept of the working career. For overcoming the above problems affecting the working man formation, the paper recommends modernization of the labor training system in comprehensive schools, reformation of vocational training, and renovation of professional orientation system. The special emphasis is given to the continuing training of the working man.

Русология как комплексная наука о древней Руси

The article provides a definition of a prospective complex scientific discipline on Rus — rusologia (russologie). The author dwells on the resource-base and borrowed names of individual periods of history of Rus, demonstrates nomination analogies relevant for a complex historical study of states other than Rus, and lists innovative scientific methods peculiar to this particular discipline.
 
 The article contains illustrations, which serve to demonstrate the potential of the new epigraphic research methods, and presents critical views of them, as well as the author´s arguments in their favour.
 
 The author dares to assume that rusologia (russologie) is to become a complex scientific discipline, a distinct study of Rus and its inhabitants (the rusiches). With Rus´s population worshiping different Vedic gods on an alternating basis, the author deems it consistent to nominalise each period of Rus´s history accordingly. Thus, the subdisciplines of rusologia (rossulogie) are Mokosh/ (Mokos) — rusologia, Mara-rusologia, Rod-rusologia, Yar-rusologia, Arctorusologia, Slavic-rusologia and Pre-Romanov-rusologia. Each subdiscipline is responsible for a particular period of the historical development of Rus and the rusiches. Later periods are central to the study of such disciplines as Russian cultural anthropology, Russian historiography, the old and modern Russian language etc.

THE QUESTION OF FIGURES DISTINCTION FOLK-HEALERS AND SORCERERS IN RESEARCH OF MAGICAL PRACTICES OF THE EASTERN SLAVS

The article provides an overview and analysis of the main approaches adopted in modern Russian anthropology to refer ethnophors, engaged in traditional magical practices, an attempt to find out whether it is possible to create a unified classification.

From German philology to Russian anthropology, 1880-1920

RésuméL’article explore un certain nombre de passages de la philologie allemande à l’anthropologie russe au tournant du xixe et du xxe siècle. Très attentif à la science allemande de son temps, Aleksandr Veselovskij a importé en Russie le diffusionnisme du sanskritiste allemand Theodor Benfey. Héritier de Veselovskij, Žirmunskij s’est fait historien de courants de la philologie allemande médiéviste comme ceux de Eduard Sievers ou Andreas Heusler. De Leo Spitzer à Karl Vossler en passant par Oskar Walzel, la romanistique allemande a pu transmettre quelques modèles de pensée formaliste. La pénétration en Russie du néokantisme de Warburg est complémentaire de cette introduction de la philologie. Dans ces phénomènes de circulation la reconstruction, la reformulation et le métabolisme liés à l’importation sont une dimension essentielle du processus d’appropriation des modèles allemands.