Individual Self-identification Research Articles

Ainu Art: From Craft to Fine Art

ditional and utilitarian. The modernity gives the boost to the development of the new forms of art. However, there are no studies in domestic or foreign historiography examining this issue. The purpose of this article is to analyze the problem of the formation and development of Ainu modern art as the adaptive mechanisms of traditional crafts. Based on field work and analysis of sources, using descriptive, historical-systemic, comparative-historical and visual methods, an attempt is made to understand the prerequisites for the transition of Ainu craft and decorative art to fine arts, and the conditions that led to the emergence of highly artistic works. The introduction of the results determined the novelty of this research. We found that the transition of the Ainu crafts to decorative and fine arts was facilitated by three factors: economic, cultural and the need for individual self-identification. This made possible to distinguish three stages in the development of Ainu art: the stage of acquaintance with the Ainu craft, the exhibition and market stages, which led to the development of sculpture, graphics, woodcuts and also to emphasize the importance of cultural exchange with neighboring peoples. The presented work allows us to conduct comparative studies with a similar phenomenon among the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation and to use it in museum projects.

Walka klas na pół etatu. Obrzeża polskiego międzywojennego ruchu komunistycznego

Part-time class struggle. The fringes of the Polish inter-war communist movement This article is to examine some obscure forms of involvement in the Polish inter-war communist movement: the Communist Party of Poland and its subordinate organisations. The author focuses on the fringes of the movement, a borderland between a revolutionary, subversive organisation and the “outside world”. There is a particular emphasis on the perspective of men and women operating in this borderland. The protagonists of the paper are communism “sympathisers” — those who did not belong to the organisation, but identified with its ideas and provided support to it, as well as members of the organisation whose ties to the movement, however, were loose or who gradually moved away from active involvement. In contrast to the dominant depictions focused on public figures, intellectuals, and artists, the author deals with “ordinary” plebeians or white-collar workers. The article provides answers to some important questions about belonging to the communist formation, but also about involvement in the political sphere in general. It reveals tensions between the ideological self-identification of individuals and its recognition by the reference group, as well as the patterns and limits of personal agency in a clandestine political movement. In addition, the author considers the role of both ideological factors as well as “biographical accessibility” (determinants such as health or family conditionings) in individuals’ definition of their role in the political sphere. The source material for the article primarly consists of ego- documents from archival personal files, allowing for a reflection on strategies of favourable self-presentation and mechanisms of party self-criticism.

Territorial Identity: Structure, Boundaries, Reproduction (A Comparative Analysis of the Saratov region, the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria and the Republic of South Ossetia)

The purpose of the article is to analyze the phenomenon of territorial identity as a reflection of modern transformation processes and a relevant indicator of the potential for social mobilization of residents of local territories. The research objectives were to analyze the structure of territorial identity, the forms and mechanisms of reproduction of the external and internal social boundaries of the territorial identity area, and the role of social networks in its reduction. The analysis of the data is based on sociological studies conducted in the Saratov region, the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, and the Republic of South Ossetia. It describes the structural characteristics of territorial identity, the processes of formation of its social boundaries, and evaluates social networks as tools for its preservation, formation, and transformation. The authors conclude that territorial identity occupies a leading place in the structure of an individual self-identification and can be a powerful group consolidating factor.

О моделировании современных систем профессионализации и самоопределения в высшем образовании

The article deals with the hypotheses about possible modeling of self-identification and professionalization systems. It is supposed that, during the age of transfer to a new technological paradigm, imperatives of the industrial age and the age of labor specialization are now implied instead of being evident. Imperatives of specialization and qualification are now completed with the imperatives of competence and self-identification. This leads to fundamental changes in the system of professionalization. The hypotheses are completed with an empirical research of modeling the system of objectification for individual self-identification potential. The research demonstrated a fundamentally new possibility to distinguish individual typological styles in solving educational tasks. The authors decided to limit the research with a situation when a bank of educational tasks is formed based on social and engineering practical problems. As a result of the post-experimental concept the authors defined the typology of four intellectual styles. The fundamentals for the typology is the grounded theory method. The conceptualization of intellectual styles is proved by the cluster analysis results. Based on cluster analysis, sub-groups were revealed. They differ from each other by special intellectual preferences and cognitive styles of information processing. The assumption that modern education needs a complex system of tests that corresponds to the complexity of individual variability of a person, is proved and claims for further verification and conceptualization. Existential Anxiety of Religious Identity and Religious Extremism in Indonesian Muslims

Wartime communicative practices: the experience of processing the problem

The purpose of the article is to analyze communicative practices during wartime. The methodological basis of the research is general scientific methods of analysis: historicism, systematization, comparison, and generalization of the researched problem. A phenomenological approach was used to analyze communication practices. The interdisciplinary approach allowed to involve scientific achievements in the fields of culturology, philosophy, ethics, and psychology. Scientific novelty: for the first time communicative practices in the conditions of military aggression are analyzed. Conclusions. Communicative practices as ways of interaction are aimed at transmitting information and generating meanings, creating, reproducing and transforming social reality, generating a sense of involvement in interaction with others, and hence cohesion and identification of communities and self-identification of individuals. Information can be transmitted and received not only through the media, the Internet, the media, but also through art programs, works of art, accident products and more. The concept of "peaceful communicative practices" can be applied to recreational practices, empathetic, aimed at carrying positive, life-affirming information useful for victory over the invader, these are communicative practices that can create various mental effects from simple distraction, entertainment - to experience levels of catharsis. The art of wartime emerges as the most direct depiction of war, documenting harsh conditions and struggle during the conflict, as well as reflection on events.
 Key words: communication, functions of communication during military operations, communicative practices, “life world”.

SOCIAL POLICY OF UNITED TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES AS A MEANS OF REPRODUCING HUMAN CAPITAL IN RURAL AREAS

Introduction. The most important task of the current stage of the country's social and economic development is the formation of a goal-oriented social policy aimed at the interests of citizens, aimed at creating conditions that ensure a sufficient level of quality of life and free human development, reducing social inequality, increasing the income of the population, ensuring the general availability and acceptable quality of basic social services. In essence, it is about solving a strategic problem – improving the quality of life of the country's population, which is especially relevant for residents of rural areas, since the solution to the problems of stable economic development and improvement of the population's well-being in Ukraine is largely determined by the development of rural areas. Methods. General scientific and special methods of economic research were used in the process of conducting research, in particular: systemic approach − when studying the connections between phenomena and processes in the system of ensuring the reproduction of human capital in rural areas; statistical analysis − when determining the tendency of reproduction of the country's rural population; comparative − to compare the social and economic conditions of reproduction of human capital in rural areas; dialectical, abstract and logical − for theoretical generalizations and the formation of conclusions. Results. The directions for improving the conditions for the formation and development of human capital in rural areas in a strategic perspective are substantiated: improvement of the living environment of the rural population; ensuring demographic growth in rural areas; improving the quality of educational services in the countryside; receiving timely and high-quality medical care; ensuring a high level of wages; integration of the rural population into the knowledge-based economy. The strategic development of rural areas and rural society should be based on the preservation of traditional culture and its reproduction, preservation of national origins and religious traditions, which ensure social, professional and cultural self-identification of individuals in the conditions of decentralization of rural communities. Discussion. The proposed measures can be used in the development of strategies for the social and economic development of rural united territorial communities in the context of the decentralization process. In the conditions of the post-war revival of Ukraine, the role of united territorial communities in the revival of the settlement network and stimulation of the return of the population through the restoration of social infrastructure facilities and the creation of additional jobs, in particular through self-employment, will be strengthened, which is promising for our further research. Keywords: human capital, social policy, decentralization, united territorial community, social infrastructure.

Теоретические обоснования вопросов укрепления национально-культурной идентичности через наследие в работах широкого круга исследователей

The purpose of the study is to identify axiological grounds for strengthening identity. Attention is focused on the analysis of literature on the issue of identity formation, actualization of the problem of self-identification in conditions of social instability. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that an attempt is made to analyze the phenomenon of collective identity as a community need for self-identification of social groups. As a result, it was revealed that the structure of identity is changing, starting from individual self-identification, and ending with civilizational. Due to the factors that contribute to the strengthening of collective identity: cultural heritage, language, memory, the value-semantic core of culture can be enriched in the conditions of instability of the moral foundations of society.

ТРАНСДИСЦИПЛИНАРНОСТЬ В ИЗУЧЕНИИ СОЦИОКУЛЬТУРНЫХ ПРАКТИК ПОВСЕДНЕВНОСТИ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ ФЕНОМЕНА ГОЛОДА В ВИКТОРИАНСКОЙ АНГЛИИ)

The study of the role of sociocultural practices in the everyday life of society involves the synthesis of methodological approaches in order to create a transdisciplinary research model. Analysis of various aspects of private life in the context of studying socio-cultural practices requires an analysis of the value categories of the society under study, taking account of worldview interpretations of phenomena by contemporaries, cultural attraction, individual self-identification and psychological perception of ongoing processes. The phenomenon of the Victorian famine is not meant to be studied only as a strictly biological phenomenon. The article interprets hunger as a sociocultural phenomenon, considers the associated fear of social stigmatization. The famine in the early Victorian period acts as a factor in the conceptual context of ongoing social phenomena, influencing the reception of cultural ties within society. The categories of “food”, “hunger” and “starvation death” were everyday companions of the public discourse of the era, reflecting the crisis state of Victorian society. Not only was the famine a factor that increased the potential for conflict, as it was perceived in the middle of the century, but by the end of the 19th century it began to be recognized by the authorities as a consequence of social contradictions and acted as an argument for the introduction and continuation of legislatively supported forms of social compromise. Having reworked the inhumane concept of getting rid of “social surpluses” of the period of popularity of Malthusian philosophy in the Middle Victorian period, the Victorians change the topology of the “hunger” concept in the system of structural and semantic models of social dialogue. The sociocultural phenomenon of famine is transformed in the communicative space of the Victorian era from a marker of condemned poverty into a social problem that unites various social groups.

History of Iskcon (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) Distribution in Belarus

Based on several scientific publications, a limited number of news from the 1980s up until 2021 and a series of in-depth interviews with devotees in 2006–2021, the authors of the paper managed to restore the history of Bengal Vaishnavism distribution in Belarus for the first time. Specific attributes of its introduction to the country were: (1) philosophical requests from the local citizens, not immigration of its original bearers; (2) a long period of spontaneous distribution in the form of personal involvement with Vaishnava ideas and, hence, late institutionalization of the movement. The main stages of Vaishnavism development in Belarus were distinguished: (1) 1980s, the Soviet period: introduction of Vaishnava ideas and practices within individual self-identification of the members of small groups; (2) 1990s, the post-Soviet period: forming organizational structure of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Belarus; (3) 2000s: spiritual and administrative crises and reformation of the systems of administration and practice creation of the institute of curating the newly converted devotees; (4) 2010s: search for and establishment of the new models of serving, the out-of-temple bhakti practice, in particular; further popularization of the Vaishnava movement and community in Belarus. The main source of information on the history of Vaishnavism distribution in Belarus were in-depth interviews with the members of the community standing at its origin.

«ТЕКУЧЕЕ» РАЗМЫВАНИЕ НАЦИОНАЛЬНОЙ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ: МУСУЛЬМАНСКАЯ ИММИГРАЦИЯ КАК ВЫЗОВ ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЙ ПОЛИТИКЕ ИНТЕГРАЦИИ

The article discusses specific features of the influence of the globalisation process and the migration movements from Muslim regions to the Western countries on the disintegration of the civil (political) community. This process has developed at the time of spiritual crisis and further disintegration of the European Community. With the advent of globalisation, increased racial, ethnic and religious identities have become even more important within the framework of political self-identification of individuals with a certain political community as a political nation. At the same time, the "We Discourse" of Muslim minorities in Europe becomes more intense in the identity space of European post-secular society. The Islamic people articulate this fact through their multiple identities. An integral component in the self-identification of Islamic intellectuals becomes their historical and cultural narrative, which often takes the form of an "identity battle". The national identity as considered by the democratic countries (no longer ethnically and culturally homogeneous) ceases to be a crucial resource for the development of the nation-state. It experiences the often negative pressure from external influences. This fact makes actual the need for "political actors" to pursue an identity policy that can strengthen the civil unity in society. It is obvious that the old European models of relationship construction between the population groups, which constitute historical majorities with the minority communities of Muslim identity are no longer effective. The lack of dialogue and socio-political integration of Muslim migrants into the "host community" can lead to even more serious civilisational alienation of foreign cultural and foreign religious elements.

How Diverse are State Medical Boards?

How Diverse are State Medical Boards?

Edith Wharton and the Modern Privileges of Age

Edith Wharton and the Modern Privileges of Age

Отношение городского населения к религиозным институтам (на примере Дагестана).

The growth of importance of religious component in modern Russian society caused growth of interest to the problem of religiosity and its different types taking place in different social groups as well as defining place of religion as marker of self-identification of individual. The problem of religious tolerance among followers of dif-ferent religion is also actualized. In this context we must define degree of loyalty to reli-gious organizations for example to Religious Organization of Muslims of Daghestan (ROMD). According to the results of the research it is found out that mass consciousness of citizens is characterized with low level demonstration of loyalty to both representatives of their religious society and most important institute of Islamic clergy – Religious Organization of Muslims of Daghestan. The monitoring research of degree of loyalty to cult organizations constants that there is significant decline of part of respondents demonstrating positive attitude and estimation of activity of religious organizations and clergy and there are objective and subjective reasons for above mentioned conclusion. Moreover it is found out that there is lack of balance between interests of believers to realize their religious obligations and active religious behavior at the same time. Lack of loyalty to religious institutes is caused by the fact that they disagree with orientation of clergy to participate in different social activities and it causes protest of the society.

«The way toward oneself»: ethnoscience as a new identity strategy for the Ob Ugrians

This paper investigates the role of science in the identity strategies of the Ob-Ugrians (Khanty and Mansi). The main source for the study comprised author’s field reports collected over the years in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — Yugra. As the reference point of the analysis we chose the Ob-Ugric Institute of Applied Research and Development, where a polling of Ob-Ugric science professionals was held in 2018. The author suggests exploring the research topic through the concept of multifaceted identity. A complex system of individual self-identification implies the presence of its different forms, including professional and ethnic, amongst others. This approach leads to the conclusion on superimposing roles of a scientist and a member of the ethnic group (professional and ethnic identities) in the scientific activities of the Ob-Ugrians. To indicate this specificity, we sug-gest using the term ‘ethnoscience’. The latter is defined in this context as an entity emerged in a specific way, spatially localized and aimed at studying the autochthonous foundations of knowledge within its ethnic community. As a methodological approach, the concept of ‘cultural trauma’ has been employed. Within this theory, scientific activities of the northerners are considered as a manifestation of ‘coping’ with the trauma. The example of Ob-Ugrians shows that ethnic science professionals are often driven by the perception of practical relevancy of such activities ‘for the sake of saving the nationality and its culture and raising its prestige’. These phenomena can be regarded as a kind of protest action aimed to compensate real and perceived slights. Nowadays, research activi-ties of the Ob-Ugrians are focused on recovery of the ‘lost knowledge’ and its application in the modern context. The search for the ‘roots’ and ethnic self-identification is carried out through ‘revival’ and ‘restoration’. As a draw-back of this strategy, some weak points evince (‘sympathetic ethnography’) which steadily diminish as the nor-thern ethnoscience continues to integrate in a wider science context.

Development of research skills in the future foreign language teacher in the system of continuing education

Modern education, implemented in specially targeted institutions, in most cases cannot ensure high performance of graduates. A future teacher should possess not only a high level of qualifications but also creative thinking, the ability to use innovative methods and technologies. The improvement of the integrated abilities of future teachers is based on the appropriate competent combination of the Russian educational tradition with innovative types of education. University programs usually only follow the state educational standards, without contributing to the individual self-identification of young citizens. Today, education should be positioned as a daily intellectual work that reveals the potential of a schoolchild or student and contributes to building the required competencies. Consequently, non-formal education should become part of a teacher’s life, implying both personal cognitive activity and spontaneous education, carried out due to a personal activity in a rapidly developing educational space. The student should not only know a foreign language and master teaching methods, but also demonstrate an adequate intellectual level, the ability to reflect, to conduct scientific research, to predict learning outcomes. Unfortunately, at this stage, the potential of non-formal education in the field of foreign languages is not sufficiently used, which makes it difficult to improve the research skills of future school teachers.

SACRED SPACE OF THE NOVEL BY L. KONONOVYCH “CENTURION FROM CHYGYRYN”

Issues of identity crisis have been raised by Ukrainian and foreign scientists since the late twentieth century. In this context, the issue of identity for Ukraine is particularly painful. A complex set of political and cultural identities, which are the basis for individual self-identification (language, culture, the vision of history, national idea, etc.) on the territory of Ukraine were formed chaotically, under the influence of state entities, which included Ukrainian lands. That is why today they need an independent rethinking. One of the significant identities are ‘symbolic loci’ and their ‘secular doubles’, able to activate national codes in the public consciousness (Maidan, Cold Ravine, Baturyn City, Monk’s Hill, etc.). The use of these identities is a powerful tool for national myths creation, which is important for coherent nation formation. Such symbolic loci form the sacred space of the novel by L. Kononovych “Centurion from Chygyryn”. According to the results of the research of the artistic chronotope peculiarities, it was found that the central symbolic locus in the novel is the Mykytyn Sich, from which the protagonist’s travels begin and end. In the work, it serves as a sacred center, a kind of reference point, around which are located peripheral loci (the nameless settlement near the Sich, the Stone Tomb, the Black Rock, Kyiv, Chygyryn City, Zaruba mountain, the Golun City). Each of them is connected with important milestones in the history of the Ukrainian people: Cossack times, Kyivan Rus, the Scythian era. All these locations should be visited by a young Cossack Mykhas to free sinful souls chained to them and release these souls to the realm of the dead, symbolically forgiving intentional or involuntary sins before the homeland: this is how the guilt and redemption concept is actualized in the novel. Significant in the work is the image of the Dnieper – a sacred river created by Dazhbog for ‘his people’. It separates the independent Left Bank and the Polesconquered Right Bank, connects the peripheral loci located along it, and serves as a border between the worlds. Symbolic loci in the «Centurion from Chygyryn» are important tools that allow to delve into the past, recall important milestones in national history, trace the origins of the Ukrainian people from Scythian to the times of Khmelnytsky and thus legitimize the right to their native land, which is one of the leading ideas of the novel.

National-Regional Component in the Training of Artists of Decorative-Applied Art

The article considers the regionalization of education as an important condition for preservation and development of ethnocultural artistic traditions. Regional culture is understood to mean a world of material and spiritual elements that make up being of particular region inhabitants with their constituent parts such as history, religion, folklore, and traditional applied art. The authors emphasize special role of culture and art universities in the process of humanizing art education. The article draws attention to the problem of identity in the modern global world and the importance of introducing the values of the past through the knowledge of the region’s cultural heritage to the modern person. In this context, the authors emphasize the importance of traditional folk art as an area of self-determination and human identity.The article proposes a set of special tasks for inoculation of a regional component in the educational process. The main methodological task is the formation of national historical self-awareness, group and individual self-identification, patriotism through the acquisition of cultural samples by their mastering in the process of creative activity and the further development of traditional arts and crafts in the new conditions of cultural existence.The article concludes the renewal of the content of teaching arts and crafts on the basis of its enrichment by studying various national cultures taking into account regional peculiarities becomes the most important thing at the present stage. The training of future artists of decorative and applied art should be based on the principles of cultural appropriateness, historicism, creative development and socialization, which presuppose students’ development in the process of nonmaterial culture learning

Контуры образа будущего: социоструктурный аспект

The article provides a brief discourse of transformation of social structure in the postindustrial society. It is proved that as the result of postindustrial development, the characteristic features of a new model of society are as follows: transformation of the structure of employment; segmentation of the labor market; gap between workers in the labor market; growth of non-market groups raised by the welfare state. At the same time, in Russia the transformation of the professional structure is slowed down by a number of internal factors, including the education system. The author highlights contradictions related to the self-identification of the working population, most of which in Russia and in the world associate themselves with the middle class. It has been found that in Russia weak identification with the working class is associated with the decline in the prestige of the “blue-collar” workers, while in other countries the self-identification of individuals with employees is secondary, although its degree varies from country to country.

Transgender language reform

Transgender people’s recent increase in visibility in the contemporary United States has presented new linguistic challenges. This article investigates those challenges and presents strategies developed by trans speakers and promoted by trans activists concerned with language reform. The first of these is the selection of gendered lexical items, including both gender identity terms (woman, man, etc.) and more implicitly gendered words (e.g. beautiful, handsome). The second is the assignment of third person pronouns like she/her/hers and he/ him/his as well as non-binary pronouns like singular they/them/theirs or ze/ hir/hirs. Both of these challenges tap into the importance trans people place on individual self-identification, and they come with new interactional practices such as asking people directly what pronouns they would like others to use when referring to them. The third challenge addressed here is avoiding gendering people when the referent’s gender isn’t relevant or known, which can be addressed through the selection of gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language. The final challenge is how to discuss gender when it is relevant – e.g. in discussions of gender identity, socialisation or sexual physiology – without delegitimising trans identities. Several strategies are presented to address this issue, such as hedging all generalisations based on gender, even when doing so seems unnecessary in the normative sex/gender framework or using more precise language regarding what aspect(s) of gender are relevant. Taken as a whole, trans language reform reflects the importance of language, not just as an auxiliary to identity, but as the primary grounds on which identity construction takes place.

Informality, Class Structure, and Class Identity in Contemporary Argentina

The dynamics of peripheral capitalism in Latin America includes the employment or self-employment of a significant proportion of the working class under informal arrangements. The neoliberal transformations of the 1990s deepened this feature of Latin American labor markets, and it was not reversed during the period of economic growth that followed the collapse of neoliberalism. In this context, sociological debates have focused on the relationship between the formal and the informal fractions of the working class. Examination of the biographical and family linkages between formal and informal workers in Argentina and the effect of these connections on the patterns of class self-identification of individuals shows that lived experience across the informality boundary makes formal workers similar to informal workers in terms of class self-identification. This research provides preliminary evidence that the two kinds of workers belong to the same social class because of the fluidity of the boundary that separates them. Instead of a class cleavage, this boundary is better defined as the separation between fractions of the working class. La dinámica del capitalismo periférico en América Latina implica la informalidad laboral (sea entre trabajadores contratados o autónomos) de una sustancial parte de la clase obrera. Las transformaciones neoliberales de los años noventa profundizaron esta característica de los mercados de trabajo latinoamericanos, y el problema no se revirtió durante el período de crecimiento económico que siguió al colapso del neoliberalismo. En este contexto, los debates sociológicos se han centrado en la relación entre los grupos formales e informales de la clase obrera. Un análisis de los vínculos biográficos y familiares entre los trabajadores formales e informales en Argentina y el efecto de dichas conexiones en los patrones individuales de autoidentificación de clase muestra que la experiencia vivida en los límites de la informalidad hace que los trabajadores formales se consideren similares a los informales en términos de identificación de clase. Esta investigación brinda evidencia preliminar de que los dos tipos de trabajadores pertenecen a la misma clase social.