School in the Soviet ethnographic research over the period from 1937 to 1953 based on the journal “Soviet Ethnography”
Examination of the role of school in Soviet ethnography remains a blank spot in the anthropology of education. However, despite the absence of this subdiscipline, the author indicates the interest of Soviet ethnographers in reorganization of educational sphere. Use of the method of content analysis of the journal “Soviet Ethnography” reveals the role of general education on the map of ethnographic science of the era of totalitarianism (1937– 1953). This stage is characterized by one of the major intrusions into science, which is clearly reflected in publications of humanities journals. The author highlights the common semantic structures – patterns and repetitive statements typical for most articles. These statement lead to the following conclusions: criticism of the prerevolutionary system of education, exclusion of religion from the system of education, and exposure of the problems in the system of education of foreign capitalist countries. At the same time, there was the task to emphasize the successes of Soviet education: elimination of illiteracy; growing number of schools, students, and teachers; and the role of schools in cultural development the Soviet Union. In face of ideological restriction, many ethnographers have identified separate issues and offered their recommendations for the Soviet system of education. These unique observations are the contribution made by the Soviet ethnographic science to the cultural interpretation of the school.