The History of Russian Qur’аn Translations (19th Century — Middle 20th Century)

This article is devoted to the history of the tradition of translations of the Qur’an into Russian from the nineteenth century to the translation by I. Yu. Krachkovsky. The article examines the background to the creation of these translations, their key features and their importance for the development of the Russian tradition of translation and interpretation of the Qur’an. Particular attention is paid to the importance of studying these translations of the Qur’an into Russian in the context of the development of the Russian tradition of Qur’anic interpretation and the Russian school of Islamic studies. The purpose of this study is also to attract Russian and foreign Islamologists and Qur’anologists to a thorough study of the heritage of the Russian tradition of Qur’anic translation and to consider the prospects of its development in the twenty- fi rst century.

The Current State of the Teaching the Russian Language in the Multicultural Russian School

Although it is commonly known that the dominant trend in the development of modern post-industrial society is globalization, today we can already talk about glocalization as a bidirectional process of integration and localization, complementary to the dialectical development of mankind. This process implies the unification of all spheres of social life in a single global space and the isolation of individual regions and ethnic groups as a protective reaction to preserve their uniqueness and identity. The described social trends are now becoming decisive for the development of the education system as the main social institution. Migration processes and related problems of integrating migrants into a new society, preserving the national language and culture, searching for identity - all these phenomena necessitate innovative methodological solutions that should be implemented in the context of learning the Russian language at a multicultural Russian school. The article considers topical problems related to the implementation of the program of teaching the Russian language in a multicultural environment. The authors propose a conceptual definition of a multicultural school. They analyze the pedagogical experience of individual educational institutions developing their own training methods for use in a multicultural environment. This analysis makes it possible to identify socio-adaptive, cultural, psychological and linguistic aspects of teaching Russian in a multicultural school. Along the way, an increase in the psychoemotional burden of teachers working in multi-ethnic classes is noted. Additionally, the effective experience of implementing preschool language training of non-native speakers in the Moscow region is analyzed. In line with the above, the authors review the current situation with regard to teaching the Russian language in the multiethnic regions of Russia through the example of the Republics of Sakha (Yakutia) and Tatarstan. In particular, it is noted that for the regions of the Russian Federation it is methodologically incorrect to use the term multicultural school, since in the national constituent entities of the Russian Federation there is a special type of national school, and a program for studying Russian as a non-native language is also being implemented.

The formation of the art of socialistic realism in Mongolia: the main stages, the role of the Russian art school

Статья посвящена стилю социалистического реализма в изобразительном искусстве Монголии. Выделены основные этапы становления и факторы его формирования: революционные события и утверждение идеологии социализма; поддержка нового направления правительством Монголии, а также влияние российской художественной школы. Показана роль Российской академии художеств, Института им. И.Е. Репина, Института им. В.И. Сурикова в обучении и передаче художественных традиций и навыков монгольским художникам. Отмечено своеобразие монгольского варианта стиля соцреализма, синтезировавшего приемы и методы российской школы живописи с народными формами художественного творчества и буддийским искусством; показана непреходящая значимость и востребованность данного стиля в современном искусстве Монголии. Охарактеризовано творчество ведущих монгольских художников, и проведен искусствоведческий анализ ряда произведений. The article is devoted to the style of socialistic realism in the fine arts of Mongolia. The main stages of formation and factors of its formation are highlighted: revolutionary events and the establishment of the ideology of socialism; support of the new authorities of Mongolia, as well as the influence of the Russian art school. The role of the Russian Academy of Arts, the I.E. Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov in teaching and transferring artistic traditions and skills to Mongolian artists is shown. The peculiarity of the Mongolian version of the style of socialist realism, which synthesized the techniques and methods of the Russian school of painting with folk forms of art and Buddhist art, is noted; the enduring importance and relevance of this style in the contemporary art of Mongolia is shown. The work of leading Mongolian artists is characterized and an art history analysis of a number of works is carried out.

Exhibitions of Soviet fine art in 1930 in the reviews of the foreign press

The article examines the reviews of the German, Austrian and Swedish periodicals about some exhibitions of Soviet fine art held in 1930. On the basis of archival materials, the attitude of the foreign press to the Soviet exhibition projects in Berlin, Vienna and Stockholm is analyzed. The influence of the political orientation of periodicals on the assessment of the plots of the works of Soviet artists is emphasized. When characterizing the painting technique and compositional structure of the works, critics pointed to their continuity from the Western European tradition. Soviet graphics and sculpture made a positive impression. Critics associated the artistic successes mainly with the masters of the old Russian school.

Evolution and perspectives of Spanish in Russian school system

The article examines from various points of view the role of the Spanish language in the Russian system of primary and secondary education, both public and private, paying special attention to the experience of schools participating in the Bilingual Sections program of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Training. The article compares Spanish with other foreign languages in the Russian school system, and considers its evolution in the timeline and the impact on its status of migration movements in connection with political events, commercial and student exchange, tourism; as well as the impact of certain measures taken both in Russia and in Spain. Institutions in both countries have established links to promote mutual development in terms of learning Spanish and Russian, and the diplomatic corps has become the catalyst and manager of this dynamic. Despite the fact that the reactions of educational actors (institutions, civil society, students and teachers) are varied, they reinforce different mechanisms to gain access to Spanish culture and business, as well as to other Spanish-speaking countries. The article also demonstrates the current statistics and describes the trend that the teaching of Spanish may follow in the coming years due to positioning of Spanish among the main foreign languages studied in Russian schools.

The analysis of the notions of Russian school principals about digital transformation

Introduction. The challenge of the pandemic forced educational organisations in Russia to resort to massive transition to distance learning and accelerated digital transformation of schools. It has become more obvious than ever that the digital transformation of a school is not limited to a simple technical update of its information resources but implies a fundamental rethinking of the school activities based on the capabilities of digital technologies.The aim of the study was to investigate the experience of digital transformation and the Russian school principals’ notions about it as a systemic process. The subject of the study is the notion about the systemic impact of digital transformation processes on schools; the experience of complexity in the introduction of information technologies in the educational process and school management, the assessment of the progress of digitalisation; the notions about the factors of successful digital transformation, which require a critical understanding of the experience of implementing information technologies in the school, highlighting key success factors.Methodology and research methods. The authors analysed 7189 questionnaires using computer methods for processing the natural language. The questionnaires were completed in general education organisations of 66 regions from all federal districts of Russia. The respondents’ answers were categorised in accordance with the European Framework for Technologically Competent Educational Organisations (DigCompOrg).Results. The research findings demonstrated the significant imbalance in the frequency of responses: the most frequent answers belong to the “Infrastructure” category, while the least frequent ones belong to the categories of pedagogical aspects of digital transformation affecting changes in the educational content and methods for assessing educational outcomes. It is concluded that the respondents’ replies reflect the institutional position of school principals in the current educational system: a head of a government-funded school positions herself/himself as an administrative executor and a representative of the founder, rather than a leader of the teaching team. Consequently, the provision of educational achievements and students’ personal development are largely not perceived by principles of Russian schools as a priority management task.Scientific novelty of the present research lies in the attempt to answer the question of how systematically the digital transformation of the principle is perceived, to apply DigCompOrg to the assessment of these categories by the European Framework of technologically competent educational organisations, as well as to use natural language processing methods to process text answers to open-ended questions of the questionnaire, which made it possible to obtain results on a large sample with wide geographical coverage.Practical significance. The research findings can be used in the development and implementation of advanced training programmes for school and college administrations in accordance with the ongoing digitalisation of Russian educational system.

Russian School of Toponymical Cartography

The development of toponymical cartography in Russia has a long history and rich practical experience. Cartographic methods have been used in toponymical research for many decades. Their great importance was noted by the founders of fundamental place-name study. This field is actively developing despite the considerable methodological complexity and labor intensity. Modern technologies in cartography make it possible to bring the scale and intensity of toponymic research to a new level and solve problems that have long been identified in science. This further increases the relevance of toponymic mapping and the active introduction of other techniques into the practice of local and regional toponymic research.

Formation of the image of Buddhism in Russia (the end of the XIX – the beginning of the XX centuries)

This article examines the sources of formation of the image of Buddhism in the Russian cultural environment and determine the degree of representativeness of this image. The author highlights the three main sources: 1) academic research works of the Western Schools of Buddhology (based on Pāli and Sanskrit material); 2) research conducted within the framework of the Russian School of Buddhology (based primarily on Tibetan- and Mongolian-language material); 3) research of the Orthodox Russian missionaries. It is determined that the fundamental theoretical position developed by the Anglo-Germanic School of Buddhology is the thesis on authenticity of Theravada Buddhism, which is considered as “initial”, and its other forms (such as Mahayana, Vajrayana) are considered as its later modifications that emerged under the influence of external factors. The key features of Buddhism in Buddhology imply that: 1) Buddha Shakyamuni was not a transcendent being; 2) his nirvana is understood nihilistically, as a complete cessation of the process of being; 3) Buddhism, denies the existence of soul; 4) the existence of God and the representation of the transcendent are also denied. Despite the fact that the studies of Mahayana and Vajrayana material indicated inadequacy of such assessment, these theses were reproduced over again. This is explained by the interest of significant social groups in such image of Buddhism: many Orthodox figures interpreted Buddhism as a philosophical-ethical, rather than religious system; atheistically-oriented scholars and scientifically-oriented public also supported such interpretation. The rational aspects of Buddhism, which give common grounds with science, were uncritically absolutized; Buddhism was viewed as an ally of scientific thinking, completely alien to faith.

Representing the Russian Revolution in Prescribed Russian School History Textbooks

This article offers a new knowledge and insight into understanding the nexus between ideologies, the state, and nation-building—as depicted in transforming images of nation-building and historical understanding of the October 1917 Russian revolution in prescribed history textbooks in the Russian Federation (RF). Using discourse analysis, and historiography, the article examines critically the role of language and ideology in presenting historical narratives in explaining how do representations of the revolution by different historians, from diverse ideological backgrounds, compared to the depiction of the October Revolution of 1917, in Russian school textbooks. Classroom teachers and historians, using historiography, interpret the 1917 October revolution in Russia in different ways. These different interpretations reflect the way in which historical understanding and historical knowledge, influenced by dominant ideologies, are created in history. Current prescribed Russian history textbooks for senior secondary students, which are approved by the Ministry of Education and Science, now regard the Russian Revolution as a significant part of a foundation narrative, representing a re-invented new meta-narrative of nation-building in the RF.

International conference “Russian school abroad”

The report provides the information about the International Conference “Russian School Abroad”. The conference was held by the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia on request of the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, compatriots living abroad, and International humanitarian cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo). It took place in the Federal Republic of Germany on 30–31 October 2021 at the Russian House in Berlin.