W drodze do narratologii historycznej

The paper presents the concept of fundamentally new direction in the field of narratological studies – historical narratology. The author suggests turning to the research experience accumulated in Russian historical poetics by A. Veselovsky, P. Ricoeur’s and W. Schmid works. Narratology is seen as a theory of forming, storing and transmitting the event experience of the presence of the human self in the world. In particular, the work deals with diegetic picture of the world, with the historical dynamics of the most important types of narrative intrigue, and with the ethos of narrative. The most important characteristics of narrative are integrated into the concept of narrative strategy of a particular discourse. The emergence, spread and coexistence of narrative strategies in the diachronic dimension of the culture of storytelling as a form of human communication is at the core of research interest in historical narratology.

Conditions (Predictor Variables): Theories Explaining Prosperity Differences (B), (C), (D), (E)

This chapter defines the conditions elements of the research model in this study (Fig. 10.1007/978-3-030-78498-0_2#Fig1). Therefore, Sects. 5.1–5.7 refer to some influential theories that have sought to explain differences in prosperity between countries from diverse disciplinary perspectives. Potential prosperity factors/theories can be clustered into three groups: (1) cultural and religious values; (2) institutions and economic growth; (3) environment and geography. Each of these distinct theories may contain “a grain of truth” about understanding prosperity imbalances between countries. Ideally, prosperity theories should be complementary instead of competing explanations. For example, geography and environmental theories explain how seasonal lands can provide a society and its economy better conditions to prosper. Institutional theory helps explain how institutions model social prosperity by perpetuating equality loops or by concentrating wealth. Cultural theory contributes to the understanding of the influence of cultural variables, such as religious beliefs and values, on prosperity. Yet, the relations among environment/geography, culture, institutions, and prosperity are highly complex and involve massive historical dynamics which would normally far exceed the scope of empirical research.

Frenchman, Jew, Positivist

This article investigates German-speaking scholarship’s reception of the programme of scientific sociology that Durkheim presented in The Rules of Sociological Method. It highlights intra-European historical dynamics and academic hierarchies. References to national, cultural, disciplinary and theoretical frames of reference are clearly discernible in the ways the Rules have been read and Durkheim has been mapped. First, his reception was embedded in a complex geometry of power between two nation states during a historical period of competitive nationalism. Second, it was affected by the way he was perceived within networks of academics who occupied unequal geo-cultural positions inside and across nation states. At times, the special location assigned to him as a Jewish intellectual played an important role. Third, his positioning as a positivist within the specific epistemological structuring of sociology is key to understanding how he was perceived east of the Rhine.

Classicising ‘Pindar’: Quotation, Canonisation and Early Reception

This essay examines the earliest quotations of Pindar in order to shed light on the social and historical dynamics through which he first emerged as a classic author. Pindaric quotations from the classical period point to his stratified and multi-faceted reception: as a figure within popular memory, as an emblem of elite culture and as an intellectual ancestor. Indeed, a capacity to appeal to different audiences for different but interconnected reasons was integral to his canonisation. The earliest Pindaric quotations already bespeak his culturally privileged status, which was expressed and perpetuated in different ways over the centuries but which was established as a social fact from remarkably early on. A search for the deepest roots of the classicisation of Pindar, it is argued, has to go all the way back to his poetry.

S.М. Solovyov’s Conception of the “Struggle between the Forest and the Steppe”: “For” and “Against”

Based on works by representatives of the Marxist and the Eurasian direction, the article considers arguments “for” and “against” S. M. Solovyov’s conception of the “struggle between the forest and the steppe” as an important part of his historiological and philosophical-historical doctrine. This essay shows that the main arguments against Solovyov’s conception are connected to the interpretations of historical facts corresponding to the theoretical positions of the Marxist and Eurasian paradigms of history. They include: the thesis about the class character of the Russian state and of the state enslavement of the population; that of the subordination of the course of a nation’s history to the action of universal historical laws; that of the decisive role of geographical and ethnic factors; that of the mutual influence of the “forest” and the “steppe” on the formation of the Eurasian state. To determine the balance of arguments “for” and “against” the conception of the “struggle between the forest and the steppe,” the author proposes to use the model of a structural and hierarchical history, where there are stable and dynamic levels in space and time. The essay concludes that the geohistorical fact of the division of the East European plain into forest and steppe belts, which makes it possible to theoretically explain the premises behind the conception of the “struggle between the forest and the steppe, raises no objections from any of the critics of such a struggle. At the same time, historical facts concerning the understanding of the nature of social integrity, on the level at which the struggle took place, lead to fundamentally different theoretical interpretations. Even more discrepancies are found concerning the causes of the changes that determine the historical dynamics. As the real course of history shows, in a changing and interconnected world, such causes can actually become a global conflict of cultures.

HISTORICAL PREFERENCES, MODERN TRENDS AND RUSSIAN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

This paper considers trends in the highly competitive sphere of international education in a historical dynamics and the importance of Russian language proficiency in professional education for foreign students.

Migrants, Refugees, and Displaced Persons in the Middle East and North Africa: An approach from the Global South.

This article aims to introduce aspects involved in studies on migratory dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In this sense, we present some historical dynamics for defining the territories of what is considered the MENA region, as well as highlighting the participation of these countries in the context of the migratory and humanitarian crises that have characterized the dynamics of mobility in and in the region. In such a context, we draw attention to the politicization of migratory phenomena and to the still sparse study and research initiatives that analyze the migratory dynamics of countries in the MENA region to the global south. Finally, the article introduces the discussions on migrations in the MENA region that are part of this dossier, inviting the reader to dialogue with different theoretical-methodological approaches on the migration phenomenon in that context.

Social framework of historical responsibility: in search of rational grounds for historical estimates

Автор статьи настаивает на необходимости определения оснований социальной ответственности, чтобы избежать апелляции к эмоциям и моральному дискурсу при оценке исторических событий. Показано, что идеи И. Канта не дают возможности разрешить проблему ответственности вне свободы и концептуализировать коллективную ответственность. Некоторые решения предложены Х. Арендт, осмысляющей политическую ответственность как коллективную. Структурный подход А.М. Янг позволяет перенести акцент на деперсонализацию в условиях большого числа посредников, последствия действий которых невозможно просчитать, и оценивать ответственность в категориях каузальности. Говоря о присвоении коллективной ответственности личностью и оценивая степень ответственности, необходимо учитывать уровень вовлеченности в структуру и качество выполняемых задач. In the proposed article, the author insists on the need to determine the grounds of social responsibility, since this will avoid appeals to emotions and moral discourse when evaluating historical events. At the first step, the author turns to the ideas of I. Kant, showing that the resources of his theory do not allow solving the problems of responsibility outside of freedom and conceptualizing collective responsibility. The author finds some solutions in X. Arendt, conceptualizing political responsibility as a collective one. A.M. Young's structural approach allows us to shift the focus to depersonalization in the conditions of a large number of intermediaries, the consequences of whose actions cannot be calculated, and to assess responsibility in the categories of causality. Thus, the author speaks about the assignment of collective responsibility by an individual; while assessing the degree of responsibility, it is necessary to take into account the level of involvement in the structure and quality of the tasks performed. This allows us to understand the role of historical dynamics actors without emotional and moral assessments.