The session on social anthropology, ethnology and ethnography

On 14-16 April, 2016, National Research Tomsk State University, the Department of History conducted XII International academic and applied research conference for undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students and early career researchers, titled ‘Topical issues of history, international relations and document science’. Dating from the Soviet past and spanning generations, this conference has already become a tradition of our university. It has increasingly been a pole of attraction for students, and so in 2016, 250 young researchers from 28 cities across Russia and from abroad chose this platform to present their research results.

Conference participants discussed a variety of topics and questions, from the ones going back to ancient times to some most pressing issues of our day. The conference was not just about celebrating science, though. Its format has been developed so as to allow for an extensive informal programme to let the participants explore and get the feel of the city and its oldest university. Worth stressing is the contribution that young research fellows from the Laboratory for Social and Anthropological Research made to the conduct of the conference and other events within its framework. Co-chair of the conference organizing committee, LSAR junior research fellow Albina Rasskazchikova coordinated organizers’ efforts.

The conference was started off by a plenary session featuring, among other speakers, LSAR fellows. A welcome address by Dean of the Department of History, Professor Vasiliy P. Zinovyev was followed by other representatives of the Department’s presentations – LSAR research fellow Elena Karageorgii gave a presentation on the Laboratory for Social and Anthropological Research and its activities, and professor Larisa V. Deriglazova presented the TSU Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence which is a LSAR partner. Professor Sergey F. Fominykh gave a talk on the history of the Tomsk State University starting from its foundation to the present. Postgraduate student Egor Fedosov, in his presentation, showed the specificities of East-European propaganda posters as they were during the period of formation of the socialist bloc. During their talk, young archaeologists Mikhail Vavulin and Andrey Pushkaryov – research fellows of the Laboratory ‘Artifact’ and LSAR – acquainted the conference participants with technologies of museumification of the remains of historical ships.

LSAR fellows participated in the conference in different ways – as session chairs, moderators, experts, and speakers. Of particular interest to them, undoubtedly, was the session on ‘Social anthropology, ethnology and ethnography’. It was chaired by Head of LSAR, professor Irina V. Nam and moderated by 4^th year student Yekaterina Lukyanova. Among the participants, along with LSAR fellows and TSU students of history, there were also representatives from other universities: Tomsk Polytechnic University, Novosibirsk State University, and Irkutsk State University.

14 presentations were delivered in total, and the variety of topics they dealt with once again clearly showed the multifacetedness of anthropology as a field of research. Presentations on ethnic aspects were given by S.A. Artsemovich, E.O. Lukyanova, V.P. Syomkina, D.E. Selivanova, M.A. Osintseva, and E.S. Chernyakova; on issues of adaptation of both migrants – by A.Yu. Borzova, D.S. Panteleev – and, more broadly, people in the context of globalization – by E.V. Nikitina; mechanisms of mimesis in fashion were the focus of a talk by O.V. Makienko; E.E. Konysheva elaborated on personality classification in psychology; Vietnamese student Nguyen Thi Hong Bach Lien shared her view of Siberian traditional culture; V.V. Solovyov told about such an urban phenomenon as a Tomsk community of football fans; and the phenomenon of ‘Chinese’ markets in the urban space of Irkutsk was presented by D.E. Bryazgina.

Upon completion of the four-hour session, best presentations were chosen according to a number of pre-set criteria. It was no easy choice for the jury. All the participants managed to build their argument and their presentations had both pluses and minuses. It is worth noting that the quality of presentations has risen as the participants carefully approached the choice of their topics and ‘fields’ and that had a positive impact on the research results. Therefore, after a lengthy discussion, two winners were announced:

Bryazgina Diana Evgenievna (3^rd year student at the Department of History, Irkutsk State University), her presentation titled ‘The role of ‘Chinese’ markets in urban transformations: the case of Irkutsk’ (research adviser – Doctor of Sociology, ISU associate professor K.V. Grigorichev) and Nikitina Evgeniya Vitalievna (master student at the TSU Department of History), her presentation titled ‘Cultural adaptation of modern man’ (research adviser – Candidate of History, TSU associate professor I.G. Popravko).

Other participants awarded:

Makienko Olga Vadimovna (2^nd year student at the TSU Department of History), presentation titled ‘Fashion through the lens of social sciences: rethinking the mechanism of mimesis’ (research adviser – Candidate of History, TSU associate professor I.G. Popravko)

Lukyanova Yekaterina Olegovna (4^th year student at the TSU Department of History), presentation titled ‘Real-Virtual: ethno-cultural organizations in social media: the case of Korean Youth Centre ‘Anyong’’ (research adviser, Doctor of History, TSU professor I.V. Nam)

Solovyov Valentin Vladimirovich (2^nd year student at the TSU Department of History), presentation titled ‘Football fans communities in the context of regional identity formation’ (research adviser, Doctor of History, TSU professor V.V. Shevtsov)

Chernyakova Elena Sergeenva (3^rd year student at the TSU Department of History), presentation titled ‘Markers of ‘Jewishness’ in the city of Tomsk from 1990 to the early 2000s’ (research adviser, Doctor of History, TSU professor I.V. Nam)

Panteleev Dmitriy Sergeevich (1^st year student at the TSU Department of History), presentation titled ‘Food-court: a place for communication or a space for integration of migrant students? The case of Shopping and Entertainment Centre ‘Izumrudnyy Gorod’, Tomsk’ (research adviser, Doctor of History, TSU professor I.V. Nam).