Panel on ‘Social anthropology, ethnology and ethnography’

On April 8-10, 2015, at Tomsk State University (Department of History), XI International youth research conference ‘Topical issues of history, international relations and document science’ was held. It is noteworthy that this year there was a shift, both quantitative and qualitative, in the conduct of this annual event. The number of researchers that partook reached over 240, all coming from different cities as well as from abroad. Also, for the first time the conference included such a wide range of various research, cultural and educational activities. An important part in the organization and the conduct of this forum was played by LSAR fellows headed by LSAR senior researcher Alexander Sorokin.

The conference opening ceremony was held at the plenary meeting. Here, among others, LSAR research fellows delivered their presentations, dedicated to the Great Patriotic War and the 70^th Victory Day Anniversary celebrated in Russia this year. Professor S.F. Fominykh told the audience of the Tomsk State University during the war and master student Egor Fedosov elaborated on national categories in Soviet propaganda posters of the war period.

Of particular interest to the LSAR team was the session themed ‘Social anthropology, ethnology and ethnography’ which turned out to be much broader in scope this year. Among experts who spoke here were Head of the Laboratory, Professor Irina V. Nam, Associate Professor Irina G. Popravko, as well as postgraduate student Albina A. Rasskazchikova. The session was moderated by master student Egor A. Fedosov. Acting as juries, they had to select best presentations upon completion of the session. In total, there were 15 presentations made by LSAR fellows and TSU students as well as by fellows from other universities who not only presented their research results but also, once again, proved the thematic and methodological diversity of anthropological research. In particular, some of the presentations dealt with ethnic issues (by A.V. Aydyn-Oolova, A.Yu. Borzova, S.D. Janyzakova, M.Yu. Karpov, P.A. Koshkaryova, O.Yu. Rozhnova, A.A. Sadyrin, E.S. Chernyakova), some – with religious ones (by D.M. Pershina, F.A. Smetanin), as well as with social issues (by E.O. Lukyanova, E.A. Petyakshina), gender (by A.S. Kuznetsova), and methodological issues (by A.I. Nadreeva, A.V. Tikhonova).

Following the over-four-hour work at the session, best presentations were chosen according to a number of pre-set criteria. The high quality of all the presentations made this choice pretty difficult to make. After a long discussion there were announced two best speakers:

Polina A. Koshkaryova (fourth year student of the Department of History, LSAR assistant) – for her research, titled ‘To be or not to be a Cossack: the Cossacks at the Seliger forum through the prism of Erving Goffman’s social dramaturgy’ (research advisor Irina G. Popravko) and Anton A. Sadyrin (third year student of the Department of History, LSAR assistant) – for his research themed ‘Migrant students from Kazakhstan: fact or fiction? The case of Tomsk’ (research advisor Professor Irina V. Nam).

Also awarded were:

Alexandra Yu. Borzova (master student of the Department of History, LSAR assistant) – for her study ‘Social and linguistic adaptation of migrant children (the case of the Tomsk School # 10’) (research advisor Professor Irina V.Nam) and Elena A. Petyakshina (master student of the Altai State Pedagogical University (Department of History)) for the study ‘On the professional adaptation of Russian military emigration in Xinjiang (1920-1926)’ (research advisor Professor V.A. Barmin.