Socio-Cultural Anthropology of the Peoples of Asia and Africa in Discourse of Oriental Studies

Authors

  • Viktor V. Bocharov St. Petersburg State University, 7–9, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
  • Varuzhan G. Geghamyan Erevan State University, 1, ul. Alex Manoogian, Yerevan, 0025, Republic of Armenia
  • Nikolai N. Dyakov St. Petersburg State University, 7–9, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2021.301

Abstract

In this article, the research supervisor (Bocharov V. V) and consultant (Dyakov N. N.) of the new master’s program “Social and Cultural Anthropology of the Peoples of Asia and Africa”, which will be opened at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg State University in 2021, share the motives that prompted its creation. According to them, the goal of the program is to bring the study of “modernity” back into the fold of Oriental Studies, as a science of Eastern (Oriental) cultures. Moreover, scientific activity in this direction should contribute to the creation of a theory of the development of the East, since the accumulated material on the socio-political practices of modern states in the region indicates, on the one hand, the presence of obvious universals, and, on the other hand, they are significantly different from the Western processes that are identical in form. Otherwise, states (even those that have surpassed the West in many respects), are doomed to remain in the status of “underdeveloped”. The reason for this is the dominance of the evolutionary paradigm (“savagery — barbarism — civilization”), where “civilization” is the standard of society’s progressiveness, which has actually turned it into a kind of ideologeme. The development of such a new theory also has an important socio-political significance because the discourse of “underdevelopment” (sous-développement) in many respects gives rise to revolutionism (a characteristic of the East) under the slogans of overcoming it, which is always a threat to state collapse, chaos, and, in the end, humanitarian catastrophe. The anthropological approach is the basis of the international Russian-Armenian scientific project (SPbSU — PAARA — YSU), supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Committee on Science of the Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport. The member of the project V. G. Geghamyan who specializes in studying the political culture of Turkey, also shares his thoughts on the “program” and the role that its methodology plays in its successful implementation.

Keywords:

anthropology, scientific methodology, Oriental Studies, modernization, evolutionism, traditionalism

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Published

2021-10-08

How to Cite

Bocharov, V. V., Geghamyan, V. G., & Dyakov, N. N. (2021). Socio-Cultural Anthropology of the Peoples of Asia and Africa in Discourse of Oriental Studies. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 13(3), 312–330. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2021.301

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 3 (2021)

Section

Russia and Asia

License

Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.