Гуманитарный вектор (Dec 2019)
Topics of Dissertations on National History Defended at Tomsk State University in 2012–2017
Abstract
The article analyzes topics of dissertations on national history, defended at the dissertation council D 212.267.03 of Tomsk State University in 2012–2017. This period was marked by the reorganization of the dissertation councils network, and changes in the dissertation defense procedure which caused surge in quantity of defenses in 2013 and some decline in subsequent years. Based on the analysis of the texts of the extended abstracts of dissertations, the main directions of dissertations, the connection between the scientific interests of applicants with the scientific interests of their leaders, consultants and opponents, and the correlation with the current political situation are identified. As the main directions of dissertation research on national history are the history of transport and trade infrastructure, the history of industry, the history of health care and demography, the national question, the history of the social structure of pre-revolutionary Russia and peasant life, the political history and the adjacent history of the Civil War, and the history of education are considered. These directions are characterized as “classical” because they were formed in the Soviet period of the history of science, which makes them more preferable for applicants. It was concluded that the choice of dissertation topics was due to the scientific interests of members of dissertation councils around whom certain directions are structured. Thus, the dissertation council begins to act as an institution that determines the development of science. In this context, the vector of scientific research begins to be submitted by dissertations written outside the framework of the “classical directions”. The tendency towards the politicization of dissertations, the relevance of which the authors seek to substantiate by their applicability in political reality is also indicated. The role of the Tomsk University as a scientific and dissertation center is noted.
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