Oriental Studies (Jul 2022)
Institutionalization of Academic Humanities Research in Bashkortostan, 20th to Early 21st Centuries: Stages, Participants, Results (Towards the 100th Anniversary of the Order of the Badge of Honor Institute of History, Language and Literature Ufa Federal Research Centre of the RAS)
Abstract
Introduction. At present, the history of domestic academic science and its individual institutions is of interest to many researchers, which is primarily due to the need to create relevant knowledge in Russia that meets modern challenges. Attempts to find (on the basis of experiences of the country’s scientific past) more suitable options for the development of fundamental science are quite understandable. Goals. The article aims to analyze the institutionalization of knowledge production in Bashkortostan and scientific activities of the Institute of History, Language and Literature (Ufa Federal Research Center of the RAS) over a century of its development in the framework of understanding the formation of Republic’s academic science and its main scientific results. Materials and methods. In addition to the available specialized literature, the work also relies on a variety of sources, such as legislative acts, records management documents, memoirs, etc. The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of primary sources to obtain generalized information on the history of the creation and development of a unique academic institution in one of the key regions of Russia which rightfully became a stronghold in the shaping of a unified scientific school of Bashkir studies. Results. The formation of national humanitarian thought in Bashkortostan has become a natural process of development of domestic and world science in modern times. The era of the scientific and technological revolution, widespread intensification of political and ideological competition, including that on the world ‘Olympus’ of knowledge, required the organization of a network of scientific institutions in ethnic regions of the country. Soviet leaders clearly understood the role of the humanities in spiritual and political enlightenment and education of the people — to invest heavily in their development. The state support gave rise to the 1922 establishment of the Academic Center under the People’s Commissariat for Public Education of the Bashkir ASSR that would later become — after a series of reorganizations — an authoritative comprehensive scientific institution. Its development was influenced by interconnected doctrinal, regional, all-Union / all-Russian modernization factors, as well as a system of interpersonal and intergenerational relations in the community of the Bashkir academic humanitarian intelligentsia. Conclusions. The history of the institutionalization of Bashkortostan’s professional humanities contributes to the understanding of dialectics, theoretical, methodological and ideological aspects of the development of scientific knowledge in Russia at large, the role and significance of efforts of outstanding scientists in the spiritual life, scientific and sociocultural development of society.
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