Українознавство (Jul 2020)
“We Will Never Be Brothers…”, or the Y-DNA Genealogy through the Prism of A. Klyosov’s “Scholarly Patriotism”
Abstract
A notable factor in the development of modern Y-DNA genealogy is the popularization activity conducted by Prof. A. Klyosov (USA, Russia), primarily in relation to his concept of “scholarly patriotism”, considered by the scientist not only as a means of objective knowledge of the Russian people’s past but also as an instrument of ideological influence, in particular, an important tool for counteracting modern Normanism and Russophobia. It is characteristic of A. Klyosov’s approach to present one of his leading ideological positions as the “Ukrainian question”, which is mainly interpreted in view of the concept of the “Russian world”, from the standpoints of the outright Ukrainophobia and imperialist chauvinism. Among the most notable “ideological markers” of the modern DNA genealogy in “Klyosov’s version” is the active promotion of the concepts of the “Russian plain” and the “Ancient Rus people” as elements for creating the contemporary “national myth” of modern Russia in terms of historical research. Also, there is a “fundamental conclusion” asserted in the modern DNA genealogy that the Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians possess common origin, i.e. a new version of the well-known idea of a “common cradle” of three fraternal peoples, pushed back for several thousand years. However, in both cases we are talking about ideologically conditioned concepts, equipped with the tools of excessive terminological liberalism and a certain substitution of concepts aimed at misleading the unprepared reader. The introduction of incorrect, biased, ideologically conditioned interpretations of the objective DNA genealogical data into scientific circulation might be considered the greatest information threat in the field of historical disciplines in the general context of using “hybrid” information technologies. The situation is complicated by the fact that the Ukrainian humanities are hardly represented by any experts in DNA genealogy, while this area is actively developed by the efforts of the Russian-language academic school. In the context of modern geopolitical realities, this causes a special and unwavering interest in the ideological “context” that accompanies the extensive promotion of the new DNA genealogical knowledge.
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