moscow

INSTITUTE OF ORIENTAL STUDIES OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

January 30-February 2, 2007 by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the journal "History and Modernity" with the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Germany) in Istra in the framework of the XVI International Conference " Man and Nature. Problems of Socio-natural History " a scientific seminar was held to discuss the results of research in the field of socio-natural history in 2006 and determine the main focus of the annual international conference "Man and Nature" in September 2007.

Socio-natural history (SEI) has as its object the trinity "nature-economy-mentality", examines the relationship between man and nature in the past, present and future with a special emphasis on socio-ecological crises - mutually stimulating crises in nature and society. Modern contradictions and conflicts within society and in the interaction of society and nature, as a rule, have a historical genesis, often going back to the deep past, have an impact on the future, expand and deepen resonantly: conflicts within society contribute to the disruption of the ecological balance in nature, and the growth of biosphere instability provokes tension in society.

The first task of SEI is to identify the sources of crises and conflict - prone areas, and the second is to develop general recommendations for overcoming them. Research results are discussed annually and recorded in annual collections of articles and publications in the journal "History and Modernity". At the seminars leading up to the conference, some of the reports whose authors were unable to participate in the previous year's conference for some reason are heard, and the main focus of the current year's conference is determined.

The results of the research for 2006 are recorded in the collection of articles "Man and Nature: from the Past to the Future "(ser. Socioestvennaya istoriya, Vol. XXVII). M: IAC-Energiya. 256 p.) and the journal " History and Modernity "(IS). 2006. N 1, 2. They reflect the historical roots and current state of nature, the impact of natural phenomena on society, and the evolution of society on nature.

As a result of the discussions, the main focus for 2007 was defined and fixed in the title of both the 2007 collection of articles and the conference - "Man and Nature: Confrontation and Harmony". Most of the seminar reports corresponded to the same topic.

The seminar heard reports and discussed articles published in 2006 by authors who did not participate in the seminar. The reports of L. E. Grinin (Volgograd) and V. S. Golubev (Moscow) highlighted trends in cooperation, conflict prevention and resolution, and factors contributing to dialogue between civil society actors. In the report of L. E. Grinin "On the stages of the evolution of the state", it was noted that since the 60s of the XX century, very big changes began in all spheres of life, contributing to the harmonization of human relations. A new and extremely important phenomenon is the partial renunciation of sovereignty by many countries in determining their internal tax, customs, punitive and social policies, the right to wage wars, etc. due to voluntary membership in regional and international organizations, recognition of the priority of international law over national law. V. S. Golubev, speaking on the topic " Ergodynamics in three phases social and natural development", concluded that today there is a transition from the "material" to the socio-humanitarian phase of development. This is evidenced by many facts, in particular the statement of the priority of "human capital" (up to 80%) in the total country capital. Eco-development tends to become, over time, perhaps an integral part of the development process.-

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the process of socio-humanitarian development - as a person develops, moves towards full harmony with himself, other people and nature.

In the reports of leading researchers of IMEMO RAS V. V. Lapkin ("Global factors of socio-political development in the modern world") and V. I. Pantin ("Demographic aspects of globalization: some problems, contradictions, prospects") Emphasis was placed on factors that contribute to the growth of conflicts and tensions.

The report by A.V. Antipova, B. I. Kochurov (both Moscow), and S. K. Kostovskaya (Bulgaria)" Foreseeing environmental situations based on historical development forecasts " presented a number of specific political, socio-economic, and environmental recommendations to prevent negative trends from escalating into environmental and social crises.

A number of reports presented the results of new research carried out in 2006 under the theme "Man and Nature: confrontation and harmony". Some of the research results have been published in the form of articles and abstracts, while others are being prepared by scientists for publication. The reports of A. I. Kobzev (IB RAS) "Time as a philosophical category", A. P. Nazaretyan (IB RAS) "Cross - cultural index of social violence", V. F. Petrenko (MSU) "Man and Nature: ways of development-convergence or divergence", T. F. Stolyarova (Ryazan)caused a detailed discussion and heated discussion "Cultural phenomenon as a result of socio-natural interactions", A. Kh.Burganova (RSUH)" Globalization and Survival imperatives", E. S. Kulpin-Gubaidullin (IB RAS)"Stolypin's reform as an attempt to transfer the social unconscious of Russia to the European system of values". E. S. Kulpin-Gubaidullin's report showed the causal relationship between the peasant reform of the 1860s and the environmental crisis, social confrontation (especially during the revolution of 1905-1907). The question of how Stolypin's reforms contributed to solving the environmental crisis and social conflicts was also considered. The report of Sh.U. Mustafayev (Ukraine, Crimea) "Ethno-social problems of Crimea"was devoted to conflicts in modern Crimea.

The report of B. M. Vladimirsky (Ukraine, Crimea) considered the relationship between solar activity and the generation of brilliant people of the 1st millennium BC I. V. Zaitsev (Moscow) gave many facts collected and analyzed by him concerning the introduction of weak drugs into everyday life. Yu. S. Khudyakov (Novosibirsk) gave statistical data on the behavior of people during the first millennium BC. during natural disasters in North, Central and East Asia in the Middle Ages. D. N. Kavtaradze (MSU) demonstrated educational socio-ecological games created by him, which help to develop skills for solving conflicts between society and nature at the local level. E. S. Kulpin-Gubaidullin showed how the methods of the Club of Rome, created for analyzing models of the future, A. N. Meshcheryakov (Moscow), in his report "Post-war Japan: ethnological destruction of history" , made a study on how the change of the militaristic ideological paradigm of pre - war Japan ("many people-little land")can be used to reconstruct the events of the distant past, in particular the history of the evolution of the Golden Horde the transition to the peaceful post-war era led to the oblivion of history and its replacement in the public consciousness by ethnology.

For the SEI yearbook 2007, in addition to the reports presented earlier based on the results of the discussion of the seminar, the following articles are being completed on the topic "Man and Nature: confrontation and harmony": A. Kh. Burganova "Globalization and survival imperatives"; A. A. Burkhanova "Culture of the Volga Turks (based on the results of archaeological excavations)" (previously published abstracts); B. M. Vladimirsky "Axial time as an effect of space weather"; I. V. Zaitsev " The role of weak drugs in the formation of ethnic cultures (on the example of the Crimean Tatars)"; D. N. Kavtaradze " Urbanization of the biosphere and ecological cities (ecopolises)"; E. S. Kulpin-Gubaidullin " Methods of socio-natural analysis of nomadic society. Horde"; A. N. Meshcheryakova "Post-war Japan: ethnological destruction of history"; Sh. U. Mustafayeva "Ethnosocial problems of the Crimea"; Yu. S. Khudyakova "Natural disasters in North, Central and East Asia in the Middle Ages" (previously published theses).

At the end of the seminar, the participants expressed their gratitude to the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation for supporting the work of the scientific direction and decided to hold the XVII International Conference " Man and Nature. Problems of Socio-natural History" under the motto "Man and Nature: confrontation and harmony" in the second half of September this year.

E. S. KULPIN-GUBAIDULLIN

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On February 28, 2007, the Scientific Council of the Institute held a meeting dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the publishing house "Vostochnaya Literatura".

Opening the meeting, Director of the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences R. B. Rybakov noted that the Institute and the publishing house have always had strong ties since its foundation. The history of the publishing house and the history of Russian Oriental studies developed in the same direction - the course of creative and business relations, continuing the traditions of Oriental studies.

In his speech, V. M. Alpatov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Oriental Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, traced the activities of the publishing house from its birth to the present day, emphasizing the huge role of such a significant, large - scale personality as O. K. Dreyer, the first director of the Main Editorial Office of Oriental Literature, in its creation and further fruitful work.

Over 50 years of its existence, the publishing house has published over 8,000 titles in all branches of Oriental and African studies - history, ethnography, archeology, economics, philosophy, religion, mythology, literature, art, and linguistics. Thanks to the publishing house, many hundreds of the most valuable cultural and written monuments of Asia, Africa and Oceania were published.

Among the important phenomena in scientific and cultural life, V. M. Alpatov attributed such publications as "The Chinese classical Book of Changes" by Yu. K. Shchutsky, "Tangut Philology" by N. A. Nevsky, scientific translation of the Koran prepared by Academician I. Yu. Krachkovsky, encyclopedic dictionary "Islam", Large Chinese-Russian Dictionary (in 4 volumes), etc. Book series are unique in their meaning: "Written monuments of the East", "Culture of the peoples of the East", "Languages of the peoples of Asia and Africa", "Research on folklore and mythology of the East", "In the footsteps of the disappeared cultures of the East", etc.

Many books published by the publishing house have received various state and international prizes and awards.

Among the books published in recent years were the next volumes of the multi-volume "History of the East" published by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Chairman of the main editorial board-R. B. Rybakov), the consolidated volume of the encyclopedic dictionary "Islam in the territory of the former Russian Empire "(edited by S. M. Prozorov), the first volume "Philosophy" of the five-volume encyclopedia " Spiritual Culture of China"(chief editor - acad. M. L. Titarenko) and other publications.

Among the many achievements of O. K. Dreyer as a generator of ideas, original and bold initiatives, his ability to introduce many prominent scientists to the publishing house's circle of authors was noted. SL. Tikhvinsky told about how only thanks to the perseverance and persuasion of Oleg Konstantinovich he began preparing for the publication of his doctoral dissertation " The reform movement in China at the end of the XIX century and Kang Yu-wei", published in 1959.

O. K. Dreyer and the staff of the publishing house "Vostochnaya Literatura" undoubtedly contributed to such a major work as the Large Chinese-Russian Dictionary (in 4 volumes), which received the USSR State Prize in 1986. A. I. Kobzev spoke about the difficult birth of this giant publication - the first in Russian orientalism, which was prepared for 20 years by a team of scientists led by I. M. Oshanin. The work on the dictionary was complicated to a considerable extent by the then unavailability of hieroglyphics for typographic typesetting, which was filled up almost "manually" by the efforts of the publishing house itself and the IB of the USSR Academy of Sciences. A. I. Kobzev also spoke about the history of the "Chinese classic "Book of Changes" by Yu.K. Shchutsky. With the assistance of L. P. Delyusin and O. K. Dreyer, the full text of the book was reconstructed by A. I. Kobzev and published in 1993 with his comments and additions, having gone through four editions. A. I. Kobzev also noted that the publishing house's activities were appreciated at the XIII Beijing International Book Fair in 2006. cup on behalf of the Government of the People's Republic of China.

The following speakers included A. G. Belova, T. P. Grigorieva, and others from the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who shared their memories of working together with the editors of the publishing house, paying tribute to their professionalism and tact.

In conclusion, S. M. Anikeeva, director of the publishing house "Vostochnaya Literatura", said that, despite all the changes and difficulties of recent years, the publishing house, in creative collaboration with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, continues to produce academic literature that is so much in demand by the scientific community.

S. S. NIKIFOROVA

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INSTITUTE OF AFRICA, RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

On January 24, 2007, at the invitation of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, it was visited by a prominent Egyptian public and political figure, former UN Secretary-General Boutros-Boutros Ghali. After leaving this high international post, he did not stay away from the most important world events, becoming the head of the Egyptian Center for Human Rights. B.-B. Gali's interests include the state and prospects of the UN, development issues, international conflicts and other important world problems.

For obvious reasons, the issues of the present and future of the UN are particularly close to B.-B. Gali. He believes that the UN is currently going through hard times. One of its main functions, peacekeeping, is ineffective. Examples include the Great Lakes conflict in Africa and the humanitarian disaster in Rwanda. According to B. - B. Gali, both the structure of the organization and its strategy and tactics need to be changed, which have not changed enough since 1945, when the organization was created. The modern UN should meet the imperatives of the time, take a more active part in the settlement of inter-State conflicts, while paying special attention to their prevention and taking preventive measures to prevent them.

While agreeing with the need to reform the UN, B. - B. Gali rejects the possibility of replacing it with any other structure, even one as powerful as, for example, the G8, since only a world organization covering all countries can and should have a decisive influence on the course of world events.

B.-B. Gali also paid a lot of attention to the development of Africa and the causes of the long-term backwardness of the Black continent. He noted that colonialism had undoubtedly had a detrimental effect on African countries, but half a century had passed since the collapse of the colonial system, and the situation in many countries of Sub-Saharan Africa was almost not changing for the better. Why has Africa not been able to achieve the same progress as many countries in Asia and Latin America, and what needs to be done to finally get the Black continent out of its prolonged crisis in the twenty-first century?

To achieve this, many internal and external factors must be set in motion, one of which is closer interaction between African countries and the intensification of African integration. B. - B. Gali analyzed the history of its origin and development - from the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to its transformation (due to insufficient effectiveness) into the African Union. However, it is not only and not so much in changing the sign. Ghali insists on the need for more active influence of the African Union on developments in the region. At the same time, he calls on world public opinion to turn its face to Africa, to its many political and socio-economic problems.

B.-B. Ghali believes that external assistance is still one of the main factors of Africa's development. At the same time, he draws attention to the "change of players" on the "African field". Until recently, the main donors and trade and economic partners of African countries were the United States and Western Europe, but now Asian giants - China and India-are taking an increasing place on the African ranks. China has officially declared the African direction one of the priorities in its foreign policy. The share of China in the trade turnover of African countries is steadily growing. Chinese and Indian specialists and entrepreneurs work effectively in most African countries.

The former UN Secretary General raised the issue of the impact of globalization processes on Africa. Both before and during globalization, he noted, Africa remains a peripheral zone, a" fringe " of global development. Its backwardness is so significant that global integration, in which developed countries set the tone, tends to exacerbate its pariah state rather than contribute to its recovery.

B. - B. Ghali's speech caused a lively discussion. The Institute's staff expressed their opinions and asked questions about ways to reform the UN, the relationship between the role of the UN and the G8 in the world, potential areas of new conflicts, the role of education in the development of Africa, etc. Responding to a question about the impact of the events in Iraq, in particular the execution of Saddam Hussein, on the situation in the world, B.-B. Ghali noted that such actions, backed by the United States, violate international law and weaken the international justice system. There is the Hague Tribunal, the International Court of Justice in Rome, and it is they, and not the United States, who should decide on such issues. What happened in Iraq can, in the opinion of the former Secretary General

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The United Nations can only lead to strengthening the positions of radical Islamic fundamentalists and extremists.

Concluding the discussion, the Director of the Institute of Africa, Corresponding Member. A. M. Vasiliev emphasized the similarity of the topics studied by the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Egyptian Center for Human Rights, the similarity of their positions on many international issues, and expressed hope for fruitful cooperation between the two scientific organizations.

M. N. AMVROSOVA

NUSANTARA SOCIETY

On November 21, 2006, a scientific meeting was held in honor of the 75th anniversary of the famous Russian Indonesianist / Malaist, one of the founders of the "Malay-Indonesian Readings", an active member of the society and a member of its board N. F. Aliyeva. S. S. Zakharov, a fellow student of N. F. Aliyeva's at the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies, where she graduated in 1954 with a degree in "Regional studies in Indonesia", spoke about the hero of the day. This specialty, which seems strange and now does not exist in the WAKA register, nevertheless very accurately reflects the professional essence of the hero of the day as an expert not only in his narrow specialty - philology, but also in the country as a whole, its language, culture and history of the people. However, as S. S. Zakharov noted, N. F. Aliyeva's main scientific interest has always been in the field of Indonesian / Austronesian linguistics. She is now one of the most famous specialists in the Indonesian language, a world-renowned scholar, who has joined the cohort of those who make up the glory of Russian Oriental studies. Traditionally, the topic of the report at the anniversary sessions reflects the scientific interests of the hero of the day. This time A. S. Teselkin made a presentation on "Some features of the Jakarta dialect of the Indonesian language". The next (seventeenth) collection of articles from the series "Malay-Indonesian Studies" dedicated to the hero of the day was also presented at the meeting.

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On December 19, 2006, at the regular session of the "Malay-Indonesian Readings", Yu.K. Sirk, senior researcher of the Department of Languages of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, made a report on "Austronesians and Japanese". The speaker did not limit himself only to linguistic topics - although it dominated - the problem of ethnogenesis of two peoples was also touched upon in the light of recent scientific research in the field of anthropological genetics and cultural studies. In particular, he mentioned that Austronesians and Japanese shared a common DNA structure; paleolinguistics data suggest that some rice farming practices were adopted by the Japanese from Indonesian peoples, etc. After briefly highlighting the existing theories about the genetic connections of Japanese with other languages (Korean, Altaic, or Ugro-Altaic) and about the hybrid (combining continental and Austronesian components) origin of the Japanese language, the speaker focused in more detail on the connections of Japanese with Austronesian (or more broadly - with Austric) languages. Based on the analysis of available publications on this topic and based on their own data on lexical correspondences (ancient)Despite the fact that there is no direct connection between Japanese and some Indonesian languages, Y. H. Sirk concluded that it is premature to see a genetic relationship between them, despite the opinions of some reputable scientists. According to the speaker, we can only speak with confidence about the presence of lexical borrowings.

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On February 15, 2007, a presentation of the newly published "Textbook of the Malay (Malaysian) language "was held (authors T. V. Dorofeeva, E. S. Kukushkina; Moscow: Publishing House "Academy of Humanitarian Studies", 2006, 384 p.). Representatives of three embassies from the Malay world - Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei-were invited to the presentation. In his welcoming speech, the director of the ISAA at Moscow State University, M. S. Meyer, noted that the publication of this textbook is in the anniversary year for Malaysia (in August it will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its independence).

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very symbolic. Thanks to him, it is possible to nurture new generations of specialists in Malaysian studies and join the ranks of those who are already successfully working in the scientific and practical field in our country. Advisor to the Embassy of Malaysia in the Russian Federation Mhd. Congratulating M. S. Meyer and the authors on the publication of the textbook, Alias Yahya stressed that today, when relations between Malaysia and Russia are rapidly developing and diversifying, specialists with knowledge of the Malaysian language who can raise relations between the two countries to a new level are in high demand.

T. V. Dorofeeva introduced the audience to the complex linguistic and terminological situation around the concept of "Malay", sharing the opinion of Malaysian linguist Asmahadji Omar on this issue. In her opinion, the national varieties of Malay, which is the official language in four countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, where it was named Indonesian, Singapore and Brunei), obviously acquire the status of different languages, while Malaysian (along with Singapore's Malay) and Indonesian represent the extreme poles, while standard Malay Brunei occupies the position of a separate language. intermediate location. Differences between languages, which are observed in pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary, and partly in morphology, syntactic constructions, and sentence structure, only complicate but do not exclude mutual understanding. Nevertheless, it is becoming necessary to clarify the concept of "Malay" in terms of its "national" dress, as well as separate study of these languages. Then the speaker briefly told the audience about the history of teaching the Malaysian language in Russia, which dates back to 1972. During the evening, students demonstrated excellent knowledge of the Malaysian language. Two made brief presentations: T. Magerovskaya (ISAA) - " The modern world on the threshold of neocolonialism: are we able to resist it?"; O. Vasilevskaya (Institute of Practical Oriental Studies) "The Malay language as a means of integration in the international arena". IPV student N. Lyashuk read a poem.

In conclusion, the head of the Department of Philology of Southeast Asia, Korea and Mongolia V. V. Remarchuk made a speech. Then the audience enjoyed Malay songs and dances performed by Russian and Malaysian students.

T. V. DOROFEEVA

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