History magazine - researches - rubric THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF HISTORY RESEARCH

Abstract: The research subject of this article is the ideological, theoretical and methodological views of S. I. Arkhangelsky, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, during the early period of his scientific work (the beginning of the 20th century to the middle of the 1920s.). In order to obtain objective results from the research, the author founded the study on the materials from the scholar's personal archival funds (the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Central Archive of the Nizhnegorskaya Oblast, the Conservation Center of Documents up to 1917 and the Science Museum of Nizhni Novgorod State University). The author identified the main topics that interested the scholar in the early period of his work, including the genesis of capitalism and social history. The article's leading research method is the biographical method. The indicated research topic is considered through the prism of the scientific biography of S. I. Arkhangelsky. For the first time in historiography, Arkhangelsky's plan for a monograph on the history of the development of capitalism is introduced into scientific circulation. The author establishes that the origin of the scholar’s interest in social history should be associated with his professional formation under the conditions of the general transition from the study of the state to the study of social history, which began in the middle of the 19th century. These trends joined the aims and objectives of local history studies in the 1920s. The author attests S. I. Arkhangelsky's understanding of the continuity and unity of development between academic science and historical local history. From the general trends of recreating the social history of mankind, which received a new impetus for development under the influence of the revolutionary transformations at the beginning of the 20th century, S. I. Arkhangelsky began to study the social history of the Nizhny Novgorod region (the history of the peasantry, the history of the industrial proletariat) and the social history of England.

Keywords: Stepan Vasilievich Eshevsky, commercial capital, genesis of capitalism, intellectual biography, Diocletian's Edict, historiography, social history, Sergey Ivanovich Arhangelsky, capitalism, local method

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2013.3.9056

Abstract: The hieroglyphic inscription of the classical period on the Mayan Monument 6 of the settlement of El Tortuguero (Mexico) contains the date corresponding to the year 2012, which have led to the appearance of the so-called “phenomenon of 2012” in the last decade. Reading ancient texts requires a special approach, the basis for which has been developed by the decoder of Maya letters V. Knorozov. Reading a hieroglyphic text on the monument 6 with relation to other textual sources allowed to determine that the so-called “prophecy” is nothing more than a designation of the position of the Mars in its synodic (unlike sidereal) period at the time of the date 13.0.0.0.0 in the calendar entry of the Maya.

Keywords: “The phenomenon of 2012”, the El Tortuguero site, Mesoamerica, the Maya civilization, the Maya hieroglyphic writing, the texts of the Maya, codes of the Maya, calendar, astronims, ancient astronomy, Mars, mythology, world model, the ancient scientific knowledge, ethno-semiotic, the methodology of ancient texts reading.

Abstract: the article presents an analysis of the ideas of great modern Russian scientist-humanist professor Igor Yakovenko. It examines the views of the author on the problem of repression as one of the basic problems of understanding the national and world history. Yakovenko draws attention to the strengthening of the repressive and neoarchaistic trends in the current world of “ post-modernization” — the tendencies that are in flagrant contradiction with the objective increases of the personalistic and creative aspects of the modern human society

Keywords: Russia, the philosophy of history, repressions, protest, state, anarchy, criminals, post-modernization, the principle of correlation.

Abstract: the article deals with basic ideas about the historical document and its’ transformation from the beginning of XIX century to the present.

Keywords: history, theory, source, certificate, text, methodology, Ranke, Michel Foucault, positivism, post-structuralism.

Abstract: the article analyses the cultural component in the structure of historical knowledge, its growth during the two cultural turnings: in early XX century, brought up by the crisis of the linear model of history, and in the last decades of XX century, associated with the formation of a new cultural history. Author shows the different role of the explication of cultural/co-existential context in research-oriented and socially-oriented history: in the science-oriented history the ability to place the phenomenon under study into the cultural space is an indispensable component of professionalism, while the socially-oriented modern history does not imply correct explication of cultural contexts.

Keywords: cultural turn, the new cultural history, source study, the concept of the methodology of history, cultural coexistential space, the cultural component of historical knowledge, socially-oriented history, science-oriented history.

Abstract: the article proposes a new answer to the traditional question of the nature of the relationships in the pair «the historian — the source». Using the work of Emile Durkheim, the author poses the problem of dual socialization of the historian: in the «world of sources» and in the «world of people». The article offers its own classification of types of historians, describing the structure of the professional community and the rules of the game in it.

Keywords: history, socialization, Emile Durkheim, A. Schyuts, community, M. Weber, world of sources, types of historians, classification, methodology.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2018.3.26234

Abstract: This article examines the specific features of historical sciences as a topic concerning the interrelation of logical knowledge and intuitive knowledge. The author analyzes various types of convergences of historical and natural science knowledge within the framework of synergetics. The article sets the goal to demonstrate the limits of the applicability of synergetics in historical research. The historical methods applied to this examination include the study of hermeneutics, the reconstruction of motivational, semantic, axiological and aim-orienting factors of self-realization of the person of the past. The author notes the role of Postmodernism in the substantiation of the historical sciences. The author refers to her own personal research practice and illustrates the features of historical transdisciplinarity with examples from Byzantine history. The author focuses her attention to the specific features of historical sciences linked to the role of the narrative and historical events. Additionally, the author considers the limited role in historiography of modern scientific Constructivism. The author furthermore studies the difference between the role of induction in historical and natural sciences. Contrary to the well-known fact that induction in natural sciences does not lead to general conclusions, the author tries to show the significance of induction in historical studies, limited chronotopes of the past. The author examines the differences between the concepts of a long and short historical time and considers the concept of "kairos" used in the framework of ancient and Byzantine cultures. Finally, the author gives a characterization of the role of the concept of "kairos" in modern scientific practices. In the conclusion of the article, the author tries to determine the place of historical sciences in the system of modern scientific knowledge.

Keywords: short historical time, kairos, long historical time, constructivism, historical narrative, transdisciplinarity, synergetic, induction, postmodernism, intuitive knowledge

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2017.2.22111

Abstract: The article examines the basic concepts of the modernization development types proposed by Russian scientists. The revealed reasons for the Russian historians’ heightened interest in the question of modernization typology is tied to the necessity of changing the leading scientific methodology after the dissolution of the USSR and the elaboration of a political development strategy for the Russian Federation at the beginning of the 21st century. The author notes that most Russian studies propose a dichotomy of typology in the modernization processes: organic and overhauling modernizations. The author then gives a description of each of these types, taking into account the peculiarities of the basic points of view regarding the stated topic. At the base of the research methodology of this work lies the classical interpretation of the concept of modernization (the transition from traditional society to the modern one) as a more acceptable one for historical analysis. The author comes to the conclusion that the main criteria for differentiating the organic and overhauling modernizations are the internal/external impulses and synchronic/asynchronic processes in various spheres of public life. The author presents his own view on the classical and overhauling types of modernization, which is based on the complex approach to scientific research. This allows to identify the particularities of the indicated types through the following criteria: nature, original sphere of social activity, leading actors, mechanisms and rates of development.

Keywords: methodology, typology, organic modernization, overhaul modernization, internal impulse, process synchronization, inorganic, complex approach, development mechanism, development rates

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2020.2.32522

Abstract: The article focuses on the study of the particular features in understanding the relationship between general and specific manifestations of reality in historical research. The author describes historical civilizations as the unity of social, cultural, political and economic manifestations in societies. The author also examines the role of emergentism and mental causality in the understanding of global social phenomena and gives particular attention to the local-temporal changes in civilizations. The author analyzes the differences in understanding a historical event within the framework of modern philosophy and historical sciences. According to the philosophy of Heidegger and Deleuze, only large-scale phenomena that transcend the boundaries of daily life can be called “events”. An occurrence in everyday life should not be called an event. Taking into account the close ties among major historical events and happenings in daily life, and based on the role of specifics in the modern post-non-classical historical paradigm, the author proposes that the social phenomena of everyday life should also be considered in historical studies as events. The author also discusses the analysis of linguistic methods in historiography and the role of induction in historical research. The text focuses on the particularities of using mathematical methods in the historical analysis of the distant past and highlights historical transdisciplinarity. Finally, the author considers the role of the modern post-non-classical scientific paradigm and the role of synergy in historical research, The findings are illustrated using examples from Byzantine history.

Keywords: transdisciplinarity, induction, emergentism, everyday, Deleuze, Heidegger, event, mental causation, civilization, mathematical methods

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2017.3.21919

Abstract: This article is an overview of the research methodologies used in the study of networks with consideration of the recently opened wide possibilities for its effective application for a more wide-ranging comprehensive study of historical facts. The study of networks in historical sciences could help to deepen our understanding of the formation and development mechanisms of various social groups and structures in historical perspective. Their functioning is mainly conditioned by the relationships characteristics between the elements, which are determined by the interactions in the exchange of information and resources, and social capital. The professional use of the analytical apparatus and visualization tools in the study of networks allows a scientist to more clearly and in greater detail understand the essence of a complex historical phenomenon and to present the results with clear evidence. The article examines the general methodology of social network analysis (SNA) and offers examples of its application in various fields of modern historical studies. Today, the study of networks gained significant popularity among specialists in various scientific and industrial spheres around the world. The relevance of network studies in history will increase, as the effectiveness of its methods is already confirmed in many areas of historical knowledge: economic history, archeology, genealogical studies, numismatics, sigillography, art history, linguistics, etc. But despite the growing interest of scientists, the material for the application of the methods of network studies in historical sciences, published in Russian, are extremely few. This article aims to fill this gap.

Keywords: study of networks, historical research methods, historical sciences, historical research tools, scientific methodology, complex networks, science of complexity, social network analysis, historical network science, historical networks

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2017.3.22319

Abstract: The subject of this study is the main component in the system of the scientific and reference apparatus of archives (secondary document information) - archival inventories and its containing archival descriptions of storage units. Archival inventories and archival descriptions are analyzed from the point of view of how the results of archival search (archival heuristics) conducted on their basis is representative of the body of information, in order to form a source base for specific historical studies. The author poses and consequently answers the three key questions of archival heuristics: are archival inventories uniform throughout their entire existence? What is the subject of the archival description? And what were the methods of creating the archival descriptions of the different types of storage units? The answers to these questions are key in determining the degree of "reliability" of the scientific and reference apparatus of the archives and the possibility of using it for archival search. This study used the following methods of research: historical-systematic, historical-genetic, comparative-historical, historical-typological, historical-descriptive.The main findings of the study are:- the establishment of the fact of the existence of various types and kinds of documentation (more than 200) used in the archival practice for archival inventories;- the establishment of the fact of the lack of uniformity in the view of an object's archival description;- the identification of the inadequacy of the methods for creating archival descriptions for the described objects and the purposes of using the created descriptions in research practice within the framework of archival heuristics.

Keywords: secondary archival documentation, archival inventory, archival description, storage unit, description object, description methods, archival heuristics, historical sciences, source study, archives

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2023.4.40985

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to analyze the implentation possibilities of classical theories of nationalism to analysis of the Iranian nationalism history. The author analyzes the ideal models of Ruritania and Magalomania as imagining nationalizing and modernizing societies proposed by Ernest Gellner. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of the features and contradictions of the development of the historical forms of Iranian nationalism in contexts of the ideal models proposed in modernist historiography. It is assumed that the nationalist modernization of the Qajars and Pahlavi in Iranian historiography is perceived through the prism of a constructivist approach. The article analyzes 1) the problems of the inability of nationalism to become the dominant and determining political force that constructs the main features of the development of society and the state in Iran, 2) the features of the development and transformation of the traditions of political and ethnic nationalism, 3) the role of the ruling Qajar and Pahlavi dynasties in implentation of various strategies of nationalist modernization. The article also shows the potential of a comparative analysis of various historical forms of Iranian nationalisms in contexts of a constructivist approach. The results of the study suggest that 1) the causes and forms of the crisis of the nationalist project in Iran can be described and analyzed adequately with use of Ruritania and Megalomania concepts as ideal types of nationalism development, formulated by Ernest Gellner in contexts of social and cultural histories as confrontations between the political principles of the nation and religious principles and ideals of the Ummah; 2) Iranian modern system emerged as an attempt to institutionalize a compromise between a civilized modernized Megalomania and traditional Shia Ruritania, which led to a combination of political nationalism with an internationally declared recognition of the primacy of Shiism.

Keywords: historical imagination, ideal models, modernization, Ernest Gellner, nationalism, Pahlavi, Qajars, Iran, Ruritania, Megalomania

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2019.6.30981

Abstract: The focus of this article is the author's analysis of the autobiographical material and journalistic work of the prominent Russian writer A. I. Kuprin, written by him during the years of his emigration to Finland (1919-1921), as a resource for reconstructing the identity of the “Russian refugee” through the images of Russian and European sociocultural spaces that he penned as "own" and "alien" / "other". The article describes the historiographic discourse of the trend to converge history and literature, and of the “linguistic turn” in the context of the development of modern source studies of Russian history. The author proposes methods for analyzing fictionalized memoir texts, ego-sources, with the aim of enriching the traditionally dominant procedure for studying the history of text creation and in order to provide a more meaningful analysis. The author's special contribution to the study of this topic is the article's use of special methods for studying the language of text sources, which have allowed to reveal the meanings of key concepts and ideas that were important for their creators and the introduction of a number of significant concepts into the historical discourse, among which are the concepts of historical memory and identity.

Keywords: history of concepts, socio-cultural space, source study, cultural identity, fiction-memoirs, Kuprin Alexandr, ego-sources, linguistic turn, russian literature abroad, memoirs

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2013.3.62981

Abstract: The paper considers important and changing ideas about the qualitative characteristics of various periods of time and of the transitions between them. Soon after the Second World War a new social science theory emerged in the United States. It gained a hegemonic position in Western social thinking for the following decades until at least the 1970s. And some of its basic assumptions proved even more enduring. Here I try to assess the meaning of modernization theory on how we think of historical time. Historical time is a difficult concept (as are all concepts of time), because it is used implicitly. For me it means collective ideas about time that differ from physical time and calendar time. Often we discuss notions of historical time as periodization and use quite abstract labels for long periods of time (e.g. Middle Ages, the Renaissance, Modern Times). In addition, we have important and changing ideas about the qualitative characteristics of various periods of time and of the transitions between them

Keywords: Modernization theory, historical time, modern society, industrialization, World-Economy.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2013.5.9811

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2013.5.63453

Abstract: This article provides an overview of the current state and prospects for the development of information support of historical science, that is, an activity for search, collection, processing, accumulation and preservation, distribution and use of representative and reliable information necessary to solve research problems in the field of history, as well as providing users with the structured and systematic information, including thematic scientific and educational resources. The development of information support of historical science assumes a sufficient level of scientific communication and cooperation between curators, producers and consumers of scientific information, the targeted actualization of information capabilities of historical sources (including collections of archives, museums, libraries). The level of the professional culture of the historian in the modern era is directly related to information support of historical science. The analysis of information support of historical science through information technology, the study of how the professional community assesses the level of satisfaction of their information needs, can be one of the most effective tools to improve the quality of information resources and services that will help the professional community to develop effective strategies for improving the repositories of information, finding aids, intelligent information retrieval systems, means of representation and transmission of historical knowledge.

Keywords: history, historiography, source study, historical information science, cognitive approach, self-reflection, information support, information approach, information resources, information technology.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2015.5.17280

Abstract: The existing in historical sciences evolutionary models of historical processes cannot find space within themselves for historical chance, which manifests itself as the activity of a particular person or group, or as a singular fact seemingly uninfluenced by anything. This article substantiates the possibility of applying the methodology of synergetics to the study of events that at first appear accidental, but that had a decisive influence on the course of historical processes. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the heuristic possibilities provided by the use of synergetics in the study of separate historical events. Particular attention is given to the question of how the use of synergetics helps to find the causal place in the general historical scheme of separate, seemingly random events-fluctuations that have significant influence on the course of the historical process overall. The source base for this article consists of the works of Russian and foreign scholars on the subject. The research’s methodological base comprises the comparative historical method and the approach of synergetics. The author addresses the question of which heuristic capacities are provided by the synergetics of history. The author comes to the conclusion that it finds the place of the most difficult problem – that of chance. Thus, it is demonstrated how and under which circumstances seemingly insignificant events, new controversial ideas, and persons deviating from norms suddenly come to define the consequent course of history. Synergetics with the aid of its proper methodological instruments and categorical apparatus outlines the logic of events, showing how the growth of entropy, system deviation, disintegration, the rise of autonomous elements lead to a point of bifurcation where the smallest fluctuation that appears accidental can bring about its break-down. What the new system order will be depends on the structures-attractors that form in the environment of the development of the self-organisational processes.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2015.5.67347

Keywords: entropy, attractor, fluctuation, bifurcation, determinism, nonlinearity, historical chance, synergetics, alternativeness, role of individual

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2014.6.14557

Abstract: The article examines the phenomenon of amateur photography at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century based on the example of N. M. Shchapov (1881–1960) and his work. The author puts forward the idea that amateur photography showcases very clearly the interrelations between the author of a photograph, the image made and the audience for which it was intended. The situation of “close vicinity” of the three named components provides grounds for the study of the phenomenon of amateur photography as a special practice that helped shape and support social connections within and outside a family group, and also constructed “collective family imagination” pertaining to the past. A photograph illustrates how the “personal chronology” of family members was formed and how the periodisation of family history was composed. The studied example of Shchapov’s work permits as well to demonstrate the details of how amateur photography transformed into photography with a familial status. As the study methodology the author applied the microhistorical approach. This approach allows to narrow the study scope and to examine a specific unique occurrence that reflects the more global social processes. Microhistorical studies assume minuteness and attention to details. Having analysed the details, the researcher can assess how one or another individual related himself to his wider community and how he interpreted his ties with it (the familial circle is the first of such communities). The novelty of this research consists in using for the first time the study of an individual’s amateur photography practice as the basis for the elucidation of temporal conceptions and social structures, unseen from the outside but which defined the relationship between the individual and his surroundings. The phenomenon of “family history” is analysed as the personal experience of the author of the amateur familial-genealogical reconstruction.

Keywords: temporal ideas, identity, microhistory, amateur photography, family photograph, social practices, retrospective imagination, memory, family history, archive

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2014.6.66352