CENTER OF HISTORY AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

INSTITUTE FOR AFRICAN STUDIES
RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The Center consists of two Departments: the Department of History and the Department of Cultural Anthropology. At present there are 13 researchers in the Center 8 of which are the Ph.D. and 2 both Ph.D. and the highest - D.Sc. degrees holders, including 2 Full Professors. At the moment there are also 10 graduate students doing Ph.D. research under the Center members' supervision. Besides that, a major part of the Center employees combine academic work with teaching at different universities, including the Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Russian State University for the Humanities.

The Center Activities’ Conception:
The basic principles of the Center’s activities can be summarized as follows:
- insertion of African history and culture into a wide theoretical and cultural-historical context that presupposes their study in connection with the historical and cultural development of other areas and the humanity as a whole;
- inclusion of as wide range of historical and anthropological problematics as possible at observing a balance between traditional themes and those which have become actual recently;
- seeking a synthesis of national and international traditions in the spheres of theory and method;
- studying historical, social, political, ethnic, and other problems within general cultural context of respective societies and culture areas;
- strengthening integration between cultural anthropology and history, as well as between them and political science, sociology, and other disciplines;
- uniting the Center employees on the basis of both devotion to scholarship and community of professional interests, on the one hand, and friendly interpersonal relations, on the other hand; promoting full realization of each Center member's creative potential;
- openness to cooperation with Russian and international colleagues.

The Center’s Principal Fields of Research :

The following fields of research are the principal for the Center:
- history of Africa from ancient times to the present;
- history and contemporary state of the Russian-African relations;
- traditional and contemporary African cultures;
- intercultural interaction in Africa from ancient times to the present;
- theory of socio-cultural and socio-political processes from ancient times to the present;
- non-Western cultures and globalization: The anthropological aspects;
- ethno- and Socio-cultural processes in contemporary Africa and the world;
- migrations; non-African diasporas in Africa and African diasporas in the world;
- religions and religious interaction in contemporary Africa and the world;
- ethno-cultural and religious tolerance and xenophobia;
- political culture, psychology, and mythology;
- gender studies.
For the academic interests of particular researchers please see the “Researchers” section.

The Center’s Academic Activities:
At present the Center is realizing a number of collective research projects, particularly “Civilizational Models of Politogenesis”, “Regular International Conference ‘Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations’” (in co-operation with the Russian State University for the Humanities), “Complex Expedition to Africa”. Besides the Center members, colleagues from a number of Russian research centers and from France, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Slovenia, the UK, the USA and other countries participate in them.
Within the framework of the first project, the Alternatives of Social Evolution, Civilizational Models of Politogenesis, Nomadic Pathways in Social Evolution (in English and Russian), Sacralization of Power in the History of Civilizations, The Ruler and the Subjects: The Socio-Cultural Norm and Restrictions on Autocracy (in Russian) collective monographs have been published. (See also the “Publications on-line” section)
Within the framework of the second project, four International Conferences “Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations” were held in Moscow in 2000, 2004, 2006 and in St. Petersburg in 2002. In total, over 400 scholars from 50 countries took part in these events. Not only books of abstracts but also selected papers were published (see, e.g.: Third International Conference “Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations”. June 18-21 2004, Moscow. Selected Papers. Vols. I-II. Moscow: Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies Press, 2007; Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference. Moscow, June 2006. Vols. I-III. Moscow: URSS, 2008). The fifth Conference will take place in Moscow in June 2009. (For more detail, refer to the “Conferences” section).
By present, the Complex Expedition in Africa has worked for five field seasons. In Tanzania in 2003, 2005, 2007, Nigeria in 2006 and Benin in 2008 research into the interreligious, intercultural and interethnic relations in these countries, as well as into the image of Russia in Africa, was done. Besides a significant number of articles in different editions, the results of the Expedition’s work are presented in two collections (both in Russian): Muslims and Christians in Contemporary Tanzania Publications of the Russian Expedition Participants (Moscow, 2005) and Interracial and Interethnic Relations in Contemporary Tanzania. Publications of the Russian Complex Expedition in the United Republic of Tanzania (The 2005 Field Season) (Moscow, 2008). (For more detail, visit the “Expeditions” section).
The Center members also work on a number of projects, in particular, those dealing with the study of migrations and diasporas, ethno-cultural and religious tolerance / xenophobia) in Africa, Russia, and worldwide. Some of these projects are supported by research foundations.
The Center holds the “Society and Culture” Seminar, the sessions of which take place once a month. (For the schedule, see the “Seminars” section).
The Center researchers have repeatedly delivered academic and teaching lectures abroad (in Angola, Egypt, France, Germany, Lebanon, Morocco, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland, Tanzania, the USA), have participated successfully in international conferences (held in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, Ukraine, the USA), have been visiting scholars and exchange students at universities of France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, the USA. The Center researchers are members of such international professional associations as American Anthropological Association, African Studies Association, International Economic History Congress, Societe des Africanistes, European Association of Social Anthropologists and others. Their articles have been published in top international and Russian journals, such as Annual Reviews in Anthropology, Anthropos, Cross-Cultural Research, Ethnology, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Journal of Field Archaeology, Rossija v globalnoj politike, Vostok / Oriens, Etnograficheskoe obozrenie, etc.

Recent (from 2005) Monographic Publications of the Center and Its Researchers:

In English:
Beliaev D.D., Bondarenko D.M. (eds.). Fourth International Conference “Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations”. Abstracts. Moscow, 2006.
Beliaev D.D., Grinin L.E., Korotayev A.V. (eds.). Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference. Moscow, June 2006. Vols. I-III. Moscow, 2008.
Bondarenko D.M. Homoarchy: A Principle of Culture’s Organization. The 13th – 19th Centuries Benin Kingdom as a Non-State Supercomplex Society. Moscow, 2006.
Bondarenko D.M., Kavykin O.I. (eds.). Fifth International Conference “Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations”. Abstracts. Moscow, 2009.
Bondarenko D.M., Nemirovskiy A.A. (eds.). Third International Conference “Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations”. June 18-21 2004, Moscow. Selected Papers. Vol. I-II. Moscow, 2007.
Shubin V.G. ANC: A View from Moscow. Mayibuye Books (2nd revised edition). Johannesburg, 2008.
Shubin V.G. The Hot ‘Cold War’. Soviet Union and Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa. London - Durban, 2008.

In Russian:
Banshchikova A.A. Female Images in Ancient Egyptian Fiction. Moscow, 2008.
Bondarenko D.M., L.A. Andreeva, A. V. Korotayev (eds.). Sacralization of Power in the History of Civilizations. Pts. I–III (in 2 vols.). Moscow, 2005.
Bondarenko D.M., A.V. Korotayev, L.E. Grinin, N.N. Kradin (eds.). Early State, Its Alternatives and Analogs. Volgograd, 2006.
Bondarenko D.M., Nemirovskiy A.A. (eds.). The Ruler and the Subjects: The Socio-Cultural Norm and Restrictions on Autocracy. Moscow, 2008.
Demintseva E.B. To Be an “Arab” in France. Moscow, 2008.
Demintseva E.B. (ed.). Islam in Europe and in Russia. Moscow, 2009.
Demintseva E.B., Korotayev A.V. (eds.). Interracial and Interethnic Relations in Contemporary Tanzania. Publications of the Russian Complex Expedition in the United Republic of Tanzania (The 2005 Field Season). Moscow, 2008.
Evgenyeva T.V. (ed.). Political Psychology. A Reader. Moscow, 2007.
Firsov N.N. The Myth in Russian Political Discourse of the 1990s (By the Documents of Political Parties and Movements). Moscow, 2005.
Gribanova V.V. Three Centuries of Education Development in South Africa. Moscow, 2008.
Gribanova V.V., Potemkin Yu.V., Vinokurov Yu.N. (eds.). Instability in Africa: Lessons of the Past and Contemporary Processes. Pts I–II. Moscow, 2006.
Grigoryan K.E. Brinks of Identity. Socio-Cultural Frontier as a Factor of Ethnic Consciousness Formation (By the Armenian Sub-Ethnic Groups Evidence). Moscow, 2006.
Kavykin O.I. The Rodnovers (Neopaganists' Self-identification in Contemporary Russia). Moscow, 2007.
Kazankov A.A. Moon Hare, Spider Wooman and the Problems of Cultural Diffusion. Moscow, 2007.
Kazankov A.A. Traditional Music of Africa (except Arab and Somali). Moscow, 2010.
Kazankov A.A., Ksenofontova N.A. (ed.). The Man and the Woman. Vol. 2. Evolution of Relations. Moscow, 2007.
Letnev A.B. (ed.). Africa in World War II. Moscow, 2005.
Letnev A.B. (ed.) Africans and Russians at Crossroads of History. Moscow, 2010.
Savateev A.D. (ed.). Muslims and Christians in Contemporary Tanzania Publications of the Russian Expedition Participants. Moscow, 2005.
Zherlitsyna N.A. From the History of Russian-Tunisian Relations in 1780-1917. Archaeval Documents and Contemporary Evidence. Moscow, 2005.
Zherlitsyna N.A., Sologubovsky N.A., Filatov S.V. A Dialogue of Civilizations. Essays in the History of the Russian-Tunisian Relations in the 18th–20th centuries. Moscow, 2006.