Siberian Historical Research

8-9

Authors: Deriglazova L.V.

Presentation of the special theme "EUROPE - RUSSIA - SIBERIA: PARTICULARITIES OF RESEARCH AND PERCEPTION"

17-23

Authors: Dyatlov V.I.

Viktor Dyatlov, the distinguished and authoritative historian from Irkutsk, answers questions. How should a historian or a researcher chose the topic of their study? What does it mean to be a researcher today? How can one be a successful researcher? What is Siberia? Does a Siberian or Russian school of international studies exist? Professor Dyatlov gives direct and bright responses to these questions and talks about his experience as a researcher living and working all his life in Irkutsk, while being deeply involved in numerous international projects and enjoying a newly open world. Viktor Dyatlov believes that researchers are free to choose the topic of their studies. He talks about the development of his research interests from nationalism towards ‘trading’ ethnic minorities in Arab countries. He discusses how it was possible to develop true research under ideological restriction of the Soviet time, and how this topic was transformed in independent Russia. Today Russia is open to the world and Russian scientists are free to participate in international scientific cooperation. Dyatlov observes that in this context it is important for researchers to be a ‘team players’, because the research process more often demands cooperation between many people. However, Dyatkov is skeptical of current trends in Russian science, such as scientometrics and the Skolkovo project, and concludes that the majority of investment should go into true research.

33-48

Authors: Grosheva G.V.

Grosheva studies the evolution of the German nation concept and transformation of the German national identity from an historical perspective. In Russian research, the study of the formation of the German nation often includes the processes that influenced its development and the concept of identity, but its further evolution is typically beyond its scope. A major exception to this is a paper by Kauganova E. (2013), who combines essentialist and constructivist approaches to present post-war German identity as periodically divided based on changing attitudes to Nazism. In contrast, Grosheva's paper presents a process of transition in German national identity from an ethnocultural to a civic nation, the former between 1945-1990, and the latter from 1990 onwards. In the former period, which ended with German reunification, changes were influenced by the problems of denazification, "collective guilt" for the crimes of National Socialism and the division of the German nation by political boundaries. In the latter period, national identity in united Germany is marked by a crisis caused by the questions of the consolidation of an ethnic German nation (East and West Germans as well as displaced ethnic Germans elsewhere), the integration of immigrants into German society and the formation of a common civic identity. In both periods, however, issues of historical memory and balancing all levels of German identity (regional, national, European) were present. Overall, Grosheva argues that the formation of post-war German national identity has been marked by historical dependence and has an incomplete and controversial nature.

59-68

Authors: Vasyutin S.A., Govorov Yu.L., Yumatov K.V.

In this paper the authors evaluate the factors facilitating the development of European Studies in the Faculty of History and International Relations at Kemerovo State University. Initially, Professor Yury V. Galaktionov initiated this line of research after 1991, when new opportunities appeared for establishing international contacts with foreign researchers. Later, in 1999, an “International Relations” major was introduced by the faculty, which contributed to activation of International Studies. That year, the West Siberian Centre for German Studies was also established at Kemerovo State University, with intellectual and financial support from the German organization DAAD, the Volkswagen Foundation and the Department of East-European Research at Ruhr-University (Bochum). The major result of this collaboration was the 3-volume History of Germany. Since 2003, Kemerovo historians have also participated in the Tempus project for establishing a network of European research centres in 5 Siberian universities and in the European Union Centre in Siberia Project, headed by Tomsk State University. In this paper the authors also offer a summary of the research output of the European Studies at Kemerovo State University in terms of doctoral and PhD theses defended, international conferences held, monographs and other papers published.

77-80

Authors: Funk D.A.

Review of Kasten, Erich (Hg.) Reisen an den Rand des Russischen Reiches: Die wissenschaftliche Erschliefiung der nordpazifischen Kustengebiete im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. Furstenberg/Havel: Kulturstiftung Sibirien, 2013. 320 pp., 9 Farbabbildungen. ISBN: 978-3-9428