No 3 (2020)

Synergetics is a special interdisciplinary field of science, which generalizes the description and interpretation of dynamic processes in complex open systems far from equilibrium. The subject of this article does not refer to synergetics as such or to “authentic synergetics”, which is inseparable from the mathematical language of expression, but to the field of historical knowledge. It attempts to apply a synergetic approach to the knowledge already accumulated within the framework of historical science in order to obtain results that are important for general interpretations of the history of the peoples of the North Caucasus. Any attempt to interpret historical phenomena and processes in terms of “system bifurcation”, “self-organization”, “nonlinearity”, etc. should be preceded by the definition of the object under study as a system and the definition of its specificity as a special type of system. From this point of view, the Adyghe ethno-social area and Kabardino-Balkaria, as objects of historical knowledge can be represented as certain varieties of small historical systems, namely, ethno-regional historical systems. This concept implies a long existence in time and the reproduction of a culturally specific space-time historical integrity. On their historical trajectory, one can clearly distinguish periods of a stationary (stable) state and “gaps” between them i.e. transitional periods of intense socio-political and cultural shifts. This allows it to be represented in terms of synergetics. Reconstruction of the mechanisms and forms of self-organization of an ethnic society at crisis, unstable phases of the historical trajectory allows us to re-imagine the ratio of internal and external, socio-economic and socio-cultural factors of its historical evolution. There are sufficient grounds to believe that the coherence (uniformity and consistency) of social behavior in critical situations was set by a common horizon of ethnic culture, that the need to adapt to a dynamic external environment determined the points of attraction (attractors) around which new, “most probable” configuration of social structures were formed, that the main mechanism of adaptation was cultural interaction and, accordingly, the main function of emerging dissipative (developed, more complex) structures was to increase the degree of communicativeness of culture, i.e. the formation of channels and agents of cultural interaction, the development of the ability to perceive and transfer experience, to enrich and universalize their own cultural meanings.

The article presents an analysis of the results of the archaeological excavations of the medieval burial ground situated near the Goust village in Ingushetia. It was first found by V.I. Dolbezhev in 1890. The characteristic funeral equipment of Saltovo-Mayatskaya culture time the second part of the 8-9 A.D. was discovered there: overlays on the belt with a Lotus-shaped ornament, glass ring type «Orbeti» and bells of bronze. Besides, we paid attention to the chronology of the belts of «pun-turkish type» in the North Caucasus. That type appeared on the Altai in the 7 A.D. Our research shows that this type of belts was in use on the North Caucasian territories from the second part of the 8 to the 11 A.D.

The article considers the dynamics, scope of powers and personalities of the Kabarda bailiff administration in 1769-1858. The problem is studied within 3 sub-periods: 1) 1769-1793 – the education and activities of the bailiff administration, as the first institution of local judicial and administrative control in the Kabarda; 2) 1793-1822 dispersal of the functions of local judicial and administrative control between the bailiff department and the Mozdok Upper Border Court; 3) 1822-1858 – the formation of the Kabardian provisional court and the transformation of the Kabardian bailiff administration into Malokabardian. It is specified that military officers and (in some cases) civil servants were appointed bailiffs. It was determined that their powers included the exercise of mediation functions between the Russian authorities and the indigenous inhabitants, establishing partnerships with representatives of the Kabardian ethnic elite, resolving disputes and conflicts among representatives of the local population, mediation in the settlement of internecine disputes, prevention of possible conflicts, issuance of travel tickets and control over individual and group migration, collection of information about the public life of the controlled population, etc. that the Bailiff administrations on the Left Wing of the Caucasian Line were liquidated in 1858 as a result of the transformations, aimed at the establishment of institutes of military-public administration, the formation of districts and their unification in the Terek region. It is concluded that in the new conditions, the assistants of the district chiefs in the field, then the chiefs of the sites, were similar to the bailiff structures.

Major General Nikolai Grigorievich Petrusevich is one of the figures in Russian history of the 19th century, in whose activities the policy of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus and Central Asia in the 1860-1870s is combined. He died on December 23, 1880 at the hands of the defenders of the Dengil-Tepe fortress during the Geok-Tepe battle, but it was he who prepared a strong rear base for the final victory of General M.D. Skobelev in this battle. In the second half of the 1860s N.G. Petrusevich served in the Caucasus and as the head of the Elbrus district (since 1869 Batalpashinsky district) of the Kuban region left a good memory of himself among the Karachais. Subsequently, he took an active part in the conquest of the then Turkmenistan by tsarist Russia. His career shows that the main factor that determined the content of the activities of military officials of the Russian Empire was not their personal qualities, but the nature of the tasks solved at different stages and in different regions by imperial policy – the conquest or integration of peoples and territories. In the article, along with the general's biographical data, a description of some of his works, published in editions that are today bibliographic rarity, is given with the aim of directly acquainting modern readers with them.

The article is based on personal files from the Archive of Kabardino-Balkar State University (KBSU) and all available historiographical sources. It examines the scientific biography of the famous Soviet archaeologist, a specialist in Ancient history Vera Ivanovna Goremykina, who worked as a senior lecturer in the Department of Universal history of the KBSU from 1957 to 1961. Her work in the field of archaeological study of Kabardino-Balkaria and professional training of students of the Historical Department of the University is shown. Particular attention is paid to the assessment of V.I. Goremykina's contribution to the development of the most important theoretical problem – the problem of the Genesis of feudalism in Ancient Russia and the study of the nature of the Ancient Russian statehood. The article is prepared for the 100th anniversary of Vera Goremykina and is dedicated to the first teachers of the Historical Department of Kabardino-Balkar State University.

The most important result of the complex and long process of joining Dagestan to Russia was the revival of economic life in the region. The bourgeois reforms carried out in the second half of the XIX century in the country contributed to the penetration of capitalist relations into the economy of Dagestan, which had their own trends and regional characteristics. In this regard, the presented article, based on the identified archival documents and materials and a wide range of other sources, attempts to objectively study the specifics of the development of crafts and industries that took place on the plain and in the foothills of the Dagestan region at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The evolution of crafts and their adaptation to new conditions served as a gradual involvement of the Russian highlanders, and especially the plains and foothills, in the process of capitalist development. An important result of the entering of plains and foothills of Dagestan into the capitalist world was the emergence and development of factory industry in the region, which served as a good reason for the socio-economic development of this region.

The history of cultural transformations that took place in Kabarda under the influence of Islamic reformism at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries is traced in the article drawing on the material of «Memoirs» of the famous Adyghe educator, linguist, writer and collector of folklore Kh.U. El'berdov. The relevance of such work is due to the fact that to date, the memoirs of Kh. El'berdov have not been considered not only in this, but also in other plans. Attention is paid to the descriptions of old-method education, its traditions and attributes, evidence of its relevance and prevalence in Kabarda. The social conditions in which the ideas of the new methodologists were implemented, the development by the Circassians of the rather extensive geography of the spread of reform schools, episodes of the confrontation between the Jadids and Kadimists were determined. Many details of the embodiment of the ideas of Islamic reformism in Kabarda are revealed through the history of the intellectual searches of Kh. El'berdov himself and his famous mentor – M.M. Fanziev. Taking into account the time of writing «Memoirs», the analysis is carried out taking into account the transformation of the system of value representations, the inevitable presence of interpretative limits that set the writer standards for reflecting the events described.

The review analyzes the collection of memoirs, documents and correspondence of Evgenia Dzhamurzovna Naloeva, prepared for publication by one of her students – senior researcher at the Institute for Humanitarian Studies of KBSC RAS A.S. Mirzoev. E.D. Naloyeva is known as a person of a difficult fate, a talented researcher of the socio-political history of traditional Kabardian society, the problems of the genesis and development of Kabardian feudalism. The memorial edition illustrates the vicissitudes of life, characterizes the scientific and pedagogical activities of Evgenia Dzhamurzovna, captures her human courage, nobility and professional dignity. The review analyzes the structure of the collection. The quality of the comments provided in the publication of sources is assessed. The merits of the most important sections of the collection, the value of the section with the memoirs of Evgenia Dzhamurzovna, the section with correspondence, the completeness and versatility of the materials collected by the publisher are noted.