No 1 (2020)

The article discusses two key problems of modern Caucasian studies. Firstly, the question of representing the history of the peoples of the North Caucasus in the liberal-democratic press of Russia in the 19th century is analyzed. The journalistic activities of the editorial board of the «Otechestvennye zapiski» contributed not only to the collection, analysis and broadcast of relevant information about the daily life of the mountaineers of the Caucasus, their traditions and customs, mental characteristics, government policies in the region, forms and methods of integrating the Caucasus into Russia, but also helped to preserve historical sources. The need to expand the source base on the history of the mountaineers of the Caucasus requires a wider inclusion of articles from pre-revolutionary journals in the research practices of historians and historiographers of the North Caucasus. Secondly, the effectiveness of using the methodological approach of the French scientist Jacques Kaiser in the study of press materials in Caucasian studies is substantiated. The theoretical and methodological construction of J. Kaiser, based on filling out «signal cards» for periodicals, compiling a research «dossier» for publishing and revealing the «morphology» of the journal, allowed not only to study the leading liberal-democratic press organ of Russia, starting with its external characteristics to the conceptual views of the editors, but also to find out the reasons for broadcasting information about the peoples of the North Caucasus, the qualitative content of these articles, as well as original ways of submitting and ranking the materials series about the mountaineers of the Caucasus on the pages of the «Otechestvennye zapiski».

On the basis of comparison of normative and materials the substantial features of activity regulations of congresses of trusted rural societies of Big and Small Kabardy and five mountain societies are studied. Normative functions of congresses of proxies in a limited form were approved only by a few fragments of decrees of Caucasian viceroys in 1860, 1905 and 1908. This order determined only the most general framework providing territorial representation of elected from villages at regular election of deputies and kady of district court, as well as the order of Zolski and Mountain public pastures under crown control of administration. More detailed regulation was revealed, which was carried out in administrative correspondence, which accompanied the preparation of the next congress. Circulars and orders initially determined the social composition of the trustees, agreed on the subpoena, the order of consideration and decision-making, the conditions of material and household support of the trustees in the district center, etc.  The conclusion was grounded that insufficient legislative certainty of functions of the congress of trustees was a convenient format for the crown authorities to organize judicial and administrative order in Nalchik district of Tersky oblast’. The lack of clear and detailed regulation left room for "administrative discretion" of situational management decisions, allowing more flexibility in directing public life of the local population.

In the year of the century when the GOELRO plan was adopted, the socio-economic situation in the Russian Federation makes us once again pay attention to the experience of developing and implementing a major industrial modernization program, which had major consequences for our country not only in economic but also in social sphere. Based on the implementation of this program of transformation during the active life of one generation was created the world's second most powerful economy, ensured the independence and integrity of the state in the bloodiest war in human history, ensured a number of major scientific achievements of human civilization. For Kabardino-Balkaria, this period has become a time of contradictory processes due to economic and political backwardness, which was overcome in a forced regime. Creation of the national autonomy and its political institutions was accompanied by formation of the economic basis on the basis of advanced development of electric power industry – the main principle of the GOELRO plan. Such a fundamental factor in Kabardino-Balkaria was the construction of the Baksan hydroelectric power plant, which became the core of modernizing agricultural production and creating new industries. In the article, the author, based on archival documents, shows the process of development of the Baksan HPP project as part of the unified plan of electrification of the USSR.

The article presents an analysis of the formation of the Kabardian national movement. It is shown that the Kabardian national movement, which formed during the perestroika period (1985-1991) around the club «Ashamaz», had a significant impact on the socio-political situation in Kabardino-Balkaria. Representatives of the Kabardian national democratic community participated in the creation and activities of some regional public associations. The main goals and objectives of the public associations included in the Kabardian national movement were to solve the problems of ethnocultural development and to promote democratic transformations. Since October 1989, the activities of public organizations of the Kabardian national movement have been focused on resolving political questions, primarily on reforming the national-state structure of the republic. Disagreements on this issue caused the aggravation of relations between the Kabardian and Balkarian national movements. During the coup in August 1990, the Democratic Kabardino-Balkaria movement, formed by the Kabardian and Balkarian national movements and parliamentary groups Radical Reform and the Communists for Democracy, opposed the republic’s leadership, accusing it of supporting the State Emergency Committee. But the leadership of the republic managed to maintain its position and establish the post of President of the KBSSR. After the decision by the Balkarian national movement to create a separate republic, the Kabardian national movement began to prepare a congress with the aim of proclaiming the Kabardian Republic. But the leadership of the KBSSR took measures to preserve the unity of the republic – created the «Movement for the Preservation of Unity of Kabardino-Balkaria» and held the election of the President of Kabardino-Balkaria (12.22.1991), despite their boycott by the predominant part of the Balkarian and Russian population of the republic.

The collapse of the Soviet ideological and state order turned history into a field of search for identity and legitimization of ethno-political claims. The historical consciousness and historical memory of the population have become one of the most important factors influencing the formation of the socio-political space of modern Kabardino-Balkaria. The aim of the proposed work is to study the place and role of historical memory in the current context of the socio-political processes of modern Kabardino-Balkaria through the prism of assessments of the region’s expert community. The research method is an expert survey. The study revealed: according to most experts, historical memory has a disproportionately large influence on the situation in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic; most experts give a negative assessment of the impact of historical memory on the current situation in Kabardino-Balkaria; most experts consider the activity on the Internet related to the formation of the historical memory of the population in the KBR negative and influential; most experts consider the role of historians in preserving historical memory and consolidating the society of the region positive, but not very influential.

The article examines one of the active strata (groups) of Adyghe vocabulary, consisting of words and terms related to horse breeding. Here, for the first time, the lexical and semantic features of words included in the specified lexical layer are studied. A classification is proposed, in accordance with which eight semantic groups of words are distinguished related to horse and horse breeding: 1) tokens that name parts of the horse's body; 2) tokens naming the age of the animal; 3) tokens that name a horse in accordance with its purpose and the specifics of the work performed (for example, a draft horse); 4) the names of customs, rituals and festivities organized with the direct participation of the horse; 5) the naming of people associated with the horse, its breeding; 6) names of horse diseases; 7) the names of the elements of horse harness and other items related to the care of the horse; 8) the names of the horses in accordance with the ability to reproduce offspring. The article also provides typology of lexemes related to horse breeding, according to their substantive features, activity / deactivation criteria in the modern Kabardino-Circassian language, originality / borrowing, style characteristics, etc. In accordance with the indicated criteria, outdated vocabulary (archaisms, historicisms), ethnonyms, mythologisms, dialectisms, special (professional) vocabulary, borrowings, vernacular, etc. In the study of lexemes, the ethnography of the material in question is taken into account, interpretations of words and terms are given, reasoned by illustrative material. The role and place of the studied stratum in common Adyghe vocabulary is determined, lexical-grammatical and lexical-semantic features of some words and terms related to horse breeding are revealed. The results of the study can be useful to scientists, teachers of higher and secondary educational institutions, as well as students, undergraduates and graduate students when writing qualification and other types of work.

In 1960 Russian philosopher G.D. Gachev put forward the theory of accelerated development, according to which young writers, relying on classical models, in the twentieth century make a progressive breakthrough and are included in the world cultural process. The authors of the article, based on the material of Alim Keshokov’s poetry, examine the validity of Gachev’s theory in practice. In the framework of ontological poetics, numerous diachronic and synchronous threads are identified that connect the work of the Kabardian poet with the basic cultural studies of antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment, romanticism and socialist realism. Drawing historical-cultural and intertextual parallels, the authors turn to the works of Homer, Voltaire, Robert Burns, Edgar Allan Poe, Federico Garcia Lorca, Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Particular attention is paid to archetypal plots, game poetics, allusions, direct and indirect quoting of foreign writers.

The article is devoted to the study of a wreath of sonnets in Adyghe literature with an emphasis on the aesthetics of poetics of works written in the specified genre form. Moreover, the combination of “aesthetics of poetics” is not formal in this context, since in the construction of a wreath of sonnets great importance is given to structural organization – the construction of a model of a poetic work consisting of a certain number (fifteen) sonnets and lines (two hundred and ten) correlating with each other within strict canons of the genre, according to which the final line of one sonnet serves as the beginning of the next, and the fifteenth (final) sonnet, called the "trunk" (or "main sonnet"), represents bout a work consisting of the initial lines of the previous fourteen sonnets. Mastering such a complex genre form was accompanied by certain difficulties. In this article, the problems of the genesis and formation of the sonnet and its evolution to the genre form of a wreath of sonnets in the Adyghe literature are revealed. Here, for the first time, a comprehensive study of a wreath of sonnets is conducted in national (Kabardian, Circassian, Adyghe) literature. The main attention of the author is paid to both compositional and substantial features of the wreaths of sonnets of Adyghe writers. In particular, wreaths of sonnets of Circassian and Kabardian authors are subjected to a detailed analysis: “Faithful to love” of Mukhadin Bemurzov, “Wind” and “Echo of melody” of Mugaz Keshtov, “Broad-chested wind” of Tolya Kamergoyev. As a result of the study, the features of poetics of the most complex composition and, therefore, difficult to master the genre form – a wreath of sonnets were revealed. The study involved the method of structural analysis. In particular, the metric-rhyme complex of works created in the studied genre form was studied. The topics and problems of sonnet wreaths, the correspondence of architectonics, sonnets forming a wreath, and sonnet wreaths in general to the strict canons of the genre are considered separately. The results of the study can be of help to researchers of Adyghe literature, as well as in the preparation of special courses on the evolution of Adyghe poetry.