编号 4 (2024)

The article examines the stucco lamps discovered during excavations in the Lower Don region's Meotian towns. Lamps were discovered at Sukho-Chaltyrsky, Khaprovsky, Nizhne-Gnilovsky, Temernitsky, Rostov, Kizitirinsky, Kobyakov, and Krepostnoye towns. The article analyzes both previously published lights and those that have yet to be brought into scholarly circulation.

Stucco lamps from Don Meotian towns are identical to those from Tanais. T.M. Arsenyeva devised a lamp typology based on Tanais material, which is employed in this work. The majority of the specimens are from various types of lamps with closed tanks. Although open-form lights are mentioned in literature, they are rarely accompanied with a drawing or thorough description. One apparently three-section light sticks out due to its unusual design.

The internal political development of Kabarda in the XVI–XVII-th centuries took the form of a sharp competitive struggle between various lineages of the Kabardian Inalids. The period of distinct advantage of the Idarov family in the struggle for supreme power in the principality was the second half of the XVI-th century. The second generation of the Idarovs, relying on a close political and dynastic alliance with Moscow, faced tough opposition from other princely families of Kabarda. The most uncompromising position in the struggle for the highest political power in the principality and the preservation of its actual independence from Moscow was taken by the descendants of Beslan Zhankhotov – Kazi Psheapshokov, his sons and nephews. Without stopping at unconventional methods of struggle, Kazi Psheapshokov and his successor Aleguko Shogenukov intercepted political leadership from the Idarovs. The subjects of this study are two significant events, that became the prologue and epilogue of this process of «dynasty change» in Kabarda. Firstly, it is the murder of Mamstruko and Domanuko Kemirgokovich Idarov and the subsequent three-years-long secession of Kazieva's Kabarda to Eastern Trans-Kuban. And secondly, these are the political crisis of the late 30-s – early 40-s years of the XVI-th century, the battle on the Malka in 1641, the repeated secession of Kaziyev’s Kabarda and its allies to Eastern Trans-Kuban, which ended the era of the Idarovs’ political leadership. The close political and dynastic ties of the Inalids with the Russian sovereigns determined the obvious correlation of the “dynasty change” – processes in Kabarda and in the Moscow Kingdom at the end of the XVI-th – first decades of the XVII-th centuries.

The article defines the role of government and local government bodies in the sphere of food policy in the Nalchik district of the Terek region in the last third of the 19th – early 20th centuries. Based on various office documentation, the forms of activity of government institutions to control the food situation are considered. The sequence of interaction and responsibility distribution among various national and local government organizations in the implementation of food policy is examined. The process of regular analysis of food prices, as well as their logistics, forage, etc. is considered. The system of controlling the weight of commodities sold through the mandated use of public scales, for which regional and district authorities and local governments split responsibilities, was examined. A conclusion was made about the organizational and control nature of the functionality of district authorities, which was reflected in the formation of a regular statistical and analytical base as annual reports of district heads, which were a form of representation of the state of the national economy and the level of food reserves; and also about the control by government bodies not only of the process of food production but also of their sale through systematic monitoring of food prices and the conditions for carrying out trade operations.

The study examines the changes that took place in the system of Islamic religious education in Kabardino-Balkaria during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. The article describes the structure and features of the network of Muslim schools and colleges that functioned in the subregion before 1917. The article analyzes the policy of the Soviet authorities in relation to Muslim educational institutions and its regional specifics. It is concluded that in Kabardino-Balkaria, an extensive network of Tibetan schools was active until the end of the 20s of the XX century. Its almost complete elimination is associated with the mass peasant unrest that took place in the late 20s and early 30s of the XX century. Attention is focused on the religious component that was vividly present in the ideology of the rebellious peasants and the active role of the local clergy in them. The characteristic of the period of the 30-80s of the XX century is given – the time when religious education was virtually absent from the structure of the religious culture of the republic. The features of the development and complexity of the process of reviving the system of religious education that took place in the post-Soviet period are considered. The current state of this system is assessed, and its current problems are identified.

The article examines the methods and forms of the anti-religious policy of the Soviet state to involve the peoples of the North Caucasus in the Bolshevik modernization of the 1920s. The relevance of studying the history of the anti-religious policy of the state in order to avoid mistakes in a difficult period of transformation that is going through modern multinational and multi-confessional Russian society dictates the appeal. The purpose of the study is to examine the Soviet state policy in the fight against religion in the North Caucasus and analyze the methods and forms of anti–religious propaganda used. The research was based on material drawn from periodicals and archives of the North Caucasus. The complex of measures implemented by the state in the period under study to re-evaluate the old norms of existence and the formation of social ideas in the public consciousness based on the elimination of religious thinking is analyzed. The study reveals difficulties in implementing Bolshevik modernizations due to the population’s diverse national and religious backgrounds and the limited number of people engaged in social production. The key markers of anti-religious propaganda have been identified, the results of which led to the accelerated development of productive forces and the social sphere in the national regions of the North Caucasus according to Soviet ideology.

The paper examines data from pro-German newspapers in the occupied Soviet territories reflecting military operations, historical and economic issues in the context of the North Caucasus. In the summer and fall of 1942, the idea of the Wehrmacht capturing a resource-rich region in a south part of the USSR served as a powerful tool for Nazi propaganda to convince Soviet citizens of the inevitability of Germany’s victory. Newspapers reported on the capture of cities and positions, losses of Soviet troops, natural and economic resources, the Wehrmacht’s liberation mission for the peoples of the Caucasus, and the beginning of a new stage in its history. However, in the winter of 1943, the hasty retreat of the Germans from the North Caucasus went virtually unnoticed in reports. Consequently, Nazi propaganda ignored this sector of the front.

Since the mid-90s of the twentieth century, the authorities of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic have increased overseas economic activity as a means of overcoming the economic crisis. The positive results of the activities of the authorities of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic in this area were: the establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic; the re-establishment of the Department of Foreign Economic Relations within it; the conclusion of interstate agreements with the Government of the Republic of Abkhazia, the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Republic of Turkmenistan. Economic ties between the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic and the Commonwealth of Independent States began to develop. The number of joint Russian-foreign companies registered in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic grew. Contracts were signed with large companies from Italy, Cyprus, Canada, France and China. Nevertheless, the success of joint ventures in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic in the second half of the 1990s turned out to be insignificant, which was due to the strict federal tax and credit policies that hampered the development of production activities, the fall of the ruble exchange rate and the military conflict in Chechnya, which caused a significant decrease in the investment attractiveness of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic and the entire North Caucasus at the international level.

The article considers the problems of ethnic interpretation of archaeological cultures. The status of the concept of “archaeological culture” and the issue of the relationship between archaeological cultures and ethnic communities are analyzed because of both established theoretical approaches and modern ones. The system of ancient cultures of the Central and Western Caucasus is studied, which most adequately reflects the ethnic map of the Early Bronze Age. The problems of ethnogenesis and early stages of the ethnic history of the Abkhaz-Adyghe are considered in close connection with the archaeological cultures: Maikop and dolmen. This study addresses the issues of attributing archaeological cultures to specific ethnic groups, highlighting the deep roots of Abkhaz-Adyghe genesis and history, tracing them back not only to the Bronze Age but also to preceding eras. Various approaches and directions are analyzed, revealing the features of the origin and development of the Maikop and dolmen cultures, attention is focused on the presence of a large amount of scientific and factual material indicating the genetic and ethnocultural relationship of the bearers of the Early and Middle Bronze Age cultures with the proto-Abkhaz ethnic massif.

This article looks at the stealing of women among the Ossetian ethnic group. The study’s major sources were the results of the ethnographic expedition in 2022-2023 on the territory of North Ossetia, the author’s observation materials, and the findings of the 2015 expedition in Turkey among the Ossetian diaspora. Using an empirical research approach, the essay examines the remarks - reasons for the interview question: “Is the abduction of girls a national tradition of Ossetians?”. Undoubtedly, the issue is timely, owing to the prevalence of theft today. The study’s goal is to undertake a retrospective investigation of the reasons for theft using source material, as well as to evaluate how traditional culture, which has been perpetuated by the ethnos for ages, reacts to changes in the social soil. The comparison of the couple’s and their parents’ behavioral forms in the past and present during the abduction takes up a significant portion of the research. The conclusion is formed that, today, theft is fictional, and that the reason for choosing such a form is not so much economic, but rather a result of family and household issues. The author believes that one of the most significant implications of the popularization of theft is the progressive loss of traditional rites and rituals unique to Ossetians’ traditional wedding culture.

The article describes modern religious processes and related cultural and everyday practices of the Abazin people, who in their spiritual development went through three stages - pagan, Christian and Muslim. Each period brought its own cultural code to the spiritual culture of the Abazin, which remains in society throughout the period, and even the monotheistic religions that replaced it were not completely able to oust it from the life of the people.

A reference to the history of traditional beliefs and statements of world religions among the Abazins preceded the presentation of the material characterizing modern religious and everyday practices

Such information allows us to assess the dynamics of the relevant transformations and better understand the modern processes taking place in Abazin society, where ancient beliefs and Muslim norms coexist in a syncretic form. All this, taken together, causes tension in society, since the older generation, accustomed to living in this paradigm, is not ready to agree with the new, orthodox Islamic movements that have arisen in recent decades in Abazin society. This confrontation gradually leads to disunity in society and slowly but steadily continues the destruction process of national traditions that do not correspond to the norms of orthodox Islam. These are the disappointing predictions that the author comes to as a result of the study.

The goal of this research is to examine the "neo-genre paradigm" of Balkarian literature, particularly polylogical forms (epic series and novel cycles). The study discusses the principles of cyclization of serial works of the epic genre, methods of constructing polytextual formations. Accordingly, the preamble of the article provides an overview of the artistic phenomenon called polylogies, explains the functional and constructive features of the novels that make up them. In general, the scientific novelty of the study lies in the cyclological analysis of the works of individual authors for the purpose of revisiting the problem once touched upon. Important accents of contextual analysis are the issues of the relationship between the already “ready-made” artistic integrity (which are individual novels) and the gradually forming, complicated matrix of the novel cycle (an ensemble unity of several independent books). Such forms, of course, represent an “open set” based on a single author’s concept. Works from epic series can function autonomously, at the same time, the combined interpretation of the ideological content of texts introduces additional perspectives in the meaning of their content, clarifies the original intention of the writer, forming a contextual coherence of parts of a multidimensional structure. Thanks to this approach, several related works come together (on an intuitive and mental level), in which semantic involvement with each other is captured. Stable features of polylogical forms are indicated by the presence of a “preface”, and in some cases – refrained storylines, wandering characters, centralizing issues, an open plot that creates the effect of interruption and incompleteness of the narrative, contextual and conceptual complementarity. In the examples given, the unfoldment of generalizing issues, stylistic doublets, a meaningful perspective with the possibility of expansion and addition, a multi-layered structure, and varying ways of forming an intra-textual totality are monitored. The strategy of building work is determined by the specifics of the tasks put forward.

The article (Part 1) examines one of the most pressing issues in modern literary criticism in the North Caucasus: the degree to which national literatures (in this case, Balkar) conform to the parameters and typological features of newly written systems in their interaction with the larger context of Soviet literature. The main theoretical premise of the study is the presence in modern regional literatures of two autonomous lines of evolutionary development that meet the requirements of the doctrine of socialist realism and the parameters of the authentic aesthetic consciousness of the peoples of the region. According to the authors of the work, Z.Kh. Tolgurova's work is a very illustrative example of the formation in the depths of ideologically determined literary thinking of individual, ethnically determined interpretations of the picture of the surrounding world, and this happens at the levels of subconscious reflection, in the sphere of spatiotemporal relationships. The work (in its first, presented part) proves that a sharp jump in the architectural complexity of the works of Z.Kh. Tolgurov, observed in his work of the late 60s - the first half of the 70s, is due to the writer’s appeal to folklore samples and does not depend on the donor influence of Russian Soviet literature. This, in turn, radically changes the markers and institutional features of such conceptually significant concepts as “accelerated development” and “newly written literature”, which are, today, fundamental for literary studies of the peoples of the North Caucasus.

The article, based on extensive empirical material, examines the expressive elements of Abaza poetry of the late 1940s and 1950s. It presents in detail the functions of the epithets “tlash” (strong, powerful), “lashara” (bright), “tsri” (native), elements of color painting (“golden ray”, “white spring”, “blue May”), comparative phrases (“soul-like”, “eye-like”, correlation of various phenomena of Soviet reality with steel), tracings of Russian poetic formulas and phraseological units (“iron horse”, “steppe ship”, “guiding star”, “dove of peace”, “warmongers”), metaphors with ideological and political underpinnings, hyperbole as one of the main instruments of artistic re-creation of the world, the semantic image of the red banner, motives for building communism and the struggle for peace; Neologisms were identified (“arkъagIagIvchva” - those who make blossom; “nasyprkhardzhyyrta” – production of happiness; “amshpkhadzagIv” – calendar, “Abazashta” - Abazinia), examples of figurative parallelism, lexical ring, aesthetic functions of various interjections. All observations are supported by pertinent scientific comments and conclude with general conclusions.

The article examines the image of Kuytsuk in the narrative (novelistic, magical, heroic tales, nart tales, historical and heroic epic) genres of Adyg folklore. Special attention is paid to identifying the signs that determine his social origin, personal qualities, and actions. Based on this, it is noted that this hero does not always have the same characteristic. When determining the typology of this character, the established scientific principle is used – by what means the hero achieves the goal. There are two types of image – Kuytsuk, who achieves a fabulous goal due to his physical strength, and Kuytsuk, who achieves the goal with cunning and intelligence. The study of the problem of establishing the characteristics of this image also occupied a significant place in the work depending on the folklore genre in which it is presented. As it appears from the material considered, despite all the similarity of the description of appearance, in different genres of Adyg folklore, the image of Kuytsuk has its own pronounced characteristic features. A fairy–tale character can be a typical "low hero" - inconspicuous and even funny to others, but a hero, in fact. In other cases, it is a hero of a laughing or satirical plan. In the heroic epic, he is represented as a figure symbolizing the logical conclusion of the genre, parodying the images of classic heroes-bogatyrs. The research is based on the opinions of Russian folklorists who were directly involved in the study of a typologically similar character in the folklore of other peoples.

The presented article is devoted to the analysis of one of the broad groups of miraculous objective realities – means of healing and revitalization. The study was conducted on the material of Karachay-Balkarian magical fairy-tales (including magical-heroic ones), identified by the method of continuous sampling. The work also used descriptive, comparative, axiological and structural methods of analysis. It is noted, that this category can be conditionally divided into two large groups: medicinal agents and means of revitalization. In turn, the first group can be divided into means of curing diseases, restoring vision, restoring lost parts of the body, and healing wounds. This also includes means of getting rid of infertility, as well as promoting immaculate conception. The second group is not so numerous and in some cases is closely related to the wonderful objective realities of the first group. It is also noted, that the means of revival in a number of points converge with the group, called «Guardians of the soul / guarantor of life». The analysis showed, that the considered category of miraculous object realities is quite extensive and is presented in detail in Karachay-Balkarian magical and magical-heroic fairy-tales and not only performs an informational and entertaining function, but also participates in the plotting and development of the action. It reflects the ancient pagan and magical views of the creator people, as well as their eternal desire for immortality and life without disease. It is concluded, that further systematization and study of wonderful objects will not only fill another gap in national fairy-tale studies, but will also help resolve many issues, related to the ethnic and linguistic picture of the world, the history of the development of the spiritual and material culture of the creator people. In addition, the results of the study can be used in conducting comparative studies.

The article examines the features of the functional and semantic organization of phraseological units of the Karachay-Balkar language with the somatism bauur “liver”. The analysis of the phraseological units of the phraseosemantic field under study, which contain the somatism bauur “liver”, in turn, allows us to conclude about the universality and national identity of the studied units. Phraseological units with a somatic component most accurately describe various aspects of human activity. The analysis of the linguistic material also makes it possible to conclude that integrity of meaning, imagery, emotionality, expressiveness, etc. characterizes somatic phraseological units. For the most part, verbal turns represent somatic phraseological units. It is revealed that phraseological units with the bauur component in the Karachay-Balkar language are widely used to express various emotional and expressive meanings. It is also established that bauur is a component of a significant number of somatic phraseological units that represent such universal categories as condition, character traits, attitude, perception, movement, behavior.

The paper examines the main lexical and phraseological expressive means used by the well-known Kabardian writer A.H. Naloev to create an artistic image in his historical novels. The relevance of the research topic is due to the need for in-depth study and comprehensive description of the linguistic personality, which attracts close attention in modern linguistics. The material of the analysis was the novels by A.H. Naloev "Horsemen of Dawn" and "House on the riverbank". The paper uses descriptive and comparative research methods, as well as methods of contextual-interpretative and linguistic-stylistic analysis. The results of the conducted research allow us to conclude that when forming logically completed, memorable artistic images in the analyzed works on a historical theme, the novelist, seeking expressiveness and imagery of the work, skillfully used a wide range of means of expression to realistically convey the events reproduced by him in the novels, the time described, thoughts, aspirations, views and life philosophy of the characters, first of all, the possibilities of synonyms, synonymic series, antonyms, obsolete words, dialectisms, author's neologisms, phraseological units, which are powerful means of expressing emotional and expressive meanings in a literary text.

The article investigates the characteristics of the representation of the notion "Fire" in the Russian linguistic vision of the world. Fire is an essential component of civilization and one of the fundamental concepts that holds universal worth. Scientific novelty lies in the detailed linguacultural and cognitive-discursive analysis of figurative units (metaphors, proverbs, sayings, phraseological units, etc.), which act as the main components-constructs of the concept “Fire” as a fragment of the Russian linguistic picture of the world. As a result of the analysis of the empirical material, significant conceptual features of the mental formation “Fire”, value components that form its core, central and peripheral zones are identified. The article uses Kabardian figurative units representing this concept as background material, which allows us to see the important role of this concept in the consciousness of native speakers, and also makes it possible to highlight the features of the linguistic picture of the world of both ethnic groups.

The article is devoted to the lexicographic activity of the Adyghe enlightener Shora Nogmov, who prepared the ‘Kabardino-Russian Dictionary’, which remained in manuscript and was published for the first time in 1956 with significant structural transformations by Professor Georgy Fedorovich Turchaninov. The article notes that the dictionary was prepared on the Russian graphical basis and the original was compiled according to the thematic principle. The dictionary covers a large lexical stratum of the Kabardino-Circassian language, which allows to present the richness of the Kabardino-Circassian language in the first half of the XIX century. Of particular interest in the dictionary entries is the lexical stratum, which in the modern language belongs to archaisms, dialectisms and regionalisms, which shows the peculiarities of the dynamics of the development of the lexicon of the Kabardino-Circassian language during the last two centuries. The anthroponyms, toponyms and names of months given in the article and functioning in the first half of the 19th century are also scientifically significant.

The conclusion suggests the idea of significant changes in the thematic ranks of the lexicon of the Kabardino-Circassian language due to historical, cultural and everyday transformations, and the necessity to publish the original manuscript version for a deeper analysis of the remarks and corrections presented in it in the process of work, which will make it possible to determine the peculiarities of preparing the dictionary for publication.

The work was carried out within the framework of the study of the actual problem of determining language, culture, and man, which takes on a special status in the context of understanding the importance of language in its relation to ethnic culture as a set of people's unique non-transitory values and life orientations.

The study's primary assumption is that a certain people's ethnic image is kept in their language, and its dominating qualities are transferred into the speech behavior of a linguistic personality.The purpose of the article is to consider ethnic stereotypes as constants of cognitive consciousness, a means of representing the specifics of speech behavior of a modern linguistic personality in typical communicative situations.

The research material was the texts created in the language of the Adyghe personality, which used stereotypical lexical units as figurative stable expressions, actively used in ethnic culture and understood as a concentration of priority knowledge and meanings subordinated to a single value-behavioral system adopted in the cultural and linguistic space of the Adyghe ethnic group.

The examination of linguistic units offers grounds to recognize that the incorporation of stereotyped phrases in current speech interaction contributes not only to the translation of communicatively relevant ethnic information, and also establishes the conceptual paradigm of dominant meanings, knowledge and perceptions, forming the cognitive consciousness of the modern ethnocultural linguistic personality and regulate its speech behavior in different communicative situations.  

The review is devoted to the monograph of the famous historian N.F. Bugai. It examines the problems of the national policy of the Russian Federation in the period from the 1990s to the early 2020s. The work is based on a wide range of sources. These include published and unpublished archival materials, documents from central and local authorities, as well as an extensive body of research results on the topic. The book analyzes past events, allowing us to understand the scale of the problems that had accumulated by the beginning of the period under review. A special feature of the reviewed work is a detailed analysis of both the achievements and shortcomings faced by the Russian statehood during the period under review. This indicates the author's deep understanding of the realities of the time and problems in the field of national politics. The book presents extensive and diverse material about the peoples of Russia, as well as other ethnic groups living in the country. The article considers the role and place of civil society institutions and ethnic minorities in the system of relations in modern conditions. Special attention is paid to the author's conclusions and recommendations concerning the state national policy and the prospects for its further development.