编号 1 (2024)

The article examines ancient evidence about Herodotus’ Saspirs against the backdrop of the Caucasian history of Sapirs/Saviri, drawing on both historical sources and current studies. To make the examination coherent, I introduce various data related to the history, geography, ethnography, religion, and language of this group. I argue that there must be a continuity among ethnonyms such as Σάσπειρες, Σάπειρες, Σάβιροι, Sapires, Savares, and Savirs. The Saspirs of the historical period under consideration supposedly inhabited the area between the Medes and the Colchis who resided to the south and to the north of the Phasis river accordingly. This area extended to the south-east of the Chorokh (Coruh) river towards the lakes Sevan and Van; while the Matiene mountains, by which the Saspirs lived, are taken to be the mountainous area near Erzurum.

This article examines the idea of “vernacular museums” as it was put forth by Irina Kyzlasova and Elena Chesnokova in an earlier issue of the journal. In response to the authors’ idea, I aim to further develop the line of argumentation, proposing to broaden the scope of analysis for this phenomenon. The article explores the issues surrounding the application of the term “vernacular museum.” These obstacles include the presence of previous iterations of such museums, the inherent contradictions within the categorization of museums’ diversity, and the challenges associated with conceptualizing vernaculars as a significant Other of the officially recognized museum models. The article presents a novel approach to examining modern museum activities, suggesting that they could be placed alongside broader grassroots commemoration activities and memorial activism.

The article analyses the beliefs and practices of rural surb worshippers in Armenia on the basis of lived religion approaches. Surb means “holy”, “sacred”, “divine”. It is a saint and a place of veneration. A surb can be a book, a khachkar, a church, a tree, an image, etc. – any revered object. The everyday religion of believers is a special relationship with the sacred and the divine power of the saints. People accept the power of the surb as real and experience its effects every day. Ritual practices in the surbahs are seen as a way of influencing the divine power to meet certain needs and perform certain tasks. Ritual practices in surbs have real physical and spiritual efficacy for the worshippers. Also important is physical contact with the shrine. The representations and practices of devotees of rural shrines are not approved by the Armenian Apostolic Church. In Armenia there is a vernacular tradition successfully operating in parallel to the official and canonical tradition.

This article deals with the attitude of the Russian nobles towards dogs. The sources are mainly memoirs, as well as Russian literary works of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, especially those in which the “dog” theme was not the main one but rather appeared as an additional characteristic of a situation or hero. These data show that men and women treated dogs differently. In addition, men and women preferred to communicate with different dog breeds. In the Russian society of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, toy dogs (ladies’ dogs, or bed dogs) were attributes of a rich and noble lady. Men treated such dog breeds with disdain. Foolish, whimsical, and dependent pet was quite consistent with the behavior of a noble girl or lady – with her outfits, fainting, and dependence on a gentleman. On the other hand, men liked their hunting dogs (as well as watchdogs). These animals were big, strong, and cocky; they usually lived not in a house, but in a yard. The fashion for having toy dogs gradually faded away. Cats were increasingly becoming favorite pets. Since the middle of the 19th century, it was mostly an unpleasant old lady who was living surrounded by pugs or other little dogs.

The article analyzes the reproductive and migration processes, as well as the quantitative, spatial, gender, and age dynamics of the Jewish population in the Don region. It identifies the main periods of its geodemographic evolution in the 19^th – early 21^st centuries and examines the specificities of the settlement system and gender structure of urban and rural Jews. It has been established that the high level of urbanization and sociocultural modernization of the Don Jews activated the process of assimilation as early as at the beginning of the 20^th century. Demographic losses of the community during the World War II predetermined its accelerated decline in the post-war period and further intensified assimilation tendencies. The reverse side of the growing assimilation since the 1920s–1930s has been the process of absolute growth and specific expansion of the regional group of mixed population with Jewish roots, which has not been recorded by the official statistics. For certain periods of the 20^th – beginning of the 21^st century, an assessment of this latent demographic component has been carried out. It is established that by the end of the 20^th century, this group repeatedly exceeded the size of the ethnic core of the regional community and is currently a significant factor in the demographic reproduction and sociocultural life of the Jewish population of the Don region.

Paternal care contributes to offspring’s development and future success in their adult life. Cultural stereotypes and individual views about family roles continue to have a significant impact on paternal care. We conducted a cross-cultural study of paternal care in Russia and Belarus, with special reference to cumulative impact of the level of family income and individual views concerning gender inequality. Total sample was 570 respondents. Results revealed the similarity of the behavioral models of fathers in Russia and Belarus. The general model of paternal care shows that a high level of wealth contributes to the increase of paternal care in both countries, whereas high level of gender inequality reduces the level of paternal care. Both countries continue to practice the traditional approach to sharing of concerns regarding children – women are more involved in childcare and education, while men invest more in the financial income of the family.