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Continuity in science is now gaining not only theoretical significance - as a continuation of the direction in research, as the development of ideas, but also to a lesser extent practical significance.: who will continue or, more precisely, will anyone continue the work of the outgoing generation, whether this or that scientific direction will not fade away at all? Unfortunately, in the current conditions of rapid destruction of Russian science, such a statement of the question is far from speculative. These and other considerations largely guided the organizing committee for the preparation and holding of the next conference "School of Young Africanists", held on October 22-23, 2009 in Moscow.

Traditionally, it was devoted to the topic "Africa in the past and present: an interdisciplinary analysis", which allowed bringing together young researchers of almost all fields: economists and linguists, historians and cultural scientists. The organizers-the RAS Scientific Council on Economic, Socio - Political and Cultural Development of African Countries, the RAS Institute of Africa, and the Institute of Asian and African Studies of Moscow State University-pursued the main goal: to attract the widest possible range of young graduate students and students interested in Africa to participate in the conference, and to support the African studies direction in the conference.

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universities and research centers in Russia that have at least two or three students who intend to devote themselves to studying the African continent.

Of course, an attempt was also made to solve scientific problems-to study the problems of Africa from the perspective of an interdisciplinary method: this universal approach allows you to analyze any topic in a deeper and broader way, from different points of view. In any case, the organizing committee focused the participants on interdisciplinary research, which is primarily distinguished by the civilizational approach as a methodology of scientific research.

The VIII School of Young African Studies was attended by 60 students, postgraduates, young (up to 35 years) university teachers and employees of academic institutions.

The conference was opened by the Director of the Institute of Africa, Corresponding member. RAS A. M. Vasiliev. He encouraged the audience to study Africa in detail, to learn about the inner world and features of socio-cultural relations of Africans, and to prove it, he gave several examples that clearly emphasize the importance of knowledge of the customs and culture of the peoples of the continent. "You are essentially monopolists in this field of science," he said. Well, who else, besides you, will give advice to the government, private companies in this or that area of life in Africa?! So be aware of your own importance!". On the contrary, ignorance in this area, ignoring the advice of Africanists, can cause irreparable damage to both Russian citizens working in Africa and Russia's relations with the states of the continent.

Chairman of the Organizing Committee I. V. Sledzevsky (Institute of Africa) opened the business part of the School, which included lectures by the most reputable specialists for aspiring scientists, with the report "Cultural barriers and cultural conflicts in the modern world". He showed the role of emerging images of Africa, Africans and Russia in international relations. In recent years, especially as the world enters the era of globalization, images of the culture of another world, other countries and peoples can become decisive in relations, can justify any actions, up to the use of military force, against another state and its people, as, say, "backward", "undemocratic", "inefficient" etc.

E. V. Morozenskaya (Institute of Africa) in her report "The African economy in the context of the global financial and economic crisis" focused on the key economic problems of Africa. She spoke about the main difficulties in developing the economy of African countries and analyzed the concepts that guide the leaders of states in overcoming the obstacles that have arisen.

S. V. Prozhogina's speech "East-West: the problem of cultural self-identification of African peoples"was vivid and convincing. Based on the material of modern Arabic literature, she showed the difficulties (sometimes growing into insurmountable contradictions) of both authors and their characters who found themselves in a borderline situation between their native Maghreb culture and French (upbringing, language, the need to address the readership in the language of former colonizers). This duality of self-awareness is no less pronounced among Maghreb writers living in France, including Arab writers who were already born in Europe.

N. V. Gromova (ISAA) finished the performances of the masters of African Studies. In the lecture "African languages in Russia: study and teaching", she emphasized the special importance of the philological direction in the training of Africanists, reminding the audience that African studies in Russia was born precisely as the study of the languages of the peoples of the continent. N. V. Gromova reminded that the history of teaching African languages in our country goes back 75 years.

This time, the organizers of the conference also preferred to adhere to the found form of holding the conference, which provides for the presence of participants at all breakout sessions. Thus, future economists get acquainted with the linguistic map of the continent, philologists get to know the way of life of Africans, and at the same time they both try to understand the features of the historical path of Africa, which manifested themselves, in particular, in the colonization and slow economic evolution of the continent's countries. This form of conducting the School helps young scientists to understand the role and significance of other areas of research for a full-scale understanding of the processes taking place in the socio-political and cultural life of Africa. Finally, the need to attend meetings of all sections makes it possible to realize the corporate unity of the African studies workshop and establish human contacts.

It should be noted that some aspiring researchers from ISAA MSU, RSUH, Yaroslavl State University (hereinafter - Yar.GU) participated in the Schools of Young Africanists not for the first time. And, I must say, their scientific growth is obvious. So, a few stu-

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During this time, dent historians from Yaroslavl have become graduate students who are exploring the depths of cultural knowledge about Africa.

A pleasant surprise for the organizers was the appearance of a new group of young Africanists, which was represented by students of MGI (U)Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics, postgraduate students of IMEMO RAS. Also, for the first time, young scientists from Kiev research institutes took part in it.

In total, more than 30 reports of novice researchers were made at this conference. The organizers grouped them into six sections.

The section "Africa in a globalizing world" was opened by K. A. Panzerev (St. Petersburg State University) with the report "Tropical African countries and the globalization of the world order". He described the concept of "globalization", noting the fears of Africans to be once again in this process as an object. According to the speaker, in order to reverse the current situation, Africans should reconsider the axiom of the universality of Western values, the belief in which was questioned by intellectuals, while Western political leaders still rely on the power of Western civilization and the inviolability of its ideals. 1989-2009, when the country ended the apartheid regime, laid the foundation for a new foreign policy and developed its principles. The reasons and peculiarities of the US involvement in resolving military-political conflicts on the continent were analyzed by post-graduate student S. V. Kostelyanets (Institute of African Studies). He concluded that the United States, as the only current superpower, will continue to play a leading role in conflict resolution, despite a slight decline in its interest in Africa.

The section "History: attempts at an interdisciplinary approach", perhaps, most successfully embodied the call of the organizers to synthesize the methodology and tools of various disciplines as a means of scientific research. In any case, the historical, cultural and socio-political themes that prevailed in the work of this section were revealed using economic, religious, and art criticism concepts, expanding the scope of research, clarifying and deepening the author's conclusions. Kh. M. Turinskaya (Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in the message "Bamum: history and Art" Based on the material of the culture of the Bamum people, she considered the problem of reflecting history in art. What, for example, can thrones and stools intended for Cameroonian rulers tell us? On the one hand, these are objects of decorative and applied art, on the other-symbols of power, the power of the ruler. state Pedagogical University. un-t) in his report "Regionalism and the Ethiopian Church in the XVIII - mid-XIX centuries" drew attention to a seemingly paradoxical phenomenon - the tendency of the church of that time to turn more into a stronghold of separatism and regionalization than into a supporter of integration. According to the speaker, the roots of this phenomenon lay in the fact that local rulers and clergy took into account mutual interests more flexibly than the central authorities managed to do in their contacts with the highest hierarchs of the church at their own level.

PhD student T. V. Krylova (Yar.GU) reported on the relationship between changes in the system of local administration in Egypt, carried out by the Roman rulers at the beginning of the IV century, and the nature of the power of local administrators. A similar problem concerning the socio-political and economic organization of the power apparatus, but already on the example of the Rwandan society of the XIX century. The study was conducted by student Z. S. Skamyina (ISAA). It showed that the origins of the modern, not completely overcome ethnic and political conflict between Tutsi and Hutu began in the XIX century. Student S. Y. Ivanova (ISAA) gave an ambiguous assessment of the content and results of British rule in Zanzibar in the XIX century. She noted that the slave trade was eliminated, the capital was improved, judicial reform was carried out, and at the same time the hierarchical model of society and socio-political structures was consolidated.

In the section "Socio-political problems and their resolution", three out of eight prospective participants spoke. Their reports were devoted to South Africa. PhD student D. A. Zelenova (Institute of Africa) outlined the causes, evolution and possible results of the movement of squatters (homeless residents of large cities trying to solve the problem of a roof over their heads by collectively seizing empty houses or plots of land) in South Africa. Her highly charged report presents South African squatting as part of a global process of widening the wealth gap between rich and poor, which has been particularly contrasting since the African National Congress came to power. Student M. A. Denisenko (ISAA) turned to the origins of Inkata's birth and formation as an ethnic Freedom Party,

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which in the 1970s set out to create a separate Zulu state. Main conclusion of the speaker: first of all, people who live most separately and at the same time have a long experience of self-government and a sufficiently developed endogenous culture are inclined to separatism. Student V. V. Kruchinsky (RSUH) continued the theme of the Inkata Freedom Party, focusing on the aggravated problem of isolation as an ethnopolitical organization in the 1990s. The speaker stressed that under the banner of the Zulu party, its leader tried to establish a monopoly on power within the national liberation movement.

During the section "Challenges and prospects for the development of the African economy", seven presentations were made. B. E. Bunko (Institute of Africa) in his report "Development of Africa in the context of the global crisis" noted significant economic growth in Africa in the five years preceding the global crisis. After analyzing the ambiguous trends that emerged in the financial and economic sphere of African states during the crisis period, he came to the conclusion that negative processes prevailed, however, Africa, according to him, was generally better prepared for the crisis than ten years ago. PhD student K. A. Tkachenko (Institute of Africa) considered the impact of the financial and economic crisis on African countries. He cited the arguments of analysts. Thus, African experts believe that the global crisis will not cause major shocks, while experts from international economic organizations are inclined to conclude that the decline in Africa will be quite noticeable. Post-graduate student V. A. Sidorov (Institute of Africa) and student A.D. Khamatshin (RSUH) analyzed economic processes in South Africa during the crisis period, and student A.D. Filippova (ISAA) analyzed economic processes in Namibia.

Economic consequences of the migration of Africans to Europe for African and European countries - the topic of a speech by student A. A. Savateev (Russian State University of Economics). acad.). He noted that this phenomenon is primarily caused by the processes of globalization and the adoption of democratic laws legalizing freedom of movement and thereby limiting the ability of European authorities to put barriers on the way of Africans to Europe. Negative aspects for both continents are, in particular, that Africa is losing the most active and enterprising part of the youth, while in Europe the problems of adapting migrant cultures are becoming more acute and unemployment among the indigenous population is increasing. Graduate student M. A. Sidorov (IMEMO) devoted his report to the activities of US trading companies, in particular Wal-Mart, in African markets - in Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Ivory Coast, etc.

In nine reports of the section "Past and present in the light of cultural analysis", attempts were made to conduct an interdisciplinary analysis. I. G. Tatarovskaya (Institute of Africa) in her speech "Basic elements of being in the myths of the peoples of Tropical Africa" showed the complex nature of traditional religiosity, realized in unity with mythopoetic ideas, elements of philosophical knowledge and literary and artistic images. According to the author of the message, the level of understanding in African myths is quite correlated with the ancient Chinese and ancient Greek teachings on the primary elements of the physical world. V. N. Semyonov, Z. V. Mokrushin, and N. A. Sokolov viewed the artistic problems of mass consciousness and individual author's creativity in approximately the same way. V. N. Semyonova (MAE RAS) turned to studying the ways and nature of reflection of the social consciousness of Ethiopians in art and culture at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. creative work. Subject of post-graduate student Z. V. Mokrushina (Yar. GU) - the link between literature and socio-political processes, namely: the reflection of the process of formation of civil society in the literature of Nigeria during the independence period. Graduate student N. A. Sokolova (Yar. GU) tried to reveal the artist's position on war and social injustice. As an example, she chose the work of the contemporary Sudanese painter Ibrahim el-Salahi, who, with a series of paintings denouncing the war, brings to mind the famous "Guernica" by P. Picasso.

A number of messages from this section were devoted to the mutual influence of African and European cultures, the problem of self-consciousness of an African who finds himself in Europe or the United States. Thus, PhD student D. S. Plokhova (Yar. GU) focused on the problem of the worldview of African migrants in Europe, primarily representatives of the art world, whose work reflects the duality of their identity. The most interesting results from the point of view of art are those works of art that, in the author's opinion, embody an organic synthesis of African and European traditions. An example of such a synthesis in the political sphere was the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, whose socio-political and philosophical heritage was analyzed by graduate student E. E. Tupitsina (Yar. GU). Kwame

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Nkrumah, she noted, overcame the narrow framework of ideas of African exclusivity, rationally used the theoretical provisions of Marxism, the teachings of Gandhi, European philosophers, starting with Plato and Aristotle and ending with the German school of thinkers of the XIX century. Dreaming of creating a "philosophy of action" that could consolidate Africans belonging to different states, spiritual and religious systems, he assigned a special role to the traditions of African society. He considered it possible to combine the virtues of competing religions and secular teachings, developing a new ideological system, which he proposed to call "conshiensism".

Student N. I. Steblin-Kamensky (St. Petersburg State University) drew attention to the distinctive feature of Ethiopian Christian hagiography - kidana. Khitans, as the speaker described them, are a promise of rewards that a saint receives from the mouth of Christ before his death. This tradition is derived from pre-Christian oral sources. Students E. V. Kushchak and M. V. Nikolskaya (both from MGI(U)MO) turned to a modern topic - the social activities of the most famous African singers. In the eyes of many residents of the continent, mainly South Africans, images of popular singers are associated primarily with the struggle against apartheid, with the protection of human rights. Graduate student E. P. Pridatko (IMEMO) highlighted the role of the concept of multiculturalism in relations between the United States and Canada with African countries. Revealing the content of the concept of "multiculturalism", she described the ways of using multiculturalism in political and economic relations with Africa.

Five presentations were made in the section "Philological research". Student E. V. Zhirenkova (ISAA) drew the audience's attention to such a literary genre as travel diaries in the Hausa language. After describing the evolution of both oral and written literature in the language, she focused on analyzing the book by Aminu Kano, a prominent Nigerian politician who traveled to England and described it in detail. Student V. M. Korosteleva (ISAA) presented the results of her research on the poetry of the poet and politician of Nigeria Moody Sipikin, who, by the way, was a student and associate of Aminu Kano. Moody Sipikin in the late 1940s wrote the poem "Russia and the slanderers", in which he presented Russia (where he was not) as an ideal country, a symbol of good. The very fact of the appearance of such a poem speaks of an extremely great interest in distant, little-known Russia, about the authority of the post-war Soviet Union in Nigeria and in Africa as a whole. Student K. S. Mineeva (ISAA) considered phraseological expressions formed on the basis of the verb ci (is). Her presentation included a general analysis of phraseological units in the Hausa language, the set and application of which is very wide. As for the position and role of Swahili in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as co-speakers M. O. Dorokhina and E. Y. Pinchuk (both ISAA) discussed, it has now become one of the four official languages, and its importance is clearly growing in real language practice; it functions especially in the eastern provinces as a state language. lingua franca. At the same time, Congolese Swahili, which is called "kingwana" here, differs significantly from the standard. Based on the field material they collected in the DRC, the speakers examined the features of Kingwan at three levels: lexical, morphosyntactic, and phonetic.

The results of the School were summed up by the chairman of the organizing committee I. V. Sledzevsky and the secretary A. D. Savateev. They noted the interest of the young scientists who spoke in the results of their work, their desire to get to the bottom of what is happening on the continent. At the same time, the methodology of interdisciplinary analysis has not turned out to be a strong weapon of scientific research for everyone. The ixth School is scheduled for October-November 2010.


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