Strategies for constructing the identity of travelers — Russian nobles N. M. Przhevalsky and A. M. Ossendovsky in Mongolia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2024.4.10Keywords:
hybrid identity; national image; Cosmo-Psycho-Logos; inculturation; acculturation; cultural memory; Mongols; travelogue; Georgy Dmitrievich Gachev; Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky; Anton Martynovich OssendowskyAbstract
The article analyzes the construction of representations by Russian travelers of the late 19th to early 20th centuries, specifically N. M. Przhevalsky and A. M. Ossendowsky, regarding Mongolia. It examines the role of spatial images in the authors' interpretation of their own identities through the lens of G. D. Gachev's Cosmo-Psycho-Logos concept. This theoretical framework allows for a description of Mongolian culture as a unified semiotic space that accumulates archetypes of the sacred landscape, national character, and modes of thinking.
The article explores how these travelers perceived the mythologized image of the invisible land of Agarti (Przhevalsky) and Agharta (Ossendowsky), which Russian travelers associated with widely known legends of Tibet and India about the land of Shambhala on the one hand, and the Old Believers' concept of Belovodye in Siberia on the other.
It is argued that these travel authors, within a multicultural environment, employed a strategy of hybrid or mixed identity. The narrative of an invisible land in their works represents an existential experience of encountering both “self” and “other” spaces. The travelers display openness to elements of Central Asian culture, viewing it as compatible with their native culture.
References
Assman, Ya. (2004) Cultural memory: Writing, Memory of the past and political identity in the High Cultures of antiquity. Moscow, Yazyki slavianskoi kul'tury. 363 p.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1979) Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics. Moscow, Sov. Rossiia. 320 p.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1996) Collected works: in 5 vol. Moscow, Russkie slovari. Vol. 5. Works of the 1940s — early 1960s. 731 p.
Vainshtein, S. I. (1966) Monuments of Kyzylgan culture. In: Proceedings of the Tuvan Complex Archaeological Expedition / ed. by L. P. Potapov. Moscow, Leningrad, Nauka. 299 p. Pp. 143–184.
Gachev, G. D. (1988) National images of the world. Moscow, Sovetskii pisatel'. 450 p.
Gachev, G. D. (1990) National Space. Sovremennaia dramaturgiia, no. 2, pp. 10–21.
Gachev, G. D. (2020) National images of the world. Civilizations of Central Asia: (Intellectual Journeys). Moscow, Akademicheskii proekt. 784 p.
Gramatchikova, N. B. (2012) “Abundance” and “Poverty” in S. V. Maksimov's ethnographic essays “The Wilderness of the Forest” and “A Year in the North”. Ural'skii istoricheskii vestnik, no. 1 (34), pp. 103–108.
Grum-Grzhimailo, G. E. (1930) Western Mongolia and Urianhai Region. Vol. 3. Issue 2. Leningrad, Russian Geographical Society. 859 p.
Husserl, E. (2009) Ideas for a Pure Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy. Moscow, Akademicheskii Proekt. 489 p.
Dalgat, U. B. (1981) Literature and folklore. Theoretical aspects. Moscow, Nauka. 303 p.
Zaitsev, M. V. (1925) A brief essays of Mongolia. Kharbin, Typo-lithography by L. M. Abramovich. 30 p.
Irgit, Ch. K. (2023) The first expeditions on the ethnographic study of Tuva in the late XIX — early XX centuries. Aziatskie issledovaniia: istoriia i sovremennost', no. 2–3 (6–7), pp. 115–133.
Kozlov, P. K. (1913) A three-year journey (1899-1901) through Mongolia and Tibet. The RGO Expedition. St. Petersburg, Printing House of the Main Department of the Shire. 233 p. Pp. 1–58.
Kon, F. Ya. (2007) Expedition to Soyotia. For fifty years. In: Urianhai. Tyva depter : in 7 vol / comp. by S. K Shoigu. Moscow, Slovo/Slovo. Vol. 4. Uriankhai region: Crossroads of opinions (late XIX — first half of XX centuries). 549 p. Pp. 348–547.
Kuz'min, S. L. and Reit, L. (2008) F. A. Ossendovsky's Notes as a source on the history of Mongolia. Vostok. Afro-aziatskie obshchestva: istoriia i sovremennost', no. 5, pp. 97–110.
Kuchukova, Z. A. (2005) The ontological metacode as the core of ethnopoetics: (Karachay-Balkarian mentality in the mirror of poetry). Nal'chik, Publishing house of M. and V. Kotlyarov. 309 p.
Lakan, Zh. (1997) The instance of the letter in the unconscious, or the Fate of the Mind after Freud. Moscow, The Russian Phenomenological Society. 365 p.
Lotman, Yu. M. (1996) Inside the thinking worlds. Man text — Semiosphere — history. Moscow, Yazyki slavianskoi kul'tury. 464 p.
Lotman, Yu. M. (2000) The Semiosphere. St. Peterburg, Iskusstvo, SPb. 704 p.
Mamardashvili, M. K. (2014) The psychological topology of the path. Moscow, Merab Mamardashvili Foundation. 1248 p.
Nurkova, V. V. (2006) Mirror with memory: The phenomenon of photography: Cultural and historical analysis. Moscow, Russian State University for the Humanities. 307 p.
Petrov, M. K. (2019) Human dimension. Types of cultures and man's relationship to nature: Types of cultures and man's relationship to nature. Rostov-na-Donu; Taganrog, Publishing House of the Southern Federal University. 108 p.
Pomortseva, N. V. and Krasil'nikova, S. V. (2023) The specifics of constructing ethnic identity in intercultural discourse (On the question of the linguocultural adaptation of the medieval author of “Walking across Three Seas Afanasy Nikitin”). Filologicheskiei nauki. Nauchnye doklady vysshei shkoly, no. S6, pp. 21–30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20339/PhS.6s-23.021
Potanin, G. N. and Potanina, A. V. (2017) Siberia. Mongolia. China. Tibet. Life-long journeys. Moscow, Eksmo. 448 p.
Savoskul, S. S. (2011) The legend of Belovodye in the twentieth century. In: Folklore and ethnography. On the ninetieth anniversary of K. V. Chistov's birth / ed. by A. K. Baiburin and T. B. Shchepanskaia. St. Petersburg, MAE RAN. 316 p. Pp. 203–211.
Sid, I. (2013) “The Power of the Route”: Travel as a fundamental anthropological phenomenon. In: Institute of the Russian Anthropological School. Proceedings. Issue 13 / comp. by E. M. Boltunova. Moscow, RGGU Publ. 190 p. Pp. 27–35.
Slobodianik, N. B. (2007) The Construction of Identity in political Discourse: on the role of social antagonism (on the concept of political discourse by Laclau and Mouffe). Politicheskaia lingvistika, issue 2 (22), pp. 60–67.
Sorochan, A. Yu. (2024) Travel literature as literature. Tver', OOO «Al'fa‐Press». 256 p.
Stepanov, Yu. S. (2007) Concepts. The thin film of civilization. Moscow, Yazyki slavianskoi kul'tury. 248 p.
Tlosganova, M. V. (2000) The problem of multiculturalism and literature of the USA at the end of the XX century. Moscow, IMLI RAN «Nasledie». 400 p.
Tlosganova, M. V. (2006) Transculturation as a new episteme of the era of globalization. Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriia: Filosofiia, no. 2, pp. 5–16.
Toporov, V. N. (2003) St. Petersburg text of Russian Literature: selected works. St. Petersburg, Iskusstvo, SPb. 616 p.
Tkhagazitov, Yu. M. (1999) The evolution of the artistic consciousness of the Adygs. Nal'chik, El'brus. 156 p.
Khal'bvaks, M. (2005) Collective and historical memory. Neprikosnovennyi zapas, no. 2/3 (40/41), pp. 8–27.
Chetyrova, L. B. and Sakharov, A. S. (2023) Travelogues in the perspective of gender Orientalism (A case study of texts by K. D. Mintslova, E. K. Vereshchagina, S. R. Mintslov and Yu. N. Roerich). New Research of Tuva, no. 2, pp. 141–152. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2023.2.10
Chistov, K. V. (2003) Russian folk utopia (genesis and functions of socio-utopian legends). St. Petersburg, Dmitrii Bulanin. 539 p.
Shapinskaia, E. N. (2017) On the methodology of Cultural research: discursive analysis. Kul'tura kul'tury, no. 2, pp. 88–97. [online] Available at: http://www.cult-cult.ru/to-the-methodology_of-cultural-studies-discourse-analysis/?ysclid=lvqk6d90kf50794443 (access: 30.04.2024).
Etkind, A. (2001) Interpretation of travel. Russia and America in travelogues and intertexts. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. 496 p.
Andersen, J. (1997) Kalacakra. Textual and ritual perspectives. Harvard University. 332 p.
Anderson, B. (1991) Imagined Societies. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London; N. Y., Quebecor World. 240 p.
Anzaldua, G. (1987) Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco. 260 p.
Castillo, S. P. (2006) Colonial Encounters in New World Writing, 1500–1786: Performing America. L., Routledge. X, 276 p.
Kratochwil, F. (1991) Rules, norms, and decisions: on the conditions of practical and legal reasoning in international relations and domestic affairs. Cambridge University Press. 312 p.
Pierce, A. (2007) Deepening Musical Performance through Movement: The Theory and Practice of Embodied Interpretation. Indiana University Press. 248 p.
Eco, U. (2014) From the Tree to the Labyrinth. Historycal Studies on the Sign and Interpretation / trans. by A. Oldcorn. Cambridge, Harvard University Press. 634 p.
Erikson, E. H. (1968) Identity: Youth and crisis. New York, NY., Norton. 336 p.
Ward, C. and Kennedy, A. (1993) Acculturation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of British residents in Hong Kong. Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 133(3), pp. 395–397.
Wendt, A. (1994) Collective Identity Formation and the International State. American Journal of Sociology, vol. 88, no. 2, pp. 384–396.
Published
How to Cite
For citation:
Pomortseva N. V., Krasil’nikova S. V., Apakina L. V. and Ernisova A. E. Strategies for constructing the identity of travelers — Russian nobles N. M. Przhevalsky and A. M. Ossendovsky in Mongolia. New Research of Tuva, 2024, no. 4, pp. 138-153. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2024.4.10
Issue
Section
Author Biographies
Natal'ia V. P Pomortseva, RUDN University
Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Head, Department of Russian Studies, Ethno-Oriented Pedagogy and Digital Diactics, RUDN University.
Postal address: 10/3 Miklukho-Maklaya St., 117198, Moscow, Russia.
E-mail: pomortseva-nv@rudn.ru
Svetlana V. Krasil'nikova, RUDN University
Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of Department of Russian Studies, Ethno-Oriented Pedagogy and Digital Diactics, RUDN University.
Postal address: 10/3 Miklukho-Maklaya St., 117198, Moscow, Russia.
E-mail: mnemozina04@mail.ru
Liudmila V. Apakina, RUDN University
Candidate of Pedagogical, Associate Professor of Department of Russian Studies, Ethno-Oriented Pedagogy and Digital Diactics, RUDN University.
Postal address: 10/3 Miklukho-Maklaya St., 117198, Moscow, Russia.
E-mail: apakina-lv@rudn.ru
Aigerim E. Ernisova, Kyrgyz Russian Slavic University
Candidate of Philology, Head, Center of the Russian Language, Kyrgyz Russian Slavic University.
Postal address: 44 Chui Av., Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 720022.
E-mail: aigerim_ernisova@mail.ru
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Author(s) license holder(s) grant rights for their work to the journal (grantee of a license) under the simple non-exclusive open license in accordance with Art. 1286.1 «Open license for a research work, work of literature or fine arts», Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
New Research of Tuva publishes articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (CC BY-NC).
Since it is an open license, author(s) reserve the right to upload the article to their institutional repository, submit it to another journal (if it allows republications), or republish it on their own website (in full, or in part).
However, several conditions apply here:
a) The republished version must always contain the name(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s), the original title and the hyperlink to the original version on the New Research of Tuva website;
b) It must be in open access, free of charge, and no category of readers must be in any way whatsoever advantaged over general readership.
c) should the contribution be submitted elsewhere by its author(s) without substantial modification (30% or more of original text unchanged), the body of the article should contain a disclaimer that the original version was published in New Research of Tuva (with a link to the respective page)
The CC-BY-NC is a non-revocable license which applies worldwide and lasts for the duration of the work’s copyright.
