Introduction. Jubilee histories of the Soviet and Russian universities (higher education institutions) draw scholars’ attention as tools for the construction of traditions and search for a usable past. Historians scrutinize primary the past of universities as it is depicted in historical texts, but as a rule, these texts also treat the present and future of educational institutions. Exploring narratives that put all three times together, the article examines jubilee texts in their integrity. Methods and sources. The study is based on both published and unpublished narrative sources on histories of universities that usually are somehow connected with jubilees. Special attention is paid to discursive features of the texts under study. The author employs the method of discourse-analysis, as well as the method of contextualization of the examined written sources within political and social developments of the Soviet era. Analysis. The 1930s saw a gradual development of the jubilee history genre. While a lot of norms and regulations had not been implemented yet, there were distinctly visible anachronisms and factual errors. The exact place of the revolution and other landmark events had not been determined yet. The new genre gained momentum during and after the thaw period. The history of the universities of that time showed greater attention to historical detail and accuracy. At the same time, a certain model of linear history became well established; past, present, and future were clearly ordered and delineated. Results. Typical jubilee texts of the 1930s – 1980s had quite a stable structure, albeit they could vary in content. They were efficient and flexible enough for ongoing ideological campaigns. More importantly, these qualities widened the opportunities for the articulation of various visions of the university that didn’t necessarily fully chime with the official ideology although they didn’t explicitly confront it either.
Grant-based funding became one of the crucial innovations in the Russian academia of the 1990s. It has been studied from quantitative and institutional perspectives while our paper focuses primarily on oral histories of grants that shed light on their subjective meaning. Interviews show that some Russian academics remember their first experiences of applying for various programs, competition and peer review as important part of their ego-narratives. These narratives portray ambitious, independent, and free-minded scholarly persona that chimes with the virtues promoted in the academic community back in the 1990s, when research grants and scholarships were introduced. Apart of their practical benefits and prestige, grants helped some scientists and scholars to comprehend themselves and the changing landscape of post-Soviet academia.JEL Classification: Z.
The article examines views of A.I. Herzen on emotions and their role in politics. Herzen's position on the issue of emotions traced back to the early socialist and romantic influences and interpreted in terms of "sentimentalist emotional regime" (W. Reddy). Two discussions that involved Herzen are scrutinized. The first one was a debate of the 1840s around rationality and morals in family life where Herzen advocated middle position between unrestricted capricious emotionality and moralistic rationalism represented by Hegelian T. Rötscher. It is argued that this debate noticeably influenced Herzen's later conceptions of politics and the public sphere that came to prominence during the reforms of Alexander II. The article shows that Herzen repeated some of his previous arguments against excessive rationalism and emotional restrictions attacking Russian Hegelian B.N. Chicherin. Herzen backed sincerity in the expression of one's emotions both in private life and in politics, challenging prevalent notions of rationality. Chicherin, on the contrary, was a strong proponent of the neutral and rationalized political sphere since he thought emotions would lead to disturbances and revolutions Concluding remarks concern ambiguous heritage of Herzen's views on emotions that seem to be closer to his opponents than may be immediately apparent. JEL Classification: Z.
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