The subject of the study is the dispute between the Russian philosopher, K. Leontiev, and the French emperor, Napoleon III, regarding the meaning and orientation of historical events. The topicality of the study is determined by the importance of the problem of progress in the modern world and the need to take into account the entire range of previous approaches to it. The novelty is defined by the absence of works in which a comparison of the two analyzed approaches would be presented. The article uses the following methods: hermeneutic, phenomenological, and comparative historical. The policy of Napoleon III is characterized in the artistic works of Leontiev as well as in the works in philosophical and publicistic genres. In the novel Odysseus Polychroniades, the Second French Empire appears as a mechanical structure devoid of a spiritual core. In the autobiographical work Egyptian pigeon, the emperor appears as a usurper. In his philosophical and political writings, Leontiev focuses on the theory of cultural types. Napoleon III's France in this context serves as an illustration of the period of secondary mixing and simplification in the lives of civilizations. But its history is also important to Leontiev as a kind of reference point in the historical coordinate system, which allows us to compare the Western path with the fate of Russia. The Russian thinker strongly emphasized the connection between the history of his country and Byzantine principles. He saw its future in their preservation and support. Leontiev considered France, which rushed along the path of liberal egalitarianism, a decaying state characterized by decomposition and loss of originality and religiosity, as well as by the transition from complexity to a more primitive organization. Napoleon III, on the contrary, considered France the vanguard of civilization, and the principle of nationalities proclaimed by him was seen as the only reliable basis for international politics. Although Leontiev and Napoleon III do not have the same interpretations of progress, in their understanding of the general meaning of history and the laws of civilizational development both considered it necessary to introduce conservative elements into public life. The forecasts of the Russian philosopher regarding the future give more reason to name him (rather than the emperor) a prophet.

Intolerance, demonization and hate speech used to be an integral part of Franco-German relations in the 19th century. The paper is devoted to the analysis of the image of barbarians within the context of the confrontation between France and Germany in 1870s–1910s. Creation and transformation of political myths is viewed through the lens of cultural artefacts. The study is topical because it allows for the analysis of the universal development of cultural confrontation on a specific example. The prime goal of the article is to identify the patterns of mutual stigmatization and account for their seeming anomalies or exceptions to these patterns: the German simultaneously viewed as well-educated and barbarian; common origins of barbarian and classical antique cultures resulting in opposing identities, etc. The aims of the study include: 1) to systematize empirical sources; 2) to assess the impact of historical and cultural context on the formation of the conceptual images of barbaric and civilized; 3) to single out basic dichotomies of the barbaric vs civilized opposition. The study was based on various cultural texts of the period, ranging from speeches, essays, and memoirs to posters and monuments. Methods used included comparative, semiotic, and imagological approaches, corpus, discourse, and content analyses. French newspaper clichés are compared to the Europe-wide opinions about Prussian militarism. As it turns out, the German way of thinking about the heroes of the past contributed to political stigmatization of Germany. Another finding, based on French literature, is the unobvious correlation between decadent world perception and political turmoil in France. Modernist poetry, literature and journalism compared the fall of the French Empire to the collapse of the Roman Empire and thus contributed to the conceptualizing of the German as barbarians. At the same time German propaganda attempted to defend itself by finding barbarians on the east and ironically quoting French sources to speak about actual war crimes. The results of the study show that seemingly chaotic hate speech and confrontation are determined on the basis of the specific rules related to age-old non-political traditions and current political circumstances marking the dichotomy between oneself and the other, friend or foe.

The article, based on field materials, examines the transformation of the worldview of the Buryats of the Eastern Sayan region under the influence of Buddhism. The relevance of the study comes from the need to clarify the value matrices of the traditional society of this region nowadays. The purpose of the study is to identify the key features of the interaction of traditional rituals with later beliefs among the bearers of these values. To achieve this goal, it was necessary to solve several problems: modern scientific ideas about the influence of Buddhism on traditional beliefs were systematized; the specific relationships of Buddhism, traditional shamanism and beliefs are highlighted; the dominant values of Buddhism reinterpreting the heritage of religious practices combined with it are clarified. Further, based on the analysis of field research, the most significant differences in the interpretations of such reinterpreted values were revealed, distinguishing them from traditional Buddhism. Using examples of existing customs, the modern development of the process of integration of the Buddhist worldview into the already existing ritual culture of the Sayan Buryats is traced. The research methodology includes comparative historical and religious studies and hermeneutical approaches. The field study used the method of interview. As a result, the role of Buddhism was confirmed as a way of adaptively rethinking the heritage of traditional culture in light of the modern crisis of values, associated, among other things, with the forgetting of traditions, consumer attitudes towards the environment, nature, society and even loved ones. Turning to Buddhism in the Eastern Sayan region today, as in the past, is becoming one of the ways to overcome such negative phenomena. Buddhism in the region not only absorbed beliefs that existed at different stages of the history of ethnic Buryatia, but also adapted them to its religious practice. A Buddhist worldview of this type corresponds to the concepts of vernacular religion accepted in modern religious studies. Forming a syncretical holistic picture of the world that corresponds to local conditions and the historical period, vernacular Buddhism defines a wide range of existing values that ideologically and practically incorporate the ritual culture that has developed over centuries.

The article examines the development of politicized Shiite Islam in Iran as a type of autopoiesis (N. Luhmann) of this religious tradition. The topic arises from the actualization of the influence of religion on the life of a number of societies that have relied on technological modernization, as well as the importance that the topic of the optimal combination of modernization and traditional values is acquiring today. The purpose of the study is, based on an analysis of the activities of the Shiite clergy, to characterize the uniqueness of the revaluation of the values of Iranian society in the course of the development of modern philosophy and ideology of Shiism. The objectives of the study were: 1) to systematize the existing scientific approaches to the process of politicization of Shiism in the second half of the 20th – early 21st centuries; 2) consider the connection between political processes and the specific theology of Shiism; 3) reveal the dynamics of the relationship between the values of tradition and modernization in the teachings of Shiite religious figures; 4) clarify the specificities of the stages of influence of Imami Islam on the religious and political life of modern Iran. The research was based on theological and scientific writings of Islamic spiritual leaders, their opponents and followers. The key method used was historical-genetic, which made it possible to analyze the formation of Shiism in Iran in the historical and cultural context; and comparative, with the help of which the specifics of the various stages of the autopoietic formation of Iranian Shiism against the background of other denominations of Shiism and Islam in general were clarified. It has been proven that consideration of the path of development of the philosophical and ideological aspects of Shiism theology from the perspective of N. Luhmann's theory makes it possible to trace not only the external, but also the autochthonous foundations of the complex reverses of this religious model of self-awareness of society; as well as identify and characterize the functional specificity and dynamic characteristics of the process of politicization of Shiism in Iran. In modern Iran, theology influences the consciousness of believers, and, as a consequence, social and political processes, and not vice versa, as is commonly believed in relation to modern societies. The role of Imami Islam (Shiites) in the formation of values and behavioral attitudes during the actual structuring of relations in society turns out to be key for Iran. At the same time, however, this theology contains the potential for historical change: the very theological system changes, starting from its own concepts and transforming them. This constructivist approach turns out to be compatible with the emphasis on traditionalism. The logical possibility of such collaboration in building a new type of society is justified within the framework of the development of the theory of legal guardianship.

Different theories of cross-cultural communication developed by researchers in the field of humanities including cultural anthropology, social psychology, cognitive science, etc., offer a variety of ways to classify national cultures. At the same time, many agree that there is a need for finding clear and measurable fundamental parameters underlying any national culture. The article substantiates the use of the parameter of individualism vs. collectivism, already tested in the framework of anthropology and philosophy of culture with regard to both Western and non-Western cultures, as an effective way for cultural comparison. The article aims to give an overview of various theories of cross-cultural interaction and their elements; to examine where they overlap or diverge; to look into the correlation between individualist/collectivist value orientations and behavior; and to study this parameter realization on a number of cases. The study is based on philosophical, anthropological, and cultural psychological theories, including the theory of guilt and shame cultures by R. Benedict, theory of self–presentations by R. Baumeister and D. Hutton, theory of personality’s self-construction by H. Marcus and S. Kitayama, as well as theory of cultural logics by A. Leung and D. Cohen. As an empirical confirmation of the above theoretical approaches, the article provides real-life examples, collected by the author. Literature was subject to categorical analysis. Empirical data was collected and analyzed using methods such as participant observation and discourse analysis. The comparative approach and hermeneutics techniques served as a general methodological prism. The study shows that, at least since the 1960s, specialists in the field of cultural studies have been increasingly discovering limitations and inconsistencies in theories that previously claimed to be universal: many of the models which originated in the West do not adequately represent non-Western cultures. The study proves the workability of the parameter of individualism vs. collectivism for interpretation of behavioral inconsistencies between people of different cultures. This parameter is compatible with a wide range of frameworks and shows a clear correlation between behavioral characteristics in different cultures and allows to interpret phenomena that were previously uninterpretable.

The article examines the relationship between soft power, nation branding, and educational and cultural cooperation within the framework of the Swedish Institute's policy of international cooperation to promote the country’s image abroad and strengthen the position of its reputational capital. The relevance of addressing this topic is due to the significance of the stated agenda, which, as our research has shown, influenced not only the development of cultural cooperation and academic exchanges, but also the features of building Sweden’s foreign policy image. Based on the analysis of the organization’s materials and data in reports from 2022–2023, the authors aimed to show the process of forming the priorities of the organization’s activities within the framework of the distribution of financial support and the focus of cultural and educational projects. To this end, the role and parameters of building a national brand are analyzed; changes in the topics of educational and cultural events and programs conducted by Sweden in the countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic region are considered; the dynamics of the processes of cultural exchange between Sweden and these countries are traced; the influence of the current political situation on the volume and measures of financial assistance to them is noted; and the perception of Sweden in Russia, Eastern European and Baltic countries is characterized. The study was based on the methods of comparative analysis, discourse analysis, and case study techniques. It was concluded that in implementing a diverse range of educational and cultural programs, the Swedish Institute adheres to the principle of regionalism, which allows the implementation of such projects, taking into account the interests and needs of both Sweden and partner countries. It was shown that when determining the parameters of national branding, the Swedish Institute relies on the approach of S. Anholt, clarifying it in a number of areas. According to the findings of the study, adaptation of relevant programs for the development of cooperation with partner countries, is aimed at integrating specific Swedish values into the cultural matrix of the host cultures. The global political situation strongly influences the realization of programs, thus causing the exclusion of such an important international partner as Russia. The study confirmed the initial thesis about the relatively slow accumulation of Sweden’s reputational capital, including in the process of the Swedish Institute’s work with ‘promising’ (in the current environment) countries, as well as with the countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. It is further concluded that the Swedish Institute is not only a key actor in the country's cultural and educational policy, as well as a powerful channel of soft power, but also an instrument for Sweden's positioning of itself as a moral superpower, which can be seen in many areas of its policies that go beyond fields of public diplomacy.

The article is devoted to the study of the process of the formation of Brazilian national identity through the prism of poetry as one of the most important elements of the nation's identity and maturity. The relevance of this topic is connected not only with the growing interest of Russian humanitarian science in the ‘Other West’, but also with application to the task of successful interaction with representatives of a particular culture requiring familiarity with the meanings that determine their self-identification. It is necessary to have a holistic understanding of the process of national identity formation and social factors behind its transformation. The characteristic features of the rich culture of the Luso-Brazilian world nevertheless suggest a high degree of differentiation in the identity of the people of Portugal and its former colonies. The aim of the study is to analyze how the motif of freedom manifests itself in the works of Brazilian Romantic poets, reflecting the gradual conceptualization of Brazilian national and cultural identity. To achieve this goal, the following objectives were set: first, to systematize the existing works on the national identity of Brazilians; second, to identify the motif of freedom in specific poems by prominent poets of the studied era and trace how this motif reveals identity of a Brazilian. The materials of the study are the corpus of works by Brazilian Romantic poets, comprising both the original works and their translations into Russian (including translations made by the author of this article). The leading research method was culturalhistorical; the corpus study was conducted by means of content analysis. The novelty of the study was determined by the fact of addressing the motif of freedom, considered as a key factor of Brazilian identity. As a result, it is shown how this motif was formed in the work of Brazilian Romantic poets of the 19th century, branching out into many conceptualizations of freedom. The study of the corpus of Brazilian poetic texts provides convincing evidence that the motif of freedom was one of the first steps for Brazilian society to realize its unique identity. The author concludes that the beginning of this process in the 19th century is associated with such vectors of comprehension of freedom as the desire of Brazilians to return to their homeland from foreign lands, escape from reality/life, freedom in the choice of Christian religion and freedom from sin, the desire to show strength, awareness of the important role of indigenous peoples and praise of the Indian struggle against oppression and despotism, resistance to slavery and colonizers. Gradually, however, the ontology of freedom from is complemented by an ontology of freedom for: Brazilian poets find imaginative solutions that reveal the identity of their people as a cultural search for a counterpart of communication.

The relevance of considering the semantic content of the concept of horror, which connects the genres of country noir and southern gothic into a single subsystem of cultural semiotics, is due to the need for a more detailed study of the specifics of both the generalizing concept itself and its role in specific genres of literature and cinema. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to trace the features of the semantic registers of disclosing various types of horror in the philosophical and hermeneutic field of the genres of country noir and southern gothic. To do this, 1) the theoretical foundations for the conceptualization of horror in these genres are determined and the key elements and mechanisms of concept implementation are identified; 2) the narrative and metaphorical series of deployment of the concepts are analyzed within the framework of the lifeworlds of the characters in literary texts constructed by the authors; 3) philosophical and hermeneutic layers through which these concepts are revealed in selected genres are identified. The research methods are based on philosophical-hermeneutic, conceptual, and narrative approaches in the analysis of a number of works, chosen by their genre and the degree of their relevance for a particular type of conceptualization of horror. For example, the works No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell, The Salt of the Earth by Flannery O’Connor, The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, as well as the movie What Josiah Saw. The sequence of works referred to in the text is determined by the sequence of presentation of the types of the concept of horror. As a result of the study, the hypothesis was confirmed that the conceptualization of horror as a violation of the usual course of determination reveals itself in three versions of the ontologizing of this experience: horror of an uncertain world (determination dependent on the frame of perception of the subject, acting as an expression of the radical external, outside the power of the subject), horror of an indefinite self (determined as the order of the surrounding world with uncertainty in the inner world of the individual), horror of invasion (determination to displace each other). The conclusion is that the study of horror as a result of a violation of the usual course of determination in the context of country noir and southern gothic allows not only to identify their implicit philosophical and cultural component, but also to better understand these genres, as well as expand the theoretical basis for the analysis of similar phenomena in other cultural and literary traditions.

The article is devoted to the creative heritage of the outstanding figure of Iranian culture — poet and artist Mohammad Ebrahim Jafari (1940–2018). The novelty of the presented research is determined by the almost complete absence of scientific works devoted to this issue: basic biographical facts, analysis of artistic language and the specific imagery of M. E. Jafari are poorly represented even in the Persian language. The purpose of the work is to identify the features of the national-cultural horizon of the synthetic genre combining painting and poetry developed by Jafari. To achieve this goal, it was necessary, firstly, to trace the poet’s biography; secondly, to clarify the nature of the artistic images created by him at different stages of his life and to analyze the original method of the author’s initiative as a way of artistic enrichment of the new synthetic genre. The multifaceted nature of the research subject determined the need for an interdisciplinary approach and the use of a complex of methods such as biographical, hermeneutic, and comparative typological. The author of the article has studied all the video materials and interviews of the poet published to date, his paintings, as well as a collection of selected poems. The author of the article also translated, for the first time, from Persian all the poetic material presented in the text. The study showed that M. E. Jafari, who does not differentiate the forms of creativity, easily transfers the stylistic techniques of his paintings to poems, which fills his lyrics with different shades of colors and smells. Poetic rhythm can be seen in his paintings, at the same time, abstract pictorial images embody the most significance for the poet in terms of acuity of perception, creating images of space and time as a unique experience, extremely concrete in its strength and depth. The masterly combination of abstract expressiveness and specificity of the sensual image makes it possible to attribute the deeply personal artistic creativity of M. E. Jafari to the cultural wave of new poetry, which meets the basic principles of the philosophy of Iranian modernism.

Heightened interest in modern Islam, its philosophy, and its culture is substantiated by the complex transformations in Islamic countries and Muslim regions of post-Soviet Russia. Some countries see a rise in the political role of Islam: religion has become a driver of international politics, and adaptation of the Muslim world to the global transformational processes of the century is still on the agenda. Some argue that the scholarly study of religion is ineffective for solving global issues. Muslim scholars take a dim view of non-Muslims attempting to study Islam. Russian academic approach lies in between Western and Muslim religious sciences; thus, new Russian works on Islam not only promote religious studies but also strengthen Russia as an international actor. Doctor of Philosophy, professor Taufik Ibragim is one of the eminent researchers of Islam. In 2009, he was a co-author of the biography of Muhammad. In 2015, he published a much-talked-about work on religious pluralism in the Quran. T. Ibragim’s works conflate encyclopedic knowledge and academic scrutiny with clarity and are of interest to both specialist audiences and general readers. In 2022, he published the book Names of God according to Islam, in which he attempted to translate Muslim concepts into the language of another monotheistic religion. The nature of God—personal and/ or impersonal—is subject to heated discussions, and T. Ibragim gives his interpretations of Quranic verses. The introduction presents an overview of the characteristics of God in the Quran and also gives the first comprehensive index of the names of God. The methodology, systematization, structure, and content of the book make it significant for Russian Islamic and Oriental studies. It will be helpful for theologists, Arabic and Islam scholars, as well as students. T. Ibragim’s works shed light on one of the most numerous and dynamic world religions and let everyone look into the hidden treasures of Islamic tradition.

MGIMO University annually hosts an international conference held in the memory of Professor A. F. Shishkin, a distinguished soviet ethicist and the founder of the Department of Philosophy of the university. The latest 29th Shishkin Readings took place in MGIMO University on December 23, 2023, and was devoted to ethical issues in the age of ever-increasing turbulence. M. A. Shishkin and A. V. Shestopal greeted the participants, and V. S. Glagolev gave an opening talk on the requirements a modern person should meet and a moral compass in the turbulent social context. There followed plenary and breakout sessions moderated by senior lecturers of the Department of Philosophy D. S. Gorshenyov and I. A. Chuprova. PhD students, professors, and researchers shared their expertise and participated in keen discussions. Today’s turbulence transforms individual and social lives, massive changes in international affairs put forward new challenges which cannot be addressed without consideration of their ethical dimension. In their reports, speakers focused on negative and positive evaluations, the role of ethics as an academic discipline, moral aspects of digitalization and the rise of AI. Over the years the conference, by giving the floor to aspiring scholars, proved to be a good venue for bridging the gap between generations of academicians. Young researchers had a favorable chance to present and argue their studies before a competent audience coming from various academic fields.

Between November 16th and 17th, 2023, Tomsk State University hosted the 33rd International Scientific Conference Language and Culture, devoted to the 145th anniversary of the University and the Year of the Teacher and Mentor. Experienced and young researchers, language teachers and mentors from across Russia and abroad gathered to discuss the best pedagogical practices and methodological developments in the field of foreign language education. The five working languages of the conference (Russian, English, German, French, Chinese) indicate the high level of the event. The content of the conference fully reflects the list of its scientific directions: current issues of linguodidactics and methods of teaching foreign languages; psychophysiological and cognitive processes when learning a foreign language; modern formats for organizing the educational process; interdisciplinary studies of culture and intercultural communication; language and society; philosophy and language; history of Indo-European languages and classical philology; modern paradigm of linguistic research; methodology for teaching ESP; theoretical and applied issues of translation and intercultural communication; current studies of European languages and cultures: theoretical and applied aspects; theoretical and applied aspects of studying the Chinese language, etc. One of the significant sections of the current conference is the section Interdisciplinary studies of culture and intercultural communication. This year, the section discussed interdisciplinary approaches to the study of culture based on languages such as Chinese, Selkup, Spanish, Quechua (Peru), English, and Russian. The Language and Culture, initiated in the late 1980s by Doctor of Philology, Professor, Honored Dean of TSU Svetlana Konstantinovna Gural, the conference has become a recognizable scientific brand of Tomsk State University. First, in 1986, S. K. Gural organized a scientific and methodological seminar Language and Culture at the Department of English Language of TSU. The seminar immediately received international status, thanks to the participation of Oxford University professor Bruce Munk. Subsequently, in 1990, the seminar was transformed into an international conference. This conference, which brings together specialists in the field of cultural studies and philology, has been allowing representatives of different universities to exchange experiences and introduce colleagues to the results of their scientific research for four decades now.

The Russian Language Department of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) —one of the leading universities of the Republic of Korea— was founded in the same year with the University and is about to celebrate its 70th anniversary. Today the University and the Russian Language Department are the main popularizers of the Russian language, literature, culture and Russian regional studies in South Korea. There are several associations: KASEUS — Korean Association of Slavic-Eurasian Studies; Russian Language and Literature Association (based on the HUFS — Hankuk University of Foreign Studies); KAR — Korean Association of Russian Studies (based on the Korean University); KASL — Korean Association of Slavic Languages (based on the Korean University); KATPR — Korean Association of Teachers and Teaching Staff of the Russian Language (whose members are university professors and school teachers); and KRA — Korea-Russia Association. The Korean-Russian Society of Art and Culture KORACS was established in 2013 to organize cultural exchange between Korea and Russia. The associations organize and conduct scientific conferences, symposiums, forums, and some publish their own journals. In South Korea, there are exchange programs for undergraduate and graduate students of Russian and Korean universities, and Russian professors are invited here to give lectures. Every spring the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies holds a Russian language Olympiad for students of Korean universities. This competition is of great interest to Korean students and is an incentive for deeper study of the Russian language. The Russian language and culture are represented and preserved here: there are Russian professors, school teachers, Russian-speaking Koreans and citizens of other countries. Therefore, despite the difficulties associated with changes in the socio-political situation, Russian studies in South Korea continue to develop. Interest in the Russian language, literature and culture does not wane since people always need to learn something new and wonderful and this is how Russian culture is characterized.