December 8, 2011 marked the 60th anniversary of Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Vladimir Alexandrovich Popov - a significant figure in Russian African studies and Oriental studies, ethnography and social anthropology.

Vladimir Aleksandrovich's passion for ethnography and country studies began at school age: he even took first place in the geography Olympiad among high school students in Ukraine (at that time he lived with his parents in Kharkiv). His research interest in African ethnology was clearly manifested during his student years (1969-1974 ) - at the Department of Ethnography and Anthropology of the History Department of Leningrad State University, where he studied kinship systems among the peoples of West Africa, and at the Eastern Faculty of the University, where he simultaneously studied a number of African studies, including the Hausa language, under the guidance of the founder of Russian African studies,.- correspondent Academy of Sciences OF THE USSR D. A. Olderogge. He always considered D. G. Savinov as his main university teacher, M. V. Kryukov and A. M. Pershits as his theoretical teachers, and studied editing under L. E. Kubbel.

V. A. Popov's scientific life and activity continued in the Department of African Ethnography of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography named after him. Peter the Great (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (until 1990 - the Leningrad part of the N. N. Miklukho-Maklay Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, in 1990-1992 - the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences), where he was assigned after graduating from Leningrad State University in 1974, as a research intern. At that time, the fundamental study of kinship systems based on African material became the basis for the formation of the so-called Leningrad School of African Studies, which was attended by many major Africanists and specialists in the field of kinship anthropology (D. A. Olderogge, V. M. Misyugin, N. M. Girenko, V. R. Arsenyev). It had the potential of a unique direction in social science, which was engaged in the development of strategies for the optimal development of a unified world, taking into account the experience of alternative forms of civilization. The interests and knowledge of V. A. Popov, his erudition and outstanding analytical and theoretical abilities proved to be irreplaceable for this project. In 1978. Vladimir Aleksandrovich defended his PhD thesis on the topic " Traditional social organization of Ashanti in the pre-colonial period (On the problem of typological qualimetry)". In 1988, he became a Doctor of Historical Sciences (dissertation topic: "Ethnopolitical organisms of the Akans of the pre-colonial era. Problems of genesis and stadium-formation attribution") - the youngest doctor among the ethnographers of the USSR. Thanks to his scientific authority, as well as a remarkable vocation and talent for organizing and managing activities, in 1995 V. A. Popov, having passed the path from a research trainee to a chief researcher in 20 years, headed the Department of African Ethnography and remained in this position until 2002. From 2006 to the present, he is in charge of the new MAHE division Russian Academy of Sciences-Center for Political and Social Anthropology.

V. A. Popov has always been actively engaged in public activities: he was a member of the Komsomol Committee of the Course and Faculty, Chairman of the SSS Department of Ethnography and Anthropology and Secretary of the SSS Department of History, Chairman of the Council of Young Scientists of the Leningrad Part of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Young Scientists of the Leningrad Scientific Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, chairman of the trade union committee of the Institute. In 1989, he was nominated as a candidate for People's deputies to the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and the Leningrad Soviet.

For 40 years of scientific work, V. A. Popov participated in more than 250 scientific conferences of various levels as a speaker, section leader or chairman of organizing committees, published more than 500 scientific papers with a total volume of over 350 a. l., including about 300 articles and 6 monographs. As a compiler and executive editor, he prepared translations of the fundamental works of the outstanding British anthropologist A. R. Radcliffe-Brown "Structure and Function in Primitive Society" and the Italian functionalist D. Pirzio-Biroli "Cultural Anthropology of Tropical Africa", as well as the 4th volume of Arabic medieval sources on the ethnography and history of Africa (together with N. A. Dobronravin), published more than 30 collections of articles. Among the latter, a special place is occupied by the almanac "Algebra of Kinship "(since 1995

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published in 14 issues), which became the main platform for discussions about the phenomenon of kinship and kinship systems and revived interest in the topic that was the hallmark of Russian social anthropology in Soviet times and was overshadowed by the modernization of humanities in the post-Soviet period. Many well - known Russian and foreign scientists-ethnologists, historians, linguists-publish and exchange their opinions on the pages of the almanac.

Another series of collections published on the initiative and under the editorship of V. A. Popov " Early forms..."- well-known to experts in the field of political anthropology and socio-political history as authoritative and very prestigious publications.

The main scientific results of V. A. Popov are related to the identification of the phenomenon of parapolitism, which occurs in the process of secondary sociopolitogenesis, and the creation of the theory of parapolitan societies, which generalized the specifics of the historical dynamics of ethno-social organisms and made it possible to significantly revise many stereotypes about the social structure of pre-colonial and post-colonial Africa and, above all, to solve the politogenetic The article is aimed at identifying the archetypes of power and modes of traditional potestar behavior in the context of socio-political crises and justifying the conjugation of socio-political and ethnogenetic processes, as well as determining trends in the stage development of the main types of kinship systems. The effectiveness of his methods for analyzing kinship term systems as a historical and sociological source of information is recognized in both domestic and foreign science, and the qualimetric approach to the study of social kinship organisms proposed by him contributed to the creation of a new scientific direction in social anthropology and the formation of a kind of school around the figure of V. A. Popov.

V. A. Popov is the author of more than 400 articles (about 30 a.l.) for various encyclopedias ("Big Russian Encyclopedia", "New Russian Encyclopedia", "Africa", "Peoples of the World", "Russian Humanitarian Dictionary", etc.) and member (or consultant) their editorial boards. Serious reference literature requires presenting the material at an axiomatic level, taking into account all existing approaches and interpretations of the topics covered, a broad outlook, the ability to see differences and correlations. V. A. Popov is a recognized authority in this specific work and is extremely in demand in it. His articles are a professional transition from the amount of information to quality, a remote and clear reduction of extremely systematized knowledge about the subject, demanded in a concise format and responsibly executed with the academic pathos of the Enlightenment encyclopedists. At the same time, Vladimir Alexandrovich acts not only as an author, but also as a reliable assistant to editors, i.e., in fact, he participates in the formation and editing of the entire corpus of articles on ethnology and African studies in Russian encyclopedic publications.

V. A. Popov is a talented teacher and scientific mentor. Many years later, almost every student who studied under him remembers Vladimir Alexandrovich with warmth and appreciation as an ideal lecturer. Everyone notes his fundamental multi-faceted knowledge, systematic thinking, impeccable logic, charismatic manner of presenting the subject, kindness, justice and boundless patience. He teaches ethnological subjects at St. Petersburg University and other universities in St. Petersburg. In 2002, he was awarded the academic title of Professor at the Department of Ethnography and Anthropology of St. Petersburg University. V. A. Popov has trained three doctors and four candidates of sciences and more than 100 certified specialists (including 25 bachelors and 16 masters). Many of his students teach at universities in Russia, the CIS countries, the USA and, of course, in Africa itself. V. A. Popov is a member of the specialized Doctoral Council at the MAE RAS, as well as in the SAC and HEC of the St. Petersburg University of Service and Economics.

The effectiveness of V. A. Popov's work was noted by the scientific community: in 1982, for a series of works on fundamental problems of ethnosociology of primary formations, he became a laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize in the field of science, in 1994-1996, he was a fellow of the State Scientific Scholarship, was nominated as a candidate for corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences and for the State Prize of Russia.

In recent years, V. A. Popov's scientific and organizational work has been associated with the duties of a member of the RAS Scientific Councils on Africa (since 1996) and on the history of world Culture (since 2003), a member of the Presidium of the Russian Association of Ethnographers and Anthropologists (in 1999-2003), the European Association of Social Anthropologists (since 1997), and the International Institute of Social Policy

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Member of the Editorial Boards of the Ethnographic Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (since 1998) and a number of encyclopedic publications.

Currently, V. A. Popov directs the work on the collective monograph "Early forms of potestar systems" and creative teams for the development of research projects "Tender, age and kinship in the context of ritual"and" Creole communities: ethno-cultural, ethno-social and ethnological aspects of genesis and historical dynamics". A number of other interesting and relevant projects are planned and formulated in the field of political anthropology of archaic and non-traditional societies (symbolism of potestarity, the formation of charismatic leadership, etc.).

It should also be said that Vladimir Alexandrovich is not only an outstanding scientist and a wonderful organizer of science - the initiator of collective topics, co-author, editor, scientific manager. An unusual field of gravity is created around him with an amazing creative potential, he perfectly sees the capabilities of his colleagues of all ages and has the ability to reveal them, make them in demand and bring them to perfection in purely scientific terms. Being friendly to colleagues and like - minded people is a rare gift, and very few of those with whom we have passed scientific youth and met maturity, and he has this gift to a large extent. This is a person with whom you want to work together.

Happy birthday, Vladimir Alexandrovich! Health, happiness, recognition and understanding, creative success in science, leadership and scientific and organizational activities.

FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES

MAIN SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF V. A. POPOV

On the Historical Typology of Kinship Term Systems: Crow and Omaha types // Soviet ethnography. 1977. N 2. pp. 43-54.

Systems of kinship terms of the Akan peoples. Experience in historical and typological analysis // Soviet ethnography. 1977. N 6. pp. 45-58.

Bifurcate-Merging System of Kinship Terms as a Source of Ethnosociological Information // Soviet Studies in Ethnography. M., 1978. P. 150-160.

On Marxism and the Matriarchate // Current Anthropology. 1979. Vol. 20. N 3. P. 609-611.

K kharakteristike ashantiskogo sotsial'nogo instituta ntoro [On the characteristics of the Ashanti Social Institute of the ntoro]. Issue XXI. Moscow, 1980, pp. 99-107.

K tipologicheskoi kharakteristike sovremennoi sistemy rodstva bambara [On the typological characteristics of the modern Bambara kinship system]. Polevye issledovaniya Instituta etnografii AN SSSR, 1978, Moscow, 1980, pp. 171-180 (together with V. R. Arsenyev).

Communal institutions of the Ashanti people in the pre-colonial period / / Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1981. N 3. pp. 51-61.

Polovozrastnaya stratifikatsiya i vozrastnye klassov drevneakanskogo obshchestva (K postanovke problemy) [Gender and age stratification and age classes of the Ancient Aakanite society]. 1981. N 6. pp. 89-97.

Ashanti people in the XIX century. Opyt etnosociologicheskogo issledovaniya [Experience of ethnosociological research], Moscow, 1982, 176 p.

Sex and age stratification in ethnosociological reconstructions of primitiveness (Instead of responding to opponents) / / Sovetskaya etnografiya. 1982. N 1. pp. 68-79.

Ghana: Education and politics // Asia and Africa today. 1982. N 3. pp. 20-21.

In: Africana. African ethnographic collection. Vol. XIII (Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, T. CXI). L., 1982. - Author: Systems of Akan kinship terms as an ethnosociological source. pp. 50-79; Modern system of kinship terms and some elements of traditional Ogoni social organization. pp. 80-85 (together with K. B. Kiebel).

The Chvi language in Ghana / / Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1983. N 6. pp. 117-120.

K kharakteristike traditsionnogo mirovozzreniya akanov [On the characteristics of the traditional worldview of the Akans]. XIV (Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, T. SHSH), L., 1984, pp. 176-191.

The Republic of Ghana / / Afrika: kul'tura i obshchestvennoe razvitie [Africa: Culture and Social Development], Moscow, 1984, pp. 183-202.

Akan Religions / / Traditional and syncretic religions of Africa, Moscow, 1986, pp. 235-253.

Secondary Forms of Political Organization in the Ethnosociological History of Sub-Saharan Africa. Moscow, 1988. 12 p.

Ashanti People in Ethnography and Ashanti Ethnography: A fatal incompatibility? // Soviet Ethnography. 1988. N 5. pp. 64-77.

Ethnography in Ghana / / Ethnographic science in the countries of Africa, Moscow, 1988, pp. 126-137.

Soviet Research on Historical Ethnosociology of Tropical Africa // Suomen Antropologi. 1988. N 3. P. 6-17.

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The contacts of the peoples of the Atlantic coast with Europe in the pre-colonial period // Africa: interaction of cultures. M., 1989. P. 82-97.

The Attribution of African Pre-Colonial Societies According to their Stage and Formation // International Perspectives on Marxist Anthropology. Minneapolis, 1989. P. 85-92.

Ethnosocial history of Akans in the XVI-XIX centuries. Problemy genezisa i stadialno-formatsionnogo razvitiya etnopoliticheskikh organizmov [Problems of genesis and stadium-formation development of ethnopolitical organisms]. Moscow, 1990, 280 p.

On the axiomatics of ethnosociological reconstructions of the primary formation: five methodological postulates. XV (Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, vol. CXVI), L., 1991, pp. 62-68.

In: Tribe and State in Africa, Moscow, 1991, Auth.: Preface, pp. 3-5; Historical dynamics of the potestar-political structure of the Ashanti Confederation, pp. 150-160 (Ed. by 183 p. sovm. with Yu. M. Ilyin).

In: Early forms of social stratification: genesis, historical dynamics, potestarno-politicheskie funktsii. In memory of L. E. Kubbel. Moscow, 1993. - Author: Preface. pp. 5-9; Historical dynamics of social stratification and classogenesis trends in parapolitan societies (based on the material of pre-colonial akans). pp. 132-144. (Ed. 336 p.).

In: Ethnoses and ethnic Processes. Memory of the Russian Federation. Itsa, M., 1993. - Author: Preface, pp. 5-8; Ethnocultural dynamics in parapolitan societies, pp. 62-69. (Ed. ed. 344 p.).

In: Rannie formy politicheskoi organizatsii: ot pervobytnosti k gosudarstvennosti [Early Forms of Political Organization: from primitiveness to statehood], Moscow, 1995, Auth.: From primitiveness to Statehood, pp. 3-10; Politogeneticheskaya kontroverza, parapoliteynost 'i fenomen vtorochnoy gosudarstvennosti, pp. 188-204; "Khozhdenie v Abomey v sukhoe vremya", ili k voprosu ob inversii polyudya. 319-333. (Rel. Ed. 350 s).

Afrika: kul'tura i obshchestvo (istoricheskiy aspekt) [Africa: Culture and Society (historical aspect)], Moscow, 1995, pp. 116-123. (Part of the editorial board-col. 276 p.)

Ecological time and the cyclical nature of kinship and age systems // Space and time in the archaic and traditional cultures. M., 1996. P. 213-220.

In: Symbols and Attributes of Power: Genesis, semantics, Functions. St. Petersburg, 1996. Auth.: Introduction: power and symbol. pp. 3-8; Symbols of power and the power of symbols. pp. 9-14; Symbols and attributes of power in the traditional political culture of the Ashanti people. pp. 215-228. (Ed. 320 s).

Potestarnost': genezis i evolyutsiya [Potestarity: genesis and evolution], St. Petersburg, 1997, 214 p. (sovm. with others).

In: Rannie formy sotsial'noi organizatsii: genezis, funktsionirovanie, istoricheskaya dinamika [Early forms of social organization: Genesis, Functioning, Historical Dynamics], St. Petersburg, 2000. 352 s).

Kul'tura motyzhnykh sel'atel'tsev tropicheskogo lesa [Culture of motyzhny farmers of tropical forest]. Traditsionnye kul'tury afrikanskikh narodov: past and present], Moscow, 2000, pp. 228-237.

Ethnography of Africa (Civilizations and protocivilizations of Tropical Africa). Textbook, Parts I-II, St. Petersburg, 2001, 64 p.

Arabic sources of the 13th-14th centuries on the ethnography and history of sub-Saharan Africa. In 4 volumes, vol. 4, Moscow, 2002, 623 p. (Monuments of Oriental Writing, Vol. CXVI) (co-authored with N. A. Dobronravin).

Chief of National African Studies / / Ethnologica Africana. In memory of D. A. Olderogge, Moscow, 2002, pp. 51-61. (Part of the Editorial Board, 384 p.)

Osnovnye napravleniya i problemy izucheniya fenomena rodstva v poslednoi treti XX veka [Main directions and problems of studying the phenomenon of kinship in the last third of the XX century]. In memory of N. A. Butinov. St. Petersburg, 2004, pp. 207-215.

Who are we? (On the nominative function of science, or to the anthropology of anthropology) / / Anthropological Forum. Special issue for the VI Congress of Ethnographers and Anthropologists of Russia, St. Petersburg, 2005, pp. 87-93.

Dmitri Olderogge and His Place in the History of Russian African Anthropology // Social Anthropology. 2005. Vol. 13. Pt. 2. P. 215-220 (together with D. M. Bondarenko).

Political Anthropology and Ethnopolitology: Objects and Subjects of study // Anthropology of Power, vol. 1, St. Petersburg, 2006, pp. 16-17.

Anthropology of Power, vol. 2. St. Petersburg, 2007. Author: K probleme stanovleniya politicheskikh kul'tury svobodavshikh stran Afrika: akanskii potestarnogo-politicheskii region v politicheskoi sisteme Gany [On the problem of formation of political cultures of the liberated countries of Africa: the Akan potestarno-politicheskii region in the political system of Ghana], pp. 127-131; Potestarnye otnosheniya i politogeneticheskie protsessy (on the problem of formation of the political organization of post-primitive society), pp. 352-353.

Politicheskaya karta Zolotogo Berega v XV-XIX vv. [Political map of the Golden Coast in the XV-XIX centuries] / / D. A. Olderogge and Modern Russian African Studies (Readings in memory of D. A. Olderogge, vol. 5). Moscow, 2005, pp. 93-97.

Colonial society as a civilizational phenomenon / / Historical and cultural relations of the peoples of the Pacific basin, St. Petersburg, 2006, pp. 160-166.

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On the problem of ethnic identity: ethno-cultural and linguistic identification of the population of Angola. Scientific research and scientific projects of the MAE RAS in 2006, St. Petersburg, 2007, pp. 267-269.

An unknown planet? Their mores? Looking for an adventure? (From the "bad notes" of an African ethnographer) / / Ethnographic Review Online. 2007, November-December, pp. 41-45.

Malay kinship system: the eternal problem of kinship studies / / Indonesians and their neighbors. St. Petersburg, 2008, pp. 380-385. (Maklaevsky Collection, Issue 1).

Akans: ethnic or linguistic community? // St. Petersburg African Studies. To the 70th anniversary of Professor A. A. Zhukov, St. Petersburg, 2008, pp. 101-110.

The problem of possession and ownership in African customary law// Custom. Symbol. Power. To the 75th anniversary of the birth of I. E. Sinitsyna, Moscow, 2010, pp. 62-67. (Rel. Ed. 361 p. together with N. B. Kochakova).

Kinship, gender and age as principles of organization of social and communicative networks (on the problem of factors of politogenetic processes in pre-colonial West Africa). Nauchnye issledovaniya i nauchnye proekty MAE RAS v 2009 g. SPb., 2010. pp. 176-182.

Creoles, creolization and the concept of Creolism // Historical ethnography. Issue 4. Sources and methods of studying small groups in ethnography. (Collection of articles dedicated to the 60th anniversary of V. A. Kozmin). St. Petersburg, 2010, pp. 97-102.

Creolization as an ethnogenetic process (on the example of cryo-creoles of Sierra Leone) / / Radlovsky sbornik/ Nauchnye issledovaniya i nauchnye proekty MAE RAS v 2010 g. SPb., 2011. pp. 126-130.

Ashanti: Ethnos, Sub-Ethnos, or Super-Ethnos (On the Issue of Levels of Ethnic Self-Consciousness) // African Studies in Russia. Yearbook 2008-2009. M., 201 LP. 112-119.

Geometry of kinship, algebra of kinship and abracadabra of kinship, or how to build a Rubik's cube from kinship systems and folklore (notes in the margins of P. L. Belkov's article "On the use of geometric code in research on classification systems of kinship") / / Anthropological Forum. 2011. N 14. pp. 352-364.

Kinship Studies, or Kinship anthropology: Objects, Subjects, and methods of Study // Anthropological Forum. 2011. N 15. pp. 85-101.

Sociopolitical Transitions and Ethnic Conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa // Democracy, Ethnicity and the State. Annual Colloquium. Ra'anana (Israel), 2011. P. 34-35.

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