On May 3-4, 2007, St. Petersburg hosted the VII Readings in memory of Academician D. A. Olderogge on the theme: "Africa in the system of World Civilizations: Past, Present, and Future", organized by the Scientific Council on African Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kunstkamera) (MAE RAS) and the Faculty of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg State University (SPbU). The conference was attended by more than 60 scientists from research institutes and universities in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, as well as Belarus, France and Canada.

At the opening of the Readings, Director of the MAE RAS Yu. K. Chistov, Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg State University Ye. I. Zelenev, and Head of the Center for Civilizational Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Institute of Africa RAS) I. V. Sledzevsky outlined a wide range of topics of modern African studies presented for discussion in the sections "Social Sciences", "Linguistics", " Literature, Folklore, Art"and at the meetings of three round tables.

A. B. Davidson (Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in his report "D. A. Olderogge and little-known African Studies" spoke about the difficult fate in the life and science of the largest Russian Africanists. He stressed that although D. A. Olderogge's scientific achievements are discussed at each of the conferences and publications dedicated to his memory, much less attention is paid to the environment in which he lived and worked, and the difficulties that he had to overcome. He has seen little of Africa: he has never been to the South at all, only a few months in Tropical Africa, and in the last two decades of his life he was generally "banned from traveling".

A. B. Davidson described the atmosphere in which Dmitry Alekseevich's formation as an Africanist took place. Attacks were made on African studies in the 1930s, during Stalin's "great terror": T. E. Gerngros (son of a general, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Empire), N. M. Nasonov, L. Bach, the Richter brothers, and the linguist G. K. Danilov were shot. Endre Schick and F. S. Gaivoronsky were arrested, Ludwig Magyar and G. I. Safarov, who were in charge of the African direction in the Comintern, were destroyed, and A. Z. Zusmanovich and I. I. Potekhin were expelled from their jobs with severe reprimands.

Relatives of D. A. Olderogge also suffered: his uncle was shot, and his aunt was arrested and exiled. In those years when, in the words of the poet, "fate followed us like a madman with a razor in his hand," what could Dmitry Alekseevich expect for himself? In the late 1940s, when A. B. Davidson, as a student, came to him for advice, D. A. Olderogge was in danger of becoming one of the victims of campaigns against "cosmopolitanism" and "low worship of the West" or falling under the millstones of the then planned crackdown on Oriental studies. Only by knowing and remembering this, A. B. Davidson believes, can one understand the fate of D. A. Olderogge both as a person and as a scientist.

I. V. Sledzevsky, in his report "Civilizational comparative studies in African studies", noted that the civilizational trend in Russian African studies, which appeared in the 1980s, initially tended towards a formational approach. The works of Yu. M. Kobishchanov and N. B. Kochakova used purely stadial characteristics of African societies and emphasized the lack of signs of classical civilizations (they were defined as "proto-civilizations", "pre-civilizations", "pre-Urban civilizations"). Actually, civilizational comparative studies - the comparison of civilizational systems according to the criteria of their identity and the presence of a specific worldview-was developed in Russia only in the 1990s. In foreign African studies, its popularity peaked in the 1960s and 1970s (the so-called African approach to the regional and local history of Africa). Since the 1980s, the traditional history of civilizations has been criticized for being normative, for trying to play the same role as the theory of social formations played in Marxist science, for imitating the scientific tradition, for nationalism and even racism (constructing hierarchies of cultures).

According to I. V. Sledzevsky, this criticism has a substantive and methodological basis: socio-economic and ethnological (cultural and anthropological) approaches to the past and present of African societies do not lose their significance. However, one cannot deny the special significance of the civilizational approach. The speaker emphasized that the theory of civi-

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lizations are not so much a model of scientific interpretation of existing facts, but rather a way of perceiving the realities of foreign, especially so-called exotic cultures. This perception is based not on scientific (objectified) knowledge, but rather on a certain cultural pattern that is universal for all societies. In scientific research, this image can be rationalized, simplified or complicated, noticeably ordered, but still retain something that is directly perceived as self-evident. First of all, these are the main components of such an image: identification, cognitive (classification of other cultures in relation to their own culture).

For African studies, according to I. V. Sledzevsky, this version of the theory of civilizations remains "news", and is not taken into account in any way as a way of constructing socio-historical classifications of African societies. Meanwhile, the imaginative, constructed reality of civilizational representations (the identification and cognitive schemes embedded in them) allows us to fully and deeply understand the place of Africa in the world of civilizational comparative studies. The speaker considered the key bases of these ideas and comparisons - dichotomous (civilization/barbarism, tradition/modernity), historical (world historical process, catching-up development) and their role in understanding the uniqueness of history and social development.

Yu. K. Chistov spoke about the progress of the project to publish unique materials of the Abyssinian expedition of Nikolai Gumilyov in 1913.

More than 20 reports on historical, political, economic, socio-cultural problems of the continent as a whole and its individual countries were presented at the sessions of the Social Sciences section.

I. T. Katagoshchina's report (Institute of Africa) "Socio-cultural shifts in the countries of Tropical Africa" raised the controversial issue of the cultural code, or basic values that determine a particular type of civilization. According to the speaker, in the context of the formation of new systems of values and new forms of social relations on the African continent, civilizational shifts are inevitable, although they largely depend on domestic and foreign policy. In any case, we should not force the processes of evolution and transformation of the continent, the author summarizes.

Prospects for the economic development of African countries were discussed in the reports: O. Radchenko (Galf University, Canada)" Africa and development: basic theoretical approaches "and E. V. Morozenskaya (Institute of Africa)" Integrating Africa into the global economy: the third attempt?". O. Radchenko's report was devoted to an overview of some traditional and modern methods of African studies (such as Development Studies). According to E. V. Morozenskaya, the first attempt to integrate African countries into the global economy was made by both former metropolises and former colonies in the initial period of their decolonization, the second - during the years of active liberalization of the economy of most countries of the continent (1980 - 1990), the third-in the 2000s. inter-state associations and the creation of new regional and continental structures - the so-called new regionalism. The latter attempt can only be successful if the interaction between pan-African institutions and international economic organizations undergoes qualitative changes.

The problems of the influence of religion on public policy and everyday life of Africans were considered in the reports of N. B. Kochakova (Institute of Africa) "Traditional African religions between Islam and Christianity", B. V. Dolgov (Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences) " Islamism and Democracy in Arab countries (Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt)", V. S. Koshelev "Historical experience of political Islam in Egypt "and N. V. Kosheleva (both from the Belarusian State University) "Africa and Islam in the ideology of the" black Mullahs"of the USA".

N. B. Kochakova, focusing on the cultural and historical aspects of religious processes in Nigeria, emphasized the growing negative impact of the religious factor on the socio-political situation in the country. At the same time, the true social background of sectarian tensions is the plight of millions of Nigerians and their attempts to improve it at the expense of "non - believers" - representatives of other ethnic groups. Meanwhile, according to Dolgov, the experience of a number of Arab countries demonstrates that with the skillful integration of Islamic legal and political institutions into socio-political life, they become integral elements of the emerging civil society.-

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companies. In his opinion, the differences between Western and Muslim societies are not antagonistic.

The bizarre interweaving of Islamic doctrine with the concept of common African destiny was reflected in the ideology of many African Americans that was formed since the 19th century, N. V. Kosheleva noted. The promotion of Islam as a nationalistic alternative to Christianity allows followers of organizations such as the African-American Temple of Science, the Canaanite Temple, and the Nations of Islam to exploit the idea that African Americans are Muslims who have been forcibly stripped of their true identity, so they must return to the fold of the true faith.

A. N. Moseyko (Institute of Africa) devoted her report to the problem "Man in Africa: images of the universe, collective, personality". She supported the idea of I. V. Sledzevsky about the intrinsic value of all civilizations, the impossibility of their universalization, building their hierarchies. During the period of colonization, she noted, Africa was forcibly "written" into the global context, imposing on it schemes and ideas of development that contradict its autochthonous development. In Africa, not the idea of development is more widespread, but the idea of the transition of the individual, society from one state to another, the author believes. Similar problems are reflected in the report of A. L. Litinsky (Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) "Images of Africa in the public life of African Americans of the XX century". The analysis of these images, in his opinion, helps to better understand many of the processes taking place in the United States, as well as a certain flexibility of the American political system, which integrated the nationalism of the "black" minority.

The complementary reports of G. A. Balashova (Institute of Africa) and E. S. Lvova (ISAA at Moscow State University) were based on the materials of the expedition to Ethiopia, including a study of the interaction between different ethnic groups and religious denominations, primarily the Amhara and Oromo. The speakers concluded that the previously existing tensions between these ethnic groups have noticeably decreased as a result of the increasing spread of mixed marriages, as well as the unifying sense of protest against the government's policy of decentralization. In relation to Russia, this country is still one of its most reliable friends on the African continent. The role of the Ethiopian intelligentsia, whose first representatives appeared in the country at the beginning of the XX century, is noticeable in this. As M. G. Zabolotskikh (St. Petersburg State University) noted in his report "The influence of the first Ethiopian intellectuals on the socio-political life of the country", they laid the foundation for the development of socio-political thought in the country.

The results of the expedition to Nigeria in November 2006 are reflected in the reports of A. D. Savateev "The Soviet Union/Russia through the Eyes of Nigerian Muslims", D. M. Bondarenko "Soviet Heritage in the Image of modern Russia in Africa" and O. I. Kavykina (All-Institute of Africa) "Information about religious life as a factor influencing the image of Russia in Nigeria". Based on the analysis of the research materials of the expedition, the authors concluded that in the minds of most Africans, the image of post-Soviet Russia has not yet been formed in contrast to the existing image of the USSR. As A.D. Savateev noted, in the opinion of almost all respondents, the current Russia has lost almost all positions in Nigeria-political, educational, informational, and economic. Many Nigerians, regardless of their status, believe that a more active policy in international affairs is useful not only for Russia itself, but also for developing countries. As all the speakers noted, it is necessary to increase the amount of information about modern Russia.

Another aspect of this problem was raised by E. V. Kharitonova (Institute of Africa) in the report "Social Representations in the context of studying the image of Africa in Russia". The author's comparative analysis of the social perceptions of Russians about visiting Africans, and Africans - about themselves and about Russians revealed differences between their perception in a variety of parameters.

Historical aspects of politics, economy and culture of African countries were analyzed in the reports of N. K. Belous (St. Petersburg State University) "Mirambo and the struggle for control of the caravan trade", A.V. Voevodsky (RSUH) "The role of traditional authorities in the system of managing the African population of the Cape Colony in the second half of the XIX-beginning of the XX century", A. S. Zdanevich (St. Petersburg State University)" Historical significance and results of the Great Trek", as well as in the report of K. G. Robbe (St. Petersburg State University) "Discourse of Feminism in modern South Africa", dedicated to discussions in South African society on tender relations, ideas of feminism and ways to implement them.

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According to N. K. Belous, the long - term (1871-1884) struggle of the chief Nyamwezi Mirambo for establishing control over the caravan trade in the East African chiefdom of Urambo was aimed not only at undermining the trade monopoly of the Arabs and Swahili, but also at uniting the chiefdoms of northern and central Usukum. The fragmentation of his "empire" that followed Mirambo's death led to a period of commercial and economic decline, terror, and instability.

A.V. Voevodsky identified the main distinguishing feature of the administrative system of the Cape Colony-a combination of elements of direct and indirect management of the African population in the absence of formalized colonial legislation. Given the influence of the chiefs on the social life of the community, the British colonial authorities were forced to make them part of the colonial apparatus, which served as an effective tool for controlling the African population.

In South Africa, the mass exodus of Afrikaner colonists in the 1830s in response to the actions of the British colonial administration to establish full control over the entire region had twofold consequences, A. S. Zdanevich believes. On the one hand, it led to economic stagnation in the region, and on the other - thanks to the Track, white colonists penetrated the interior of the African continent, becoming conduits for new economic relations.

In his report "The 2006 presidential and parliamentary elections as a phenomenon in the political history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo", Yu. N. Vinokurov (Institute of Africa) described the "transition period" of 2001-2006 as a search for optimal pacification of the country, and the 2006 elections as a way to bring the country out of political collapse and an attempt to build a mechanism for democratic governance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. management system. The success of this attempt, according to the speaker, will determine whether the control of the federal government will extend over the entire territory of the DRC. Otherwise, the inter-clan struggle may escalate until the resumption of the civil war and the possible collapse of the country.

At the meetings of the Linguistics section, 26 experts made presentations, representing not only such well-known research centers as the African Department of the MAE RAS, the Department of African Studies at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg State University, the Department of African Languages at the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Department of African Studies at the ISAA at Moscow State University, but also the Department of General Linguistics of the Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University, the Institute of Linguistic Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Linguistics of RSUH, the Department of Typological and Applied Linguistics of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University.

Traditionally, the topics of the reports were diverse: all four language macrofamilies of Africa were presented, as well as language typology and comparative studies. A. Y. Yellow (St. Petersburg State University) considered the elements of nominal classification in the languages of Niger-Congo (as well as in some languages outside this macrofamily, in particular in songhai), which can be considered not as reflexes of the proto-linguistic system G. S. Starostin (RSUH) investigated the genetic affiliation of the Hadza language and came to the conclusion that it is more closely related to the Omot languages (and, accordingly, to the Afrasian macrofamily) than to the Khoisan languages, to which it is traditionally referred B. V. Kravtsov presented a standardized model for describing phonological systems of different languages, which facilitates the comparison of language data and avoids gaps in the description (unfortunately, this model does not yet take into account the suprasegment level).

Among the Nilo-Saharan languages, Kanuri was represented at the conference. In the speech of F. I. Romansky (Institute of Linguistics) Based on the material of this language, universals associated with the reduplication mechanism derived from the material of other African languages are verified.

Reports on Afrasian linguistics (and, more broadly, philology) are devoted to the Hausa language. Yu. G. Suetina and M. I. Kaplun (both ISAA) reported on the results of a phonetic experiment aimed at checking the relevance of lexical tones. F. Cassuto (University of Aix-en-Provence, France) and V. Ya. Porkhomovsky (Institute of Linguistics) analyzed the translation of the biblical stories of Joseph and Moses into the Hausa language and made a conclusion about the methodology of the experiment. the fact that this translation was made from the Hebrew original (or at least taking it into account).

Turning to the reports on the languages of the Niger-Congo macrofamily, it should be noted that most attention was paid to the Mande family. At the same time, many speakers were based on

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based on the materials collected by them recently during their expeditions to Ivory Coast, dedicated to the study of the languages of the southern Mande group. N. Makeeva (RSUH) presented the phonological system of klan, a language with four level tones and a rich vocal system. O. V. Kuznetsova (St. Petersburg State University) considered in detail the guro numerals, which surprisingly combine elements of the fivefold, tenfold, and twenty-fivefold systems. N. V. Kuznetsova (OR RAS) analyzed the guro pronominal system, for which the guro system can be used as a starting point. which is characterized by the merging (to varying degrees, depending on the style and tempo of speech) of pronominal forms with various service words. The paper by D. A. Paperno (MSU) discussed relativization strategies in the BEN language. In his opinion, the external top strategy that dominates the modern language seems to go back to the construction with an internal top, while constructions with verbal names, on the contrary, go back to constructions with an external top.

V. F. Vydrin (MAE/St. Petersburg State University) also spoke about relativization strategies, mainly in relation to the Dan Gueta language. According to him, intraversal right - handed relativization prevails in this language (which is in sharp contrast to the most studied languages of the family, especially the Manden languages), but left-handed relativization is also possible, combined with nominalization-the possibilities of this strategy are much greater here than in other languages of the family. The topic of the report by E. V. Perekhvalskaya (OR / St. Petersburg State University) is the deictic means of muan: in this language, there are six degrees of remoteness, and the important ones are the degree of remoteness from the speaker, the degree of remoteness from the listener, and being within sight.

A. B. Shluinsky (Institute of Linguistics) analyzed the reflexive function of the 3rd person singular personal pronoun in the Susu language. V. A. Plungyan and A. Y. Urmanchieva (Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences) compared constructions with imperfect meaning in various dialects of the dream interpretation language and came to interesting conclusions of a diachronic nature. It is interesting that with such close attention to the Mande family, there was not a single report on the languages of the most central and numerous branch - the Manden (Maninka, Mandinka, bamana, gyula, etc.), which does not mean that there are no more unexplored topics worthy of attention of linguists in this branch.

The West Atlantic language family was represented by the Pular-Fulfulde language. A. I. Koval (Institute of Linguistics) analyzed the system polysemy of names of human body parts, for which the designation of tree parts is regular. The report sparked a lively discussion of the areal nature of many of these metaphors in the West Sudanese zone. M. A. Kozlova (MSU) compared the different dialects of Pular-fulfulde in terms of how strictly the initial consonant alternation levels are observed in nouns belonging to different noun classes. In the author's opinion, the consonant change pattern is preserved in the most strict form in the Futa Toro dialect (Senegal), and as we move east, it becomes more and more deformed.

Both reports on Bantu languages were devoted to the southern group (zone S). A.D. Lutskov (Institute of Linguistics) spoke about Ngoni, the northernmost of the southern Bantu languages spoken in central Tanzania. As a result of the long-term influence of neighboring languages belonging to other Bantu groups, Ngoni lost almost all klicks, and its very existence was called into question. O. A. Ivanova (St. Petersburg State University) considered the tonal system of the Zulu language. Despite the long tradition of studying southern Bantu tones in world linguistics, this topic is still ignored by specialists in Russia, which was also evident during the discussion on the report. This indicates the need to overcome inertia in the approach to this problem.

The reports presented at the meetings of the Linguistics section give a complete picture of the dynamic development of African linguistics in Russia. They clearly reflected the trends of today's Russian linguistic African studies. Thus, attention is increasing to small, poorly studied languages that are not taught in higher educational institutions in Russia, in particular to the Mande family. Researchers are gradually overcoming the" fear " of tones: this is important, given the tonal nature of the vast majority of African languages. More attention is being paid to African languages by linguists who have received general linguistic (rather than special African studies) education. Unfortunately, there is a general decline in interest in comparative historical issues.

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Reports from St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl and Moscow were presented at the meetings of the section "Literature, Folklore, Art". S. Ya. Berzina (State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow) spoke about a valuable object from the collection of her museum-a brass ritual pillar of the Baule people (Ivory Coast), symbolizing the "World Tree". T. M. Gavristova (Yar. GU) devoted her speech to the art of the African diaspora, artistic search and self-affirmation of artists-Africans in the Western world. V. N. Semenova (MAE/St. Petersburg State University) made a presentation about the museum exposition of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies in Addis Ababa. O. Y. Zavyalova (St. Petersburg State University) tried to present folklore as a traditional learning mechanism, a means of transmitting behavioral norms from generation to generation. A.V. Lyakhovich (St. Petersburg State University) analyzed the characteristics of the Hausan culture. literary prose of the 1930s - the very first works in the Hausa language written in "modern" genres. It showed the influence of Arabic and Western European literary traditions on them. A. V.'s report Milto (Yaroslavl) was dedicated to the work of Nuruddin Farah, an outstanding Somali writer who has lived in exile for many years. His literary work is set against the backdrop of the tragic events that have shaken his country over the past decades.

Within the framework of the Readings, three round tables were held. The topic of one of them - "Globalization and Africa: a view from different sciences" - attracted the attention of many specialists. A. Y. Zheltov (St. Petersburg State University) suggested using a set of characteristics that can be perceived both negatively and positively to assess the significance of globalization processes for Africa. At the same time," negativity "is a consequence of insufficient development of globalization processes, and Africa is the" stepdaughter " not of globalization, but of its insufficient promotion, the speaker concluded.

When discussing the report of V. R. Arsenyev (MAE RAS) on the topic of the round table" Legacy of D. A. Olderogge and the future of African studies", a discussion broke out about the choice of future directions for African studies. According to V. R. Arsenyev, in the era of postmodernism, the" School of D. A. Olderogge "- the "Leningrad School of African Studies" and the historical and philological approach to Oriental studies used were threatened with extinction. This is due, he believes, to the fact that in the field of social sciences, the problems of African studies are generally perceived as marginal, and Africa itself has moved to the periphery of world relations. Nevertheless, within the framework of domestic and foreign African studies, there is a maturation of new promising ideas and approaches that go back to the classical heritage. And this "new African studies" will not be able to pass by the legacy of D. A. Olderogge.

The report of I. A. Osnitskaya (MAE RAS) "On the museum and museological activities of D. A. Olderogge" traces his diverse scientific activities for the entire period of his work at the MAE of the USSR Academy of Sciences since 1925: exhibitions on African art and culture, as well as special works on art, including unpublished ones. I. A. Osnitskaya noted that D. A. Olderogge identified four main groups of works of African art in their connection with the culture of the autochthonous population, the existence of art objects in the life of African societies. An example of this is the unity of the mask, the dancer's costume, his movements and the rhythms of music in the process of the rite-ritual dance.

At the round table " African Studies-a synthesis or a conglomerate of disciplines?" A discussion was held on the report of A. A. Maslov (Rosafroexpertiza NP / Institute of Africa) "Method of African Studies". Based on the premise that any science should have its own method, the author conducted an expert survey of leading scientists and received in most cases a negative answer to the question of whether such a method exists in African studies. Meanwhile, according to A. A. Maslov, researchers use appropriate methods and scientific approaches. It is necessary to formulate a method of African studies that will allow it to take its proper place among other social sciences.

All sessions within the framework of the Readings attracted a large number of participants-both venerable and novice researchers (undergraduates, postgraduates) - and invariably ended with discussions on the topics discussed. Despite the wide range of opinions on many issues, the Africanists present emphasized their commitment to an objective analysis of the processes taking place in Africa. And the growing interest in the continent in scientific and public circles, as well as in the business environment, allows us to hope for an expansion of the spectrum of African studies and their increasing demand at the level of the scientific community, individual countries and in the world as a whole.

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