News

19 November 2020

Scientific paper in a peer-reviewed journal “Psychological Peculiarities of Shiite Muslims in Russia”

Spivak D., Seidova G., Venkova A.Psychological Peculiarities of Shiite Muslims in Russia: Factor Analysis// International Journal of Cultural Research. 2020. № 2. P. 147–167. DOI: 10.24411/2079-1100-2020-00028

A new paper dedicated to the peculiarities of religious psychology of Shiite Muslims in Russia has newly been published by our UNESCO chair. The paper presents new results of a long-term project conducted by our Chair, which is dedicated to the analysis of Muslim religious psychology (both Suni and Shiite) in present-day Russia.
A group of 100 dwellers of the city of Derbent, Republic of Daghestan, active practitioners of Shiite Islam, were interviewed by us in the framework of the project, basing on the facilities of the Juma Mosque, which is focal for religious and societal life of the corresponding community. Differences and similarities between four subgroups of our respondents, i.e. aged / young Shiite women / men, formed the main topic for four formal factor analysis, which was divided into three blocks, directed at measurement of the degree of (a) psychological activation / tension, (b) activation of basic defense strategies, (c) involvement of psychological reserve mechanisms, including intrinsic religious attitudes, applied for the purpose of coping with life stress.
Our basic conclusions consist in the following regularities:
– inner structure of the integral index of psychological activation is based upon a constellation of two hidden factors, which tend to contribute to the feeling of inner balance in different ways. The first one comprises psychological agility, positive mood, and sufficient level of involvement; the second one involves the existence of moderate psychological tension. This structure, which is highly characteristic for both aged Shiite women and men, is proper for young people as well, although in a somewhat reduced form;
– inner structure of basic defense strategies comprises the action of two hidden factors, one of which includes projection, negation, and intellectualization; another one is mostly based upon regression, and substitution. Basing on the results of content analysis, the former factor may be regarded as based upon mature and complex defense strategies, while the latter factor comprises less sophisticated ones. Being characteristic for all the four subgroups of our respondents, this structural pattern may be regarded as specific for the subculture of Shiite Muslims in general;
– inner structure of intrinsic religiosity of aged Shiite men and women is defined by balance of two hidden factors, one of which is based upon the feeling of one’s ‘proximity to God’ or, ‘a mighty spiritual force’, while another one is formed by conducting ‘constant spiritual practices’. This structure tends to be quite static (especially in the case of the former factor), and to include phenomena bordering on the extrinsic religiosity (as in the case of the latter factor);
– contrary to this, inner structure of the intrinsic religiosity of young Shiites, especially male ones, tends to be much more dynamic, interiorized, and insight-oriented. This set of results seems to corroborate our hypothesis that there exist two focal types of intrinsic religiosity in the present-day Shiite community, one of which is proper for aged Shiite people, another one – for young people, particularly young Shiite men.
The results obtained in the framework of our project seem to be most constructive for the purpose of structuring systematic intercultural dialogue with Shiite Muslims, particularly the interfaith one. UNESCO approach to the interfaith dialogue seems to be most fruitful in this respect.
10 November 2020

Proceedings of the 6th Toksovo Readings

Proceedings of the 6^th Toksovo Readings have just been published in St.Petersburg, Russia, in Russian and, partly, in Finnish. The book, entitled ‘Evangelic Lutheran Congregation of Toksovo: a 400 Year Long Way’, is dedicated to the history of Protestantism in the North-Western Russia, and to the present-day status of interfaith dialogue between Protestants and the Orthodox Christians in this region, forming integral part of the intercultural dialogue between local Russians and Finns.
The book was published under the auspices of our UNESCO Chair. The Chairperson, Dr. D.Spivak, served as a member of the Editorial Board, and wrote the initial chapter, which was entitled ‘Shared Cultural Heritage’. Its main objective consisted in outlining the concept of shared cultural heritage in the strategy of UNESCO.
2 November 2020

2nd International Forum ‘Theological Legacy of Muslims in Russia’

Our UNESCO Chair took part at the 2^nd International Forum ‘Theological Legacy of Muslims in Russia’, which took place from October 26 till October 30, 2020, at the historical town of Bolgar, which is situated in Tatarstan Republic, Russian Federation. A number of Muslim scholars and activists took part at the Forum, as well as the representatives of the major religions in this country, along with prominent specialists in interfaith dialogue. Head of the North Caucasus affiliation of our UNESCO Chair, Dr. Gulchohrah Seidova, gave a plenary talk entitled ‘Religious Education of Young People as Factor of Stability in Present-Day Russia’.

Program of the International Forum.
8 October 2020

National Scientific and Practical Conference dedicated to ‘Digitization of Culture and Culture of Digitization’

On October 8, 2020, National Scientific and Practical Conference dedicated to ‘Digitization of Culture and Culture of Digitization’ was conducted in Moscow, Russia, basing at the facilities of D.S.Likhachev Russian Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage. The Conference was organized by the aforementioned Institute, acting in cooperation with Russian Association of Cryptoeconomics, Artificial Intellect, and Blockchain. Our UNESCO Chair was represented by two reporters, one of whom, Dr. D.Spivak, gave an invited plenary talk, entitled ‘Digitization in Cultural Strategy of UNESCO’. Another fellow, Dr. M.Stepanov, gave a section talk, dedicated to ‘Limits of Perception: Problems of Digitization in Culture’.
3 October 2020

International Symposium ‘W(est) & E(ast) Metacultural Challenge’

On October 3, 2020, International Symposium ‘W(est) & E(ast) Metacultural Challenge’ took place in St.Petersburg, Russia. Our UNESCO Chair served as a main co-organizer of the Symposium, along with Chair of Cultural Studies, Philosophy of Culture, St.Petersburg State University (Russia), Hainan Normal University (China), Kyungpook National University (Republik of Korea), as well as a number of other institutions. Cluster methodology of description and analysis served as the focal point of the Symposium, as well as its applications in intercultural studies.
Official program
25 September 2020

Dr. Gulchokhra Seidova has taken part at a scientific and practical conference ‘Religion in the Changing World’

Head of the Northern Caucasus affiliation of our UNESCO chair, Dr. Gulchokhra Seidova, has taken part at a scientific and practical conference ‘Religion in the Changing World. Role of Education in Formation of Young People’, which was organized by the Spiritual Congregation of Muslims of Russia, the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Foundation of Support for Islamic Culture, Science and Education, and a number of other influential institutions and organizations of Russia. The conference took place on September 24, 2020, as a web event, basing at the facilities of the Press Center of the TASS information agency in Moscow, Russia. Representatives of about 20 federal and regional Russian universities took place at the Conference, along with colleagues from about 20 countries of Europe, Africa, and America. Report presented by Dr. G.Seidova was dedicated to Role of Spiritual Strategies of National Culture and Education in the Formation of Contemporary Young People.

Photo by Egor Ageev TASS
https://tass.ru/press/11259
20 September 2020

Polish Conference of Historians of Cartography, dedicated to ‘Map and Text. Links of Maps with Literature and with Other Cultural Texts’

On September 16-18, 2020, a Polish fellow of our UNESCO Chair, Dr. P.Krokosz, took part at 33rd Polish Conference of Historians of Cartography, dedicated to ‘Map and Text. Links of Maps with Literature and with Other Cultural Texts’. Dr. Krokosz gave a report entitled ‘Old Historic Maps – Synthesis of Russian History in the 18th and the 19th Centuries’. The report was dedicated to cultural aspects of maps, including their role in the ongoing intercultural dialogue between Poland and Russia. Summaries of reports presented at the Conference.
5 June 2020

National Web Conference “Cooperation of UNESCO Chairs for Strategic Planning and Sustainable Development”

On June 5, 2020, the Chair took part at a National Web Conference entitled ‘Cooperation of UNESCO Chairs for Strategic Planning and Sustainable Development’. The conference was organized basing at the facilities of Peter the Great State Polytechnical University in St.Petersburg, Russia, and gathered about 70 participants from all of the country. The conference started with introductory remarks of Ms. I.Nichanian and Mr. G.Ordzhonikidze, who represented respectedly UNESCO headquarters, and Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO. The Chair was presented by M.Stepanov, Academic Secretary, who gave an invited plenary talk dedicated to ‘Intercultural Dialogue in Digitalized World’, which was co-authored by A.Venkova, Deputy Chair, and by D.Spivak, Chair.
5 June 2020

Scientific paper in a peer-reviewed journal “Religiosity of Shiite Muslims in Russia”

The Chair has completed a new stage of its strategic project, dedicated to Dialogue of World Religions in Present-Day World. The stage consisted in detection of basic features shaping intrinsic religiosity of Shi’a Muslims in Daghesta, Russia. Its main results were presented as a scientific paper in a peer-reviewed journal (Spivak D., Seidova G., Venkova A.Intrinsic Religiosity of Shiite Muslims in Russia // International Journal of Cultural Research. 2020. № 1. P. 234–254. DOI: 10.24411/2079-1100-2020-000017).

As stated in the Summary of the article, “100 members of the local religious community of Shiite Muslims, aged and young, female and male, were interviewed, basing on the facilities of the historical Juma Mosque at the city of Derbent, in the south of the Republic of Daghestan. As a result, three dominant psychological experiences were detected: (a) having “spiritual experience that strengthened one’s belief in God’, (b) “feeling close to God”, (c) having “experience that convinced one of God’s existence”, two moderate experiences: (d) “spending considerable time on religious or spiritual practices”, (e) “considering oneself as strongly religious’ or, as “spiritually-oriented”, and two weaker ones: (f) “feeling often to be very close to a powerful spiritual force”, and (g) definitely agreeing to the statement “God dwells within me”.

“Dominant experiences tended to be dynamic / active, while the weak ones were mostly static and passive. No statistically relevant dependence upon age and / or sex of respondents was detected in the case of the dominant experiences, most possibly due to their being too strong. As to the moderate ones, strong degree of dependence upon age and / or sex was detected. Aged women tended to get the highest scores on all seven sub-scales applied by us; aged men revealed a somewhat lower level of intrinsic religiosity. Young men occupied the second place from the top at five scales out of seven, applied by us, while young women got the lowest scores. Thus, basing on strictly formal criteria, two focal types of intrinsic religiosity of Shiite Muslims in Russia were revealed, one of them being characteristic for aged people, especially aged women, another one, being almost exclusively proper for young men”.

The Chair intends to incorporate these results into present-day interfaith dialogue in Russia.
4 June 2020

International scientific web conference «Contemporary Paradigmatic Problems of Education at the Eurasian Region»

On May 29, 2020, our Chair took part at an international scientific web conference, organized jointly by Mirzo Ulugbek National University of Uzbekistan, Centre of Social Studies of Azerbaidjan, State University of Daghestan, Al Farabi National University of Kazakhstan, Manas Kirghiz-Turk University, National University of Tadjikistan, and Philosophic Society of Uzbekistan. The conference was entitled: Contemporary Paradigmatic Problems of Education at the Eurasian Region. Head of the North Caucasus affiliation of our Chair, professor GulchohraSeidova, gave an invited talk, entitled Development of Education at Eurasian Region Basing upon Values of National Cultures. Professor of our Chair, Mustafa Bilalov, gave another invited plenary talk, dedicated to Eurasian Standards of Present-Day Educational Paradigm. Photo: professor G.Seidova.