This article examines the process of developing business speech culture among students enrolled in engineering programs. This process is viewed as a significant component of the professional development of a future specialist. Based on theoretical analysis and generalization of practical results, the productivity of the communicative-activity approach in teaching business communication is substantiated. Three levels of business speech proficiency are characterized: reproductive, productive, and creative. The pedagogical conditions that improve students’ speech activity during the acquisition of business communication skills are identified. The results of experimental work confirm that the implementation of this approach helps students achieve a creative level of speech development that meets the requirements of professional interaction in a business environment.

Key words: business speech culture, technical university students, communicative-activity approach, speech activity, professional development, levels of formation, business communication, pedagogical conditions.

 

This study examines the development of Sino-Russian cooperative higher education within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, with particular attention to regional implementation and program quality. Despite the growing scale of cooperation, regional mechanisms and structural constraints remain insufficiently explored in the existing literature.

The conducted research is based on a qualitative, policy-oriented case study design and draws on regulatory documents, official statistical data, and institutional materials from universities in Shandong Province. This approach makes it possible to analyze the interaction between national policy frameworks and regional practices of program implementation.

The findings indicate that Sino-Russian programs are predominantly concentrated in engineering and applied fields, reflecting national and regional development priorities. At the same time, a number of systemic constraints are identified, including structural imbalances, regulatory ambiguity, and limited disciplinary diversification, which affect the sustainability and effectiveness of joint programs.

The study demonstrates that further development requires a transition from quantitative expansion to a quality-oriented model based on regulatory harmonization, methodological support, and the strengthening of institutional coordination.

Key words: Assian-Chinese cooperation, transnational higher education, Belt and Road Initiative, internationalization of higher education, Shandong Province, joint educational programs.

 

 

The article examines the place and role of political culture within the sphere of public policy, a subject linked to current trends in the changing forms of citizen engagement in the political environment as a whole. The article substantiates the thesis regarding the importance of political culture as both a value-oriented platform and a behavioral practice that emerges through the interaction between society and the authorities. Particular attention is paid to the regional dimension: it is at the level of the constituent entities that specific forms of societal and state participation and communication take shape–reflecting ethnic, emotional, geographical, and other distinct characteristics, which is of critical importance for multi-ethnic Russia. The study’s findings confirm the hypothesis that political culture should be defined not as a passive set of attitudes and rules, but as a mechanism for the dynamic reproduction of social order–grounded in values, norms, and the modes of actor presence–whereby accounting for regional specifics helps preserve its uniqueness and ensures its resilience to change.

Key words: political culture, public policy, value orientations, forms of political participation, political system, regional dimension, actor, civil society.

 

The article discusses panpsychism. This is a philosophical concept according to which consciousness or its protoforms is a fundamental and ubiquitous property of physical reality. It is inherent not only in complex organisms. But also in the basic elements of matter. The authors trace the evolution of panpsychist ideas. From the ancient natural philosophy of Thales through the monadology of G. Leibniz to modern analytical versions. Special attention is paid to the role of panpsychism in solving the "hard problem of consciousness". It is shown how this doctrine offers an alternative to classical physicalism and substantial dualism. By avoiding reductionist difficulties in explaining the qualitative nature of subjective experience. A separate section is devoted to the central objection to panpsychism. The so-called "combination problem" formulated by W. James: "How do the microsubjects of experience combine into a single macro-consciousness?" The proposed strategies for its solution and the related ontological difficulties are considered. In conclusion, the authors assess the heuristic potential of panpsychism. For the philosophy of consciousness. Cognitive sciences and philosophy of nature. It is noted that panpsychism is not just a philosophical position today. A cultural symptom. It reflects a fatigue from reductionism. A search for a connection with nature. A rethinking of technology and a desire to return depth to the world. Whether it is a scientific hypothesis or a metaphor, it has become one of the lenses through which modern culture looks at itself. 

Key words: panpsychism, philosophy of consciousness, culture, the hard problem of consciousness, the problem of combination, proto-consciousness, cosmopsychism.

 

The article examines cinema as a medium of representation and construction of cultural identity. It demonstrates that cinema not only reflects a society’s cultural norms, traditions, values, and historical memory, but also actively participates in creating images of collective belonging. Attention is also given to cinema’s ability to shape models of identification through visual images, narrative structures, character archetypes, and symbolic representations of the past and future. The conclusion is drawn that, in the context of globalization, cinema is becoming a vital space for the preservation, transformation, and reinterpretation of cultural identity. 

Key words: cultural identity, cinema, representation, construction of identity, cultural memory, visual culture, globalization.

 

The article analyses the academic heritage of the Soviet architect and art historian E. A. Ashchepkov (1907–1982), who studied Chinese architectural culture in the mid 20th century. The paper examines the methodological model of his theoretical views, conceptualised as an “external friendly gaze”: a combination of thoughtful contemplation, aesthetic experience, and analysis of historical facts. The study applies a comparative analysis of the Soviet/Russian and Western European approaches to assessing Chinese architectural heritage. Based on the systematisation of Ashchepkov’s observations, the authors conclude on the universalism of the pseudo genetic continuity of Chinese architectural traditions, which can be reproduced in modern conditions. The specific features of Ashchepkov’s school are identified, and examples of cooperation between China and the USSR in the 1950s are considered, along with the transmission of “genetic data” in current architectural trends. The novelty of the research lies in revealing the potential of Chinese architectural heritage in Ashchepkov’s works; the significance of the findings consists in the possibility of applying the results to develop the professional culture of architects.

Key words: Chinese architectural culture, the academic heritage of E.A. Ashchepkov, the cultural code of Chinese architecture.

 

This article examines holidays as recalled by Russian residents of Harbin. An important part of the life of the Russian “Eastern” diaspora in China was the observance of traditional holidays. Russians in Harbin celebrated both Russian and Chinese holidays. In this work, the author analyzes how the memoirs of Russian emigrants essentially described the lives of their authors in China during the first half of the 20th century. The aim of the article is to substantiate the significance of holidays in the lives of Russian emigrants in Harbin. Holidays celebrated in the “Russian diaspora” served, on the one hand, as a means of preserving historical memory of Russia and its traditions and of passing them on to the younger generation; on the other hand, they proved to be open to contemporary reality.

Key words: holidays, memoirs, Russians in Harbin.

 

The article examines the influence of shamanic culture on the formation of acting technique in the theatrical practices of Mongolia, China, and Russia. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that shamanic heritage is usually considered through mythological plots, ritual forms, masks, costumes, music, or scenography, whereas its impact on the bodily, vocal, and psychophysical organisation of acting remains insufficiently explored. However, it is precisely at the level of acting technique that the transition from ritual mediator to stage performer becomes most visible.

The purpose of the article is to identify the performative mechanisms through which shamanic practices of body, voice, breathing, mask transformation, and mediatory embodiment were reinterpreted in the theatrical traditions of Mongolia, China, and Russian regions.

The methodological basis of the study includes historical-cultural, comparative, and theatre-studies methods, as well as elements of performance analysis. The article draws on works on shamanism, ritual theory, traditional theatre of East and Central Asia, and Mongolian, Chinese, and Siberian stage cultures. Particular attention is paid to approaches that interpret ritual not only as a religious action but also as a form of organised bodily, vocal, and spatial behaviour.

It is established that shamanic culture influenced acting technique not merely through external attributes but through deeper psychophysical models of performance. Rhythmic movement, circular and spiral trajectories, zoomorphic gestures, vibration of the body, incantatory speech, throat and overtone singing, breath concentration, masks, and make-up form a stable shamanic code of stage performance. In the theatrical practices of Mongolia, China, and Russia this code is not preserved as a direct repetition of ritual but is transformed into artistic techniques: stage plasticity, vocal and speech expressiveness, inner concentration, and the principle of mediatory transformation.

The results of the study may be used in cultural studies, theatre studies, comparative analysis of traditional theatrical systems, and in courses on theatre history, acting, ritual forms of art, and the intangible cultural heritage of the peoples of Central, East, and North Asia.

Key words: shamanism, acting technique, theatrical culture, ritual, plasticity, voice, mask, mediative transformation, Mongolia, China, Russia.

 

Background. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to reconsider the war theme in Soviet symphonic music of the 1940s not only as a semantic motif, but also as a factor shaping the compositional and dramaturgical organization of a musical work. Objective. The article aims to identify the structural role of the war theme in the symphonies of Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich and Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev. Materials and Methods. The research material includes the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Symphonies by Shostakovich, as well as the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies by Prokofiev. The study employs musical-analytical, historical-cultural, and comparative methods, together with elements of a semiotic approach that allows march rhythms, signal intonations, conflict intervals, and timbre complexes to be interpreted as signs of wartime reality. Results. It has been established that the war theme in Soviet symphonism of the 1940s performs not only a representational but also a structural function. It influences musical form, thematic development, orchestration, and the organization of climaxes. The analysis demonstrates that Shostakovich interprets war primarily through tragedy, tension, and the crisis of form, whereas Prokofiev develops a heroic and epic conception of wartime experience.

Key words: Soviet music, symphony, military theme, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, musical dramaturgy, cultural memory, musical form.

 

The article is devoted to the study of the siege discourse and its cinematic representations in films about the 1942 Leningrad premiere of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony: by Z. Agranenko (1957), K. Lopushansky (1980), and A. Kott (2021). Based on J. Assmann's concept of cultural memory and M. Ferro's source-study approach, the author identifies three strategies of dealing with trauma: heroization, deheroization, and metaphorical representation.

Key words: Leningrad Symphony, Siege of Leningrad, cultural memory, cinema, trauma.

 

The article is devoted to the analysis of the representation of the image of the Russian province in film trailers of the 2010s–2020s. The methodological foundation of the study is the semiotic theory of Yuri Lotman, supplemented by the tools of visual studies and discourse analysis. The trailer is regarded as a complex audiovisual utterance functioning within the semiosphere of culture, where "center" and "periphery" form a stable binary opposition. Drawing on trailers for films such as Kholop, Loveless, Arrhythmia, The Last Warrior, Cheburashka, Heart of Parma, Viking, and others, the article identifies the visual and narrative strategies used to construct the image of the province, analyzes the mechanisms for marking space as "own" or "alien," and examines the methods of emotional and evaluative influence on the viewer. The novelty of the study lies in identifying and systematizing the stable visual codes through which film trailers not only reflect but also semiotically construct the image of the Russian province, thereby anchoring specific meanings within the cultural space.

Key words: film trailer, province, periphery, semiotics of space, visual studies, discourse analysis, representation of space, Russian cinema.

 

This article examines the artistic appropriation of cultural memory in the works and exhibition projects of contemporary Russian artists. The relevance of this study is linked to the expanding practice of drawing on archives, historical quotations, family testimonies, objects, urban sites, and traumatic pasts. The aim of the study is to identify and systematize the mechanisms for transforming past experience into the figurative structure of contemporary art. The study is based on an analysis of scholarly publications, as well as comparative, classificatory, logical-analytical methods and synthesis. The collection comprises works from 2022–2025 on the reception of the avant-garde, logocentric practices, Russian graphic art, images of war, the world of objects, the concept of home, urban cultural industries, museum biennials, and the transformative action of the artist. The analytical section distinguishes between quotational-receptive, verbal-visual, object-archival, spatial-local, and commemorative-figurative mechanisms. The comparison revealed that artistic practice transforms the past from a preserved testimony into a form of current semantic interaction. The results are suitable for art historical analysis, the development of exhibition concepts, and educational courses on contemporary Russian art.

Key words: cultural memory, contemporary Russian art, artistic practice, historical quotation, archive, object of memory, local identity, museum representation, commemoration, visual narrative.

 

This article analyzes female images in the book and magazine graphics of Alexander Deineka from the 1920s–1930s. Unlike numerous studies devoted to the painter’s canvases, this paper focuses on his early career, particularly his work for satirical and mass periodicals (The Godless at the Machine, Searchlight etc.). The authors examine the main types of female characters, ranging from caricatures of the “vanishing world” (NEP women, philistines) to heroic figures of female workers, activists and athletes. Using graphic techniques such as silhouette, tonal spots, and rhythmic linework, Deineka constructed a visual propaganda of the new Soviet woman – independent, physically fit, free from religious prejudices and domestic “slavery.” The article highlights the artistic and historical significance of these works.

Key words: Alexander Deineka, female image, women’s question in the USSR, 1920s–1930s graphics, magazine illustration, Soviet satire, propaganda in art, constructivism, “new woman” archetype, book graphics.

 

The article considers the problem of transformation and preservation of the kurgan heritage of the Dinsky district of the Krasnodar Territory under the influence of intensive agricultural development of territories. Based on a retrospective cartographic analysis comparing the data of E.D. Felitsyn in 1882 and V.V. Sokolov in 1919 with the materials of modern security and exploration surveys in 2022, the authors record a high intensity of leveling of kurgan mounds as a result of deep agrogenic soil treatment. The paper describes in detail the problem of landscape destructurization and leveling of monuments in relief, in which the studied objects lose their pronounced terrestrial features, while maintaining the high informativeness of the excavated spaces and structures. Using the example of studying the Novotitorovo culture (the school of A.N. Gay), the need for a transition to a strategy of digital fixation and conservation of archaeological heritage sites is substantiated. The main focus of the study is on the technology of creating digital counterparts of archaeological objects. Unlike static 3D moles, the digital twin is considered by the authors as a dynamic, continuously updated information system that ensures synchronization of the parameters of a physical object and its virtual counterpart. The methodology of their formation through generative modeling (algorithmic, node parametric and neural network approaches), as well as tools for high-precision fixation are analyzed in detail: the use of GNSS receivers with a standard deviation of up to 2.5 mm and UAVs to create detailed orthophotoplanes. The proposed operational support model includes the integration of these data into GIS and Cadastre (EGRN), which makes it possible to return the disappeared mounds to the official field of economic design. The conclusions note that the development of digital twins based on the methodology of N.E. Berlizov's system analysis and the subsequent introduction of archaeological sources into scientific and museum circulation (based on the approaches of A.V. Pyankov) are effective tools for preserving the information potential of the archaeological heritage of the region. 

Key words: Dinskoy district, burial mounds, Novotitorovskaya culture, the phenomenon of "false emptiness", digital twin, GIS technologies, archaeological supervision.

 

This article provides the first analysis of the little-studied legacy of Palekh artists in Soviet monumental painting. Using narrative, retrospective, and historical-systematic methods, the author demonstrates that these paintings played a significant role in the stylistic evolution of lacquer art. The relevance of this study stems from the loss of many works and the need to draw attention to the preservation of those that remain. The main conclusion: the experience of Palekh artists in monumental painting had a fundamental influence on the style of the craft and was subsequently used in church painting in the post-Soviet period.

Key words: Palekh, Ivanovo, Russian lacquer crafts, Palekh craft, folk art, monumental painting, Pushkin's fairy tales, N.M. Zinoviev, A.V. Kotukhin, A.A. Kotukhina.

 

Background. Trauma is understood as a rupture in experience and memory that resists verbal representation. In theatre, this issue becomes particularly relevant due to the use of nonverbal expressive means. Purpose. To identify the specificity of nonverbal representation of trauma in theatre and to determine its key forms and functions. Materials and methods. The study draws on trauma theory, performance theory, and drama therapy; semiotic, cultural, visual-plastic, and structural methods are applied. Results. Traumatic experience cannot be fully verbalized. The key forms of representation are identified: corporeality, pause and silence, sound and rhythm, and space. These forms perform structural and affective functions.

Key words: trauma, theatre, nonverbality, corporeality, performance, cultural memory, affect.

 

This article is dedicated to the issue of the development factors of the art and culture in the XVIII-th century. The relevance of the study is determined by the necessity to study an impact of the European Enlightenment ideas on the Russian society. The Russian Enlightenment socio-historical and literary-critical thought had influenced on the Russian society. The genre of historical painting in Russia had become a factor of an ideological consolidation of the Russian society as a result of the Enlightenment impact. The ideas of the Enlightenment and an implementation of the Enlightenment institutional state projects became a factor of the Russian state consolidation.

Key words: the development factors of the art and culture in the XVIII-th century, the ideas of the Enlightenment, the Enlightenment socio-historical thought, the literary and critical thought of the Enlightenment, an implementation of the Enlightenment ideas, the historical painting, the institutional state projects, the consolidation society factor of the Enlightenment.

 

One of the key challenges facing the higher education system today is nurturing students in the traditional spiritual and moral values of Russian culture. Traditional festivals can serve as a mechanism for transmitting the intangible cultural heritage of past generations.

Based on the analysis of empirical data (the practice of organizing and holding Maslenitsa at the Nizhny Tagil State Social and Pedagogical Institute), the authors of the article identify the components of the technology for holding a traditional holiday among students as an educational event.

The purpose of this article is to substantiate the concepts of Maslenitsa festivals complex, which should be presented in the practice of its organization and implementation at a modern university. This will provide students with an understanding of the holiday in its original, agrarian and agricultural form, as well as in the form of urban fairs, and provide a mechanism for conveying the holidays symbolic meanings and associated spiritual values, which are part of Russia’s intangible cultural heritage.

The authors conclude that the described technology for celebrating Maslenitsa in a student environment will facilitate the integrative, communicative, and socializing functions of the holiday.

Key words: spiritual and moral values, traditional values, culture, traditions, traditional holiday, educational event, socialization, Maslenitsa.

 

Modern post-Soviet Russian society is undergoing significant transformations. Not only its political and economic characteristics are changing, but its cultural paradigm is also undergoing significant changes. This article explores the moral and legal state of Russian society in a broader cultural context and the possibility of objectively monitoring it through secondary analysis of sociological research data and content analysis. The article examines theoretical concepts such as "social (cultural) analytics" and "ethical index of law" as tools for identifying the real relationship and evaluation of morality and law. Modern technologies of Artificial Intelligence (AI) allow the humanities not only to reach new parameters of diagnostics with high accuracy of measurements of the state of society, forecasting the processes taking place in it, but also to directly influence these processes, primarily cultural, which ultimately determine the collective identity. New cultural practices emerge, in which morality and law take on an important and defining role. The formation of these cultural practices is difficult, because the society itself is in the process of change. However, to shift the ethical responsibility and moral expertise of the law to machine algorithms and artificial agents would be an unjustifiable risk and a rejection of human moral agency. The study is interdisciplinary, which complicates the tools used, but also opens up new perspectives and leads to interesting results.

Key words: state, cultural policy, moral state, modern Russian society, legal consciousness.

 

Background. The article examines the problem of breathing and embodiment in Russian and Chinese flute traditions. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing interest in bodily aspects of musical performance and by the intensification of Russian-Chinese contacts in professional music education. Purpose. The aim of the study is to identify the specific understanding of breathing and embodiment in Russian and Chinese flute traditions and to define the nature of their interaction in contemporary performance culture. Materials and methods. The research is based on works devoted to the history and methodology of flute performance, studies of Russian and Chinese music pedagogy, and research on embodiment and musical gesture. The study applies comparative-cultural, hermeneutic, performance-analytical and phenomenological approaches. Results. It is established that in the Russian flute school breathing is primarily understood as a rationally organized mechanism of sound control connected with the discipline of the performing apparatus, timbral stability and phrasing logic. In the Chinese tradition, breathing retains its connection with ideas of inner movement, energetic continuity and plasticity of sound. The article concludes that contemporary Chinese flute culture is developing as a synthetic model combining Russian pedagogical principles with national aesthetic concepts of breathing and embodiment.

Key words: flute performance, breathing, corporeality, Russian flute school, Chinese musical culture, sound production, performing gesture, intercultural interaction.

 

Background. In the musical culture of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, improvisation moves beyond the jazz tradition and becomes an important principle of academic and cross-genre performance. This process is especially evident in saxophone practice, where the instrument is historically associated with timbral flexibility, genre openness, and individualized interpretation.

Objective. The article aims to identify the transformation of improvisation into a universal principle of contemporary saxophone performance.

Materials and methods. The study is based on research on improvisation theory, saxophone performance, performance studies, and contemporary musical culture. The methodological framework includes historical-cultural, comparative, performance-analytical, and hermeneutic approaches.

Results. The study establishes that improvisation in contemporary saxophone performance functions not only as a jazz practice but also as a way of organizing interpretation, tempo, phrasing, articulation, and timbral modeling. It is shown that the twenty-first-century saxophonist increasingly acts as a co-author of the sonic result, while performance practice develops in a hybrid space between academic, jazz, and experimental traditions.

Key words: saxophone, improvisation, performance, musical interpretation, jazz, classical music, performance studies, contemporary musical culture.

 

An increase in the role of culture in social development develops from the format of the axiom of academic science into the plane of the stability factor and the search for new channels of cultural insight of mankind. The potential of cultural heritage is multifaceted, organic association with national culture, a storehouse of ethical lessons. The milestones of the development of culture and philosophy are traced.

The article discusses the content and essence of culture and cultural heritage in the context of understanding cultural science, the historical evolution of accents in the identification of causal relationships. In this vein, the problem of public progress in the era of globalization is analyzed. Explanations trends are specified by examples and references to the regional and cultural policy of Tatarstan.

Key words: culture, cultural heritage, development of society, Tatarstan, cultural policy.

 

Background. The article examines dancefilm as an intermedial artistic form emerging at the intersection of choreography and cinema. The relevance of the study is determined by the growth of hybrid art forms, the expansion of screen-based practices of representing movement, and the absence of a unified definition of dancefilm in contemporary scholarship. Purpose. The aim of the article is to clarify the concept of dancefilm and identify its specific characteristics that allow it to be distinguished from related audiovisual forms. Materials and methods. The research is based on theoretical works in film theory, choreology, semiotics, and screendance studies, as well as on the analysis of key dancefilm works. The methodology includes an interdisciplinary approach, comparative analysis, semiotic analysis, and visual-plastic analysis. Results. The study shows that the terms screendance, dancefilm, and videodance function within overlapping semantic fields and lack clear boundaries. A system of criteria for dancefilm is proposed, including the integration of movement and camera, editing as a choreographic tool, spatial transformation of the body, medium specificity, and non-reproducibility on stage. The distinction between dancefilm and related audiovisual forms is established. It is argued that movement in dancefilm is constructed through cinematic language, which allows it to be considered an independent object of scholarly analysis.

Key words: film dance, screen dance, video dance, intermedia, choreography, film language, visual arts.

 

The article analyzes the strategies of visualizing Suprematism in contemporary curatorial practices in Russia and China. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing interest in the reinterpretation of avant-garde artistic heritage within the context of the transformation of museum culture and the expansion of exhibition space functions. Contemporary exhibitions are considered not only as a form of displaying artworks, but also as mechanisms for organizing viewers’ perception and producing artistic meaning. The aim of the study is to identify and systematize the semiotic strategies of presenting Suprematism in contemporary museum practice. The methodological framework combines semiotic analysis, museum communication theory, visual studies, hermeneutics, and comparative cultural analysis. The article examines exhibition space as an independent sign system shaping the interpretation of avant-garde art. The main strategies of Suprematist visualization are identified: historical-reconstructive, formalist, immersive, media-digital, and intercultural. Particular attention is paid to the role of the curator as a mediator of artistic meaning and to the problem of balancing historical authenticity with the contemporary actualization of avant-garde heritage. The study demonstrates that the intercultural presentation of Suprematism is connected with processes of recontextualization and adaptation of abstract art to different visual traditions. The results allow contemporary exhibition representation of Suprematism to be interpreted as a dynamic form of cultural communication.

Key words: Suprematism, curatorial practices, exhibition space, museum communication, semiotics of art, Russian avant-garde, visual culture, intercultural reception.

 

The article examines the transformation of Buddhist chants in the context of their integration into the imperial ritual system during the Liang dynasty. The relevance of the study lies in the insufficient scholarly attention to the musical dimension of the interaction between Buddhism and state ritual culture in early medieval China. The aim of the article is to identify the mechanisms and consequences of incorporating Buddhist musical practices into the normative framework of court «proper music» (yayue). The study analyzes the structure and functions of court ritual music, the characteristics of early Buddhist chants (fanbai) prior to their courtly institutionalization, and the forms of their adaptation to imperial ceremonial practice. The research employs historical musicology, textual analysis, comparative methods, and a cultural-semiotic approach. The article demonstrates that the inclusion of Buddhist chants in the court context results in significant functional and semantic shifts, transforming them from soteriological practices into representational elements of political and ritual authority. It is argued that the «entry of the temple into the palace» should be understood as a process of structural recoding of Buddhist musical tradition rather than simple borrowing or coexistence of ritual forms.

Key words: Buddhist music, fanbai, yayue, ritual, Liang dynasty, court ceremony, sacredness, musical semiotics, religious policy.

 

The article elucidates the role of myth as a fundamental cultural phenomenon that facilitates the transmission of collective experience, values, and traditions in the Urals. It is emphasized that myth is not merely an archaic form of narrative but a complex semiotic system that constructs specific meanings of the surrounding reality. Drawing on the works of E. Cassirer, R. Barthes, G. Vico, and Yu. M. Lotman, the article analyses the structure of myth and the specific features of its manifestation in Ural mythology. Particular attention is paid to the emergence of myths related to the exploration of the territory and the development of industry.

Key words: myth, language, symbol, sign, semiotics, language system, regional identity.

 

Valery Pereleshin, a pivotal writer in the Far Eastern Russian émigré literary circle, embarked on an extraordinary life trajectory spanning three distinct geographical spaces: Russia, China, and Brazil. As he journeyed from his homeland memories anchored in Irkutsk, through his three-decade sojourn in China, to his late years of exile in Brazil, he underwent a profound metamorphosis from a displaced exile into a transcultural creator through his poetic renderings of the diverse natural environments and cultural landscapes of these regions. The fluid cultural identity inscribed in his poetry constitutes both a quintessential embodiment of the reciprocal interplay between literature and geography, and a vivid instantiation of human-land relations within the theoretical framework of literary geography.

Key words: literary geography, Valery Pereleshin, poetry, cultural identity, exile literature.

 

This article analyzes the work of M.V. Nesterov as a Symbolist artist within the context of the Russian cultural Renaissance of the turn of the 20th century. Drawing on M.M. Bakhtin's theory of dialogue and the post-Bakhtinian research tradition, the author examines Nesterov's European travels as a space for intercultural dialogue, in which the "foreign word" of Western European art is transformed into "friend-foe" through the principles of externality and the creative core of the individual. Particular attention is paid to the 1889 journey as a catalyst for the creation of the cycle of images of Sergius of Radonezh, which became the central religious and iconographic motif of the artist's entire oeuvre.

Key words: M.V.  Nesterov, symbolism, silver age, M. Bakhtin, dialogue of cultures.

 

Moral dilemmas invented by philosophers are compared in the article with moral problems from real medical practice. A possible solution to such complex problems is contained in the "Foundations of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church." Religious morality can have a positive meaning for the country as a whole, if it does not contradict common sense and corresponds to the sentiments of the majority of citizens. In this regard, the paternalistic approach of the Russian Orthodox Church to the solution of ethical problems, historical and modern medical dilemmas of the choice between life and death is of interest. A distinctive feature of the bearers of Orthodoxy – the ability to love and forgive, the desire to live according to justice, according to the dictates of the soul, and not according to the formal laws of civil society and human rights – forms the basis of the socio-cultural identity of Russians, and it is this core that should serve as the basis for the creation of a new, Russian bioethics for future Russian doctors. 

Key words: history of medicine, moral dilemmas, Russian Orthodox Church, choice between life or death.

 

In this article, the collective feat is considered as an independent cultural form developed by Russian culture, which remains on the periphery of cultural analysis. The research tradition often views the feat as an act of a single heroic individual, while Russian culture has created a different model – a model of shared and multiplied accomplishment that goes beyond the sum of individual actions. The purpose of this article is to identify the value foundation of this form, describe its historical manifestations, and explore its contemporary transformations. The methodology combines cultural-historical, semantic-etymological, and comparative approaches, an axiological analysis of the category of "heroism," the cultural theory of the "hero of culture," and the concept of collective memory. The author shows that the semantic basis of collective heroism is conciliarity, a way of uniting people in which the individual does not dissolve in the mass, as in Eastern collectivism, nor does it oppose itself to others, as in Western individualism, but finds itself in a common movement towards a supra-personal center. This resolves a key paradox: the individual's exceptionalism, which is implied by heroism, does not contradict the collective principle, as the conciliar heroism multiplies personal self-denial, as evidenced by the psychology of heroic action. The continuity of historical forms has been traced, from the heroic service of the center in the epic and monastic asceticism as a factor in the unity of the people, to the mass heroism of the Great Patriotic War, the labor feats of the Soviet era, and the collective dedication of participants in local conflicts. The article proposes a criterion that distinguishes genuine collective heroism from ideological imitations that replace the living unity of people with an abstract scheme. Special attention is paid to the existence of collective heroism in the memory of modern generations of Russians and its re-coding in the context of digitalization, from "monasticism in the world" to network-based collective heroism. The article concludes that this cultural form is in demand in the context of the search for national and cultural identity. 

Key words: feat, collective feat, conciliarity, asceticism, Russian culture, heroism, hero of culture, collective memory, service, digitalization.

 

This article traces the centuries-long history of paper production in Arab-Islamic civilization ‒ from the adoption of Chinese technology in Central Asia in the 8th century to the gradual decline of the local craft under pressure from European (primarily Italian) imports in the 14th – 16th  centuries, and in some regions as late as the 20th century. The focus is on historical dynamics: the emergence of production, the geographical spread of paper workshops, the typological evolution of paper as a material medium of writing, as well as the economic and cultural factors that shaped the fate of the Arab papermaking craft. It is shown that «Arab paper» constitutes an independent historical and technological phenomenon, unjustifiably subsumed in Western historiography under the overly broad categories of «Oriental paper» or «paper without watermarks.» Based on an analysis of medieval written sources (Ibn al-Nadim, al-Jahiz, al-Tha'alibi, al-Qalqashandi) and data from modern codicology, the main stages of this evolution are reconstructed.

Key words: history of paper, Arabic manuscript, codicology, Samarkand, Khorasan, filigree, medieval craft, Islamic civilization.

 

The article examines the centuries-long evolution of the material foundations of European literacy – from the Late Antique tradition of papyrus, through the predominance of parchment in the Early and High Middle Ages, to the ascendancy of papermaking as the dominant technology of the Early Modern period. The study focuses on the history and technological development of papermaking itself: its transmission to Europe via Muslim Iberia, the establishment of early paper mills in the Iberian Peninsula and Italy, the technical innovations of Fabriano, the mechanisation of the Early Modern era, and the Industrial Revolution in papermaking during the nineteenth century. Drawing upon diplomatic, archaeological, and historical-economic data, the article interprets the transition between writing materials not as an isolated set of technical changes, but as a marker of profound socio-economic and cultural transformations in Europe and the Mediterranean world.

Key words: papyrus, parchment, paper, paper mill, written culture, medieval archives, Fabriano, Xàtiva, history of technology.