1.4.7 Risks and Opportunities of Cultural Diversity as a Resource of Social Sustainability
Valery Tishkov
Project Leader
Valery Stepanov
Project Leader
Project period
2020-2021
Context of Research Project within a Subject of Human Capital
The cultural diversity of communities provides an opportunity for the fullest use of human potential. Studying the cultural diversity in Russia and other countries is an important source of data for developing models of social harmony, which is well confirmed by the research conducted in the IEA RAS for several decades. The current geopolitical and economic challenges have led to the growth of isolationism, various forms of xenophobia, and the popularity of conservative and populist views in Russia and other European countries. At the same time, the culturalist paradigm, the ethnization of political and social problems, and speculation on migration issues distract public attention from serious threats to social harmony, including growing inequality and the widening gap in living standards between countries, regions, and segments of the population. These trends constitute serious conflict potential. Cultural complexity poses a serious challenge if it becomes the subject of systemic manipulation and is pushed to the periphery of public attention. Thus, it should be studied as both a source of risks and opportunities for the society development
Project Aim
Developing a scientific basis and shape sufficient scientific and organizational experience in developing the theory and practice of applied socio-anthropological research of the human potential in Russian society
Project Objectives:
- Compiling tools for a comprehensive anthropological study of the problem of cultural diversity, social sustainability and human potential in the context of global challenges
- Conducting comprehensive anthropological research in the following areas:
- Investing in human potential in the face of global challenges
- Cultural and spatial diversity as a resource for development and competitiveness
- Fundamentals of Human and Technology Humanities and Social Studies
- Historical and cultural heritage, its impact on collective memory, culture, education, information environment
Key Findings
2020
Approaches to the assessment of social impact have been identified; the analysis of the identified approaches was used to develop a new one. This new approachconsiders human potential as a factor of well-being, which can be influenced by projects in the extractive industry. Ethnological expertise has revealed factors, including those related to human potential, that affect the lives of families belonging to the indigenous minorities of the North and are mainly related to fishing and hunting
2021
Within the conducted research, a significant amount of new museum and archival heritage in the form of local population records and materials of northern expeditions has been identified and analyzed; the documents from the Tobolsk branch of the State Archive of the Tyumen Region have been partly digitized. Studies have been conducted that focus on the formation of Russian national and ethnic identities through understanding the historical development of our country; on the adaptation strategies of the northern peoples and their cultures to the relatively new urban conditions., A survey of storytellers, performers and teachers of throat singing has been conducted in the course of a field expedition to the Altai Republic
Publications
- Mochalova M.A. Galaktionov S.V. For Whom Does the Storyteller Sing? Epic Tradition and the Production of Intangible Heritage in the Altai Republic (RU) // Siberian Historical Research, 2021, No. 2, pp.45-55
Conferences
International scientific conference “Challenge” in the Everyday Life of the Population of Russia: History and Modernity (RU) (St. Petersburg, Russia, April 1-3, 2021):
Pivneva E. The City as a Challenge and Opportunity: Variability of Adaptation Strategies of the Peoples of the North in the Conditions of Urbanization