Maksym W. Kyrchanoff’s research while affiliated with Voronezh State University and other places

In this article, the author analyzes visual discourses of physicality in modern porn discourse through the prism of structuralist theory proposed by Russian researcher Vladimir Propp. The article is one of the first attempts in modern historiography to transplant the methods and principles proposed by Vladimir Propp to analyze the current state of porn in popular culture. The purpose of the article is to analyze the relationships and interdependencies between modern porn culture, presented in visual forms, and its historical predecessors. It is assumed that the origins of pornographic discourse, which operates in visual forms, can be localized in folk traditional culture. Forms and dimensions of physicality and actions of the heroes of modern pornographic discourse are perceived as structural elements of mass culture. The results of the study can be summarized in the following way: 1) the visual structure of modern porn has lost its uniqueness and originality in the consumer society; 2) the plots and sequence of actions of the heroes of modern pornographic discourse can be compared with similar plots and behavioral strategies of folk discourse; 3) porn in modern society plays roles that are similar to ones played by fairy tales in the traditional culture of pre-modern societies. The author believes that modern porn discourse imitates reality, although initially the behavior of the characters and the plots are fantastic and unrealistic in their nature. It is shown that the development of porn became a reaction to the demand of consumer society for visualized narrative constructions based on the archetypes of traditional folk culture.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the “short 20th century” concept as an interpretative model of modern historical science that claims to be universal. The author analyzes the concept of the “short 20th century” proposed by Eric Hobsbawm. The subject of the article is the concept of the “short 20th century”, the object is the possibility of its application and transplantation into Indonesian historical research. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of the concept of the “short 20th century” as an interpretative model that allows us to analyze the features of the historical, social and cultural development of Indonesia in the context of those transformation processes that were launched by the development of nationalism, modernization and secularization. It is assumed that the interpretive models proposed by Western historians have a claim to universality, although the effect of its transplantation into non-Western historical contexts may be limited. The article analyzes 1) the features of the social and economic components in the transformation of Indonesia during the “short 20th century”, 2) the role of the factors of nationalism and Islam in political changes within the framework of political competition and the confrontational model of relations between the Ummah and the ruling elites, 3) the consequences of “short 20th century” for the subsequent history of the region. The article shows the potential of the concept of the “short 20th century” for analyzing the history of social and political transformations in Indonesia. The results of the study suggest that the effect of using the concept of the “short 20th century” is limited. The author believes that this interpretative model can be effective relatively and useful for analyzing social and political dynamics through the prism of confrontation between secular and religious institutions as sources and drivers of change.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the possibility of using the concept of the “long 19th century” as an interpretative model of historical science that claims to be universal. The author analyzes the concept of the “long 19th century” proposed by Eric Hobsbawm. The subject of the article is the concept of the “long 19th century”, the object is the possibility of its application and transplantation into Indonesian historical research. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of the concept of the “long 19th century” as an interpretative model that allows us to analyze the features of the historical, social and cultural development of the territories of Indonesia, reduced in this article to Aceh. It is assumed that the interpretive models proposed by Western historians have a claim to universality, although the effect of their transplantation into non-Western historical contexts may be limited. The article analyzes 1) the features of the social and economic components in the transformation of Aceh during the “long 19th century”, 2) the role of the Islam in political changes in the region is revealed, 3) the consequences of the “long 19th century” for the subsequent history of the region are studied. The article shows the potential of the concept of the “long 19th century” for analyzing the history of social and political transformations in Indonesia through the prism of regional history. The results of the study suggest that the effect of using the concept of the “long 19th century” is limited. The author believes that this interpretative model is relatively effective and useful for analyzing social and political dynamics through the prism of religious institutions as sources and incentives for change, transformation and change in a modernizing society, to which Aceh belonged during the analyzed period of history.

The article examines monarchism as a form of memorial culture and historical policy in contemporary German society. The research aims to analyze monarchism as a form of historical memory. The author explores the role and significance of monarchist intellectuals in shaping historical policy and the memorial culture that evolves within the framework of monarchist historical imagination. The novelty of the study lies in examining the current stage of monarchist ideology in Germany, not as a form of political participation, but as a version of historical memory and memorial culture, grounded in the principles of both historical revisionism and German nationalism. The article demonstrates that (1) monarchism in contemporary Germany cultivates its own perceptions of the past and history; (2) the historical imagination of German monarchism is a form of historical revisionism, as the monarchist past and legacy are systematically mythologized and ideologized in the political imagination of monarchist supporters; (3) in its historical imagination, monarchism constructs alternative versions of historical memory and memorial culture, distinct from those proposed by civic identity. The article highlights that monarchist forms of historical memory contribute to ongoing transformations in memorial culture, promoting the parallel development of alternative counter-memories that operate within the political and ideological framework of monarchism. It is suggested that the visualization of collective historical memory regarding the unique historical experience of monarchy, including the narrative and discursive tactics and strategies of contemporary monarchists, enhances the heterogeneous nature of Germany’s memorial tradition, fostering the consolidation of unique perspectives on the past, which form the foundation of monarchist historical imagination and memorial culture as a form of alternative memory.

The relevance of collective memory analysis comes from the increasing role of memorization in social processes, which are currently acquiring increasingly significant conflict potential. The author analyses visual material of the popular science fiction series The Orville, which represents a segment of American political culture, as one of the cultural mechanisms for the assimilation of ideology and politics in mass cultural discourse. It is presumed that The Orville parodies the classic epics Star Trek and Babylon 5 and thus is part of the processes of deconstructing the historical collective memory of modern American society. This study intends to establish how a formally parody series not only mocks and imitates, but also constructs its own versions of memorial culture. The article aims: 1) to describe the universal tactics of deconstruction as a form of revision of existing memorial cultures; 2) to clarify the possibilities and boundaries of describing memorial culture through the prism of visual mass culture, using the example of a science fiction series; 3) to analyze the modes of updating political and social contradictions in American society on the example of the TV series The Orville; 4) to consider the specificity of the transformation of mass consciousness by constructing a new version of identity in the light of a radical revision of the narratives of classic science fiction series; 5) to analyze the political and ideological dimensions of the memory wars presented in the clash of traditional and liberal values of the characters in the series. Methodology of the article bases on the principles of the memorial turn and the analysis of the politics of memory within the paradigm of cultural and intellectual history and includes the methods of discourse analysis and intent analysis. The novelty of the study lies in determining the directions and specificities of the assimilation of the political, limited by the problems of collective memory, cultural, religious and gender identity along with military and ideological confrontation in modern mass culture of historical memory within the visual space of the science fiction series The Orville. The series is analyzed as an attempt to deconstruct the cultural experience and legacy of Star Trek, which actualized science fiction series as one of the sources of cultural and social meanings for modern consumer society. The author also analyzes the contribution of the series to the development of the collective memory of US society; the transformation of the concepts of Self and Otherness through the prism of specifying cultural, religious and gender roles. Revision of the past in popular culture as an alternative space for the functioning of collective historical memory is investigated. As a result of the study, it is presumed that The Orville actualizes modern American laughter culture and inspires attempts to rethink collective memory, the collective historical experience of trauma and represents an attempt to abandon the strategies of historical amnesia and ignoring politically inconvenient experiences.

The politics of memory in the Latvian Republic in the early 2020s are analyzed. The role and place of intellectual communities is studied. These communities act as the main spaces of the genesis and functioning of memorial culture and collective historical memory in modern social and political thought in Latvia. The novelty of the study lies in the examination of the current stage in the development of the historical policy of the Latvian society in the context of a lack of original sources-based interdisciplinary works focused on the analysis of the memorial cultures of the post-Soviet space in Russian historiography. It is shown that: 1) as one of the systemic segments of modern Latvian society, the intellectual community significantly contributes to the development and transformation of memorial culture; 2) the range of memorial practices of Latvian intellectuals varies from historical revisionism to attempts to form a liberal memorial canon; 3) memorial practices of modern intellectual community are interconnected with the development of civil and ethnic nationalist discourse; 4) the participation of intellectuals in memorial politics actualizes the political and ideological heterogeneity of modern society, contributing to the parallel development of various forms and dimensions of historical memory. It is assumed that the role of the Latvian civil society in the historical politics of modern Latvia will increase, and the intellectual community will remain an active participant in collective memory policy.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the possibility of classical theories of nationalism use in analysis of the minority nationalisms histories in the British historiographical situation. The author analyses the complexities of integration and assimilation of the ideal models of Ruritania and Megalomania as imagining nationalising and modernising societies proposed by Ernest Gellner, as well as Miroslav Hrochs’ periodisation of nationalism as “ideal” interpretive models in the contexts of British historiography. The subject of the article is classical modernist theories of nationalism, the object is the possibility of their application in British historical research. It is assumed that the processes of nationalist modernisation and the development of regional nationalisms, on the one hand, are perceived through the prism of a constructivist approach. On the other hand, the author believes that the British historical material is characterised by a significant degree of resistance and therefore the use of classical theories of nationalism in the context of the conservatism of the historiographical imagination in Great Britain is debatable. The article analyses the difficulties of integrating the history of regional minority nationalisms and English nationalism into the contexts of sociocultural modernism of classical theories of nationalism. The results of the study suggest that the modern British historiographical situation is simultaneously characterised by an interest in the problems of the social history of regional nationalisms and significant conservatism, which expresses itself in ignoring classical theories of nationalism, despite the effectiveness of their interpretive models.

The features of development and the main vectors of the transformation of historical memory of the Old Believer segment of modern Russian society are analyzed. It is shown that the Old Believer intellectuals are active in the formation of their own versions of the collective historical memory. The author analyzes the perception of community experience by Old Believer intellectuals in collective memory, constructed the concepts of "self" and "sacrifice". The grand narrative used in writing the history of the Old Believers is analyzed also. It is considered how the culture of memory of the Russian Old Believers actualizes the political and ideological contradictions of society, actualizing collective historical traumas and images of the Other in the memorial spaces. It is shown that the model of the collective memory of the Old Believers stimulates the development of the politics of memory in a religiously-centric coordinate system, where the Church itself and its figures are imagined as the main participants in the historical process, becoming objects of memorial reflection and symbolic canonization in the identity of the Old Believers.

The author analyzes the features and contradictions in the development of Iranian nationalism historical forms in contexts of the ideal models proposed in modernist historiography. The article focuses on the problems of nationalism’s inability to become the dominant political force that constructs the main features of the societal and state developments in Iran. The article is an attempt to transplant classical theories of nationalism into Iranian historical and cultural contexts. The author uses a three-stage “ideal” model of the development of nationalism originally proposed by Miroslav Hroch. Using the modernist approach of Miroslav Hroch, the author presumes that since the 19th century, traditions of political and ethnic nationalism developed in Iran when Qajars and Pahlavi dynasties actualized various strategies of nationalist modernization. The article presents a comparative analysis of various historical forms of Iranian nationalism in the context of the constructivist approach, formulated in the three-stage periodization of Miroslav Hroch. It is assumed that the nationalist modernization of the Qajars and Pahlavi in Iranian historiography is perceived through the prism of a constructivist approach. Therefore, the causes and forms of the crisis of the nationalist project in Iran are also analyzed with use of the “ideal” chronology of nationalism formulated by M. Hroch in contexts of the competition between the political principles of the nation and the religious ideals of the Ummah.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the implentation possibilities of classical theories of nationalism to analysis of the Iranian nationalism history. The author analyzes the ideal models of Ruritania and Magalomania as imagining nationalizing and modernizing societies proposed by Ernest Gellner. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of the features and contradictions of the development of the historical forms of Iranian nationalism in contexts of the ideal models proposed in modernist historiography. It is assumed that the nationalist modernization of the Qajars and Pahlavi in Iranian historiography is perceived through the prism of a constructivist approach. The article analyzes 1) the problems of the inability of nationalism to become the dominant and determining political force that constructs the main features of the development of society and the state in Iran, 2) the features of the development and transformation of the traditions of political and ethnic nationalism, 3) the role of the ruling Qajar and Pahlavi dynasties in implentation of various strategies of nationalist modernization. The article also shows the potential of a comparative analysis of various historical forms of Iranian nationalisms in contexts of a constructivist approach. The results of the study suggest that 1) the causes and forms of the crisis of the nationalist project in Iran can be described and analyzed adequately with use of Ruritania and Megalomania concepts as ideal types of nationalism development, formulated by Ernest Gellner in contexts of social and cultural histories as confrontations between the political principles of the nation and religious principles and ideals of the Ummah; 2) Iranian modern system emerged as an attempt to institutionalize a compromise between a civilized modernized Megalomania and traditional Shia Ruritania, which led to a combination of political nationalism with an internationally declared recognition of the primacy of Shiism.