The main purpose of the translation of the scholar V. Injinnashi is to provide the basis of cognition and later a guide for those who seek knowledge. This is the core of Confucianism, and it is called “rule of norm and middle”. Confucius’s prophecy of the “central average” is now closely aligned with the notion of the “norm”. The “central average” or “norm” should not be “overstated” or “understated” and should only be “adjusted”. A closer look at Injannashi’s literary experience suggests that this view should be used as a basis. The canonical treatise «Chzhun-yun» («Middle and constancy» or «Centrality and Commonality»), consisting of 23 chapters, is attributed to Zi Si, a famous Confucian philosopher of the 5th century BC. He is considered as the grandson of Con- fucius. This is a treatise of an ethical nature, separated into an independent text from the “Records of the Ritual” (Li Chi). This text is devoted to ontological issues: it establishes the metaphysical principles of the relationship between sincere personal success and the sequence of surrounding reality. Not deviating from the right path is “middle”, and what changes is not “stability, constancy”. Middle and constant are so majestic that they are inaccessible to the common man. First of all, they are associated with the ruler, who takes responsibility for everything that happens to his people. The author defines what this moral principle consists of. Confucius preached that there is nothing more important in human relationships than “harmony”. The middle ground is the root of action under heav- en, and harmony is the common ground under heaven. When the middle and harmony are reached, the heavens and the earth will be established and the thoughts will flourish. Harmony represents universal path, which must be adhered to in all circumstances. This implies the realization of the principle of the “golden mean”.

The personality and creativity of the Kazakh scientist Irina Viktorovna Yerofeyeva, who recently left us, is considered in this article as an independent object of scientific commemoration. Her range of interests was quite wide, and her scientific heritage was truly unique. In our study, the subject of historiographic analysis was mainly the works of I. Yerofeyeva concerning the hereditary privileged elite of the nomadic society of the Kazakhs in the process of colonial subordination of the Russian Empire, which went on for quite a long historical time. The scientist clearly and precisely raised the question of the strategies of behavior of the national hereditary elite of the Kazakhs in this difficult historical period. I. Yerofeyeva not only presented a full-fledged picture of the elimination of the institution of khan power in Kazakhstan, but also showed how the Russian empire dealt with the “old steppe institution, the estate of the traditional nobility – tore or sultan” in the process of colonial subordination. It was I. Yerofeyeva who raised the question of the mobilizing role of the traditional ruling elite of the Kazakhs in opposing tsarism. According to the scientist, the Russian Empire eventually achieved an important goal set before the beginning of the colonial subordination of the Kazakh steppe. It broke the indisputable privilege of the sultan’s estate that had prevailed for many centuries in the minds of the Kazakhs. “Clear standard criteria for determining the status identification of Kazakh rulers” developed by I. Yerofeyeva are of great importance for the study of the social stratification of the Kazakh society of the imperial period. In general, the analysis of the scientist’s research in the chosen aspect of studying her works definitely showed that Irina Yerofeyeva has forever entered the world science with her outstanding contribution to the study of the history of the Kazakh people at the time of the colonial subordination of Russia, especially its hereditary aristocracy

The relevance of the study of archaeological sites of residence – a Bronze Age settlement in the Volga-Manych steppes – lies in the fact that in Russian science the place of residence has not been studied and studies on them have been published in small quantities, in contrast to funerary monuments-barrows. The main reason for this “inattention” on the part of scientists lies in the small size of these settlements, which is why they are usually referred to as “seasonal camps of mobile cattle breeders” rather than permanent dwellings. Nevertheless, a targeted search for settlements of the Bronze and Early Iron Age on the territory of our country was conducted and is being carried out by many archaeologists, including the author of this study. During excavations in the Volga-Manych steppes, hundreds of places of residence or sites were discovered. One of them is a settlement found in 1976 by E.V. Schneidstein on the territory of the Republic of Kalmykia, on the shore of Lake Zakhanata. Additional studies of the archaeological site, conducted by us in 2002, showed that there are two settlements of the carcass culture. In this article, we continued a detailed study of this unique cultural monument located in the Kalmyk steppe. The materials of the study allowed us to identify the general and special features of settlements in the Bronze Age in the Volga region as part of the steppes from the Carpathians to the Urals, to determine the type of farms of the tribes inhabiting this area, contributed to the formation of a more or less clear idea of the cultural and historical processes taking place on the territory in the historical period. 

The article is devoted to the administrative policy of the Russian Empire, which had a huge impact on the development of the Kalmyk cattle breeding crisis in the first half of the XIX century. The tsarist administration, despite the fact that it had a rich historical experience of relations with the Kalmyk people, by the beginning of this century had minimal knowledge about its life, the essence and driving forces of nomadic cattle breeding, which were “terra incognito” for the authorities for various objective and subjective reasons. The apparent instability and riskiness of nomadic cattle breeding in the Kalmyk steppe from time to time prompted the Astrakhan governors, under whom the Kalmyks who remained on the Volga after 1771 were located, to the idea of bringing them to a sedentary lifestyle and introducing them to agriculture. The authorities did not seem to assume and did not think about the fact that a radical transition from a nomadic lifestyle to sedentarism and a sharp change in economic activity could lead to a painful breakdown of the national mentality of the Kalmyks, most of whom were not ready for the radical changes in their lives proposed by the tsarist administration. By the end of the XIX century, the administrative policy of the Russian Empire carried out in the region caused the departure of the Kalmyks from the traditions of nomadism, led to a deep social stratification in society and the formation of commodity production.

This article examines the culture of visual images of Buryat Buddhists in the south of Siberia on the example of the collection of photographs of the IMBT SB RAS and the complex “Hoimor-Gungurva”. Based on a comparative analysis, the author establishes the relationship between the local culture of visual images of Buddhists and the identity of the Buryats. After determining the identity of Buryat Buddhists based on the analysis of the visual aspects of their religious worship, this article argues that the culture of Buddhist visual images and the daily practice of worshipping them are the most important aspects in the formation of local identity. The analysis confirmed the fact that a radical change in the mechanism of transmission of the Buddhist tradition in Buryatia, social shifts, and the economic crisis led to the transformation of the vector of development of the traditional Buddhist culture of the Buryats, the priority of which is not the general religious, but the local ethnic component.

The translation has been done from the edition: Schorkowitz D. (2019). Was Russia a Colonial Empire? In: Schorkowitz D., Chávez J., Schröder I. (eds.) Shifting Forms of Continental Colonialism: Unfinished Struggles and Tensions. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9817-9_5