INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CENTER OF NEIGHBORHOOD & IDENTITY STUDIES

Fundamental Objective

Formation of a stable international research team uniting historians of different countries under the general field of research for positioning of Belgorod National Research University in the world scientific space of humanitarian (historical) research.

Research Focus

scientific research of neighborhood and identity problems in historical retrospect. This orientation is due to the presence of mutual interest and research perspectives among the historians of Belgorod National Research University and the scientists representing partner universities: the University of Bremen, the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, University of Cergy-Pontoise etc. The scientific focus of the Center covers a rather wide range of scientific problems, which allows to involve new researchers in cooperation.

Fundamental Activities

scientific research, including the participation the members of scientific team in international funding programmes; educational activity (international schools for student).

Scientific Validity

The identity includes social, gender, ethnic, religious and other aspects. The question of identity is one of the most important in the study of the mentality of different historical periods, as the mentality is a collective way of perception of the world, which determines the relationships of different levels and is characterized by relative constancy, whereas identity is the personification of the collective, depending on the place and time.

The dynamics of mentality is of fundamental importance in the process of sociocultural evolution, especially in transitional epochs. In crisis, transitional periods, people are particularly keenly feel their vulnerability and instability of being, connected with the loss of the meaning of individual existence.

This gives rise to a number of scientific problems, the solution of which is connected with the reconstruction of the image of a certain historical period, the image of the person of the epoch:

• Identity and mentality (in different historical periods);
• Problems of self-identification (identity crisis) in the transitional periods of history;
• Identity and historical event;
• Identity and tolerance in historical retrospect;
• Identification as an orientation to the "Other".

Neighborhood Studies include issues of mutual relations between neighboring peoples and states, as well as the history of frontier areas, border conflicts and disputes. The focus is on the practice of overcoming conflict situations, various kinds of cooperation, compromises and agreements (between individuals, social groups, states, etc.) in historical retrospect. The intersection of problems of neighborhood and identity is expressed in the dichotomy of "the Self" and "the Other", which in turn represents the subject of the most relevant studies in various fields of humanitarian knowledge.