Čokan Valichanov, l’identità nazionale kazaka e la colonizzazione russa

Čokan Čingisovič Valichanov (1835-1865) has been one of the most significant personalities in Kazakh culture of 19th century. This article aims to examine three items of his intellectual production that highly, although subtly, influenced the self-identification of contemporary Kazakhstan after its independence from Soviet Union: the ambiguous relationship with Russian world, the admiration toward the West, the interpretation of Islam as a cultural element of the steppe rather then the key religious system of Kazakh people. As a result, Valichanov appears not only as a great polymath of the past, but as a constant ideological reference for today’s Kazakhstan.

Jan Baudouin de Courtenay, Hugo Schuchardt, Nikolaj Marr e un’enigmatica iscrizione georgiana

Around the end of the 19th century, a philologically and linguistically rather insignificant inscription on a cross, written in Old Georgian script, drew the attention of the Polish linguist Jan Baudouin de Courtenay, who, however, was not able to identify neither the language nor the alphabet. After having drafted in his own hand several copies of the inscription, he submitted them to scholars and orientalists all around Europe, without getting a univocal or satisfying answer; he then consulted in Petersburg the Georgian philologist Nikolay Marr, who provided a transcription of the Georgian text in the modern (civil) alphabet and a Russian translation. The present paper describes and discusses how surprised and disappointed were the linguist Hugo Schuchardt and Nikolay Marr himself about Baudouin de Courtenay’s not impeccable publication of the Old Georgian inscription and, above all, the fact that he had introduced the edition with a detailed enumeration of the many failed attempts at deciphering the mysterious alphabet. In the appendix the short statement by Nikolay Marr, written in Russian, is reprinted with an Italian translation by Margarita Blinova.

Dipendenza e interdipendenza tra paesi land-locked e di transito

The article aims at investigating the nexus between the land-locked condition and the energy security needs of a hydrocarbons-exporting country. Addressing the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia, the article looks at the dynamics of dependence naturally unfolding between a land-locked country and its main transit one. Introducing the elements which may provide the land-locked country with a sounder bargaining power vis a vis its transit country, the article will focus on the tools exploited by Baku in order to reduce the asymmetry of power ensured to Georgia by its role of ‘window to the West’ for Azerbaijani national hydrocarbons. Findings suggest that the Oil & Gas sector provides land-locked country with effective tools enabling it to downgrade the vulnerability vis a vis transit country and to foster functional interdependence with the latter.

Le lezioni della crisi: elementi di continuità nell’istruzione in Armenia fra XI e XIV secolo

Education was particurlary flourishing in Armenia in the XIV century and the availability of sources allowed modern scholars to study it in depth. We can trace a chain of teachers that began in the XII/XIII century with Mxitՙar Goš and culminated in Grigor Tatՙewacՙi (1344-1409). As for the monastic schools of Glajor and Tatՙew, it is even possible to reconstruct in general terms how the course of studies was shaped. However, a further chain of teachers can be traced from the XII century up to the XI century, starting from Grigor Pahlawowni Magistros. The education system inherited (and put into practice) by Grigor Magistros can be partially reconstructed from his letters, and therefore compared to the later system active in the XIV century. Although differences between the two are undeniable, some common traits (especially in terms of syllabus and resilience) can be found.

Un caucasologo russo nella Georgia post-rivoluzionaria

This study explores the life and scientific production of M.A. Polievktov, a Russian historian who lived and worked in post-revolutionary Georgia. His research focused on the historical relations between Russia and the Caucasus, especially those who led to the conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century, and on the European travellers who visited the Caucasus. Analysis held on his autobiography, his publications, and his manuscripts will lead to trace a neater profile of his personality and his status of Russian historian living in the Georgian RSS.

Developing a New Research Agenda on Post-Soviet De Facto States

The scholarship on post-Soviet de facto states has structurally focused on issues related to their contested status, and has long assumed that these entities are transient phenomena. In this article I propose a path towards a new research agenda on post-Soviet de facto states based on two main arguments. Firstly, scholars researching post-Soviet de facto states should start from the working assumption that these entities will continue to exist in the current configuration for the foreseeable future, and proceed in their integration with the patron. Secondly, they should seek new terms of comparison beyond contested territories and conflict regions, and they should apply the same terminology to these entities and ask at least some of the same research questions as they would do when studying uncontested territories.

Modernizzazione dello stato e la metamorfosi della classe media nella capitale dell’Azerbaijan post-sovietico

Based on ethnographic methods, this article provides a perspective on the relationship between state-led modernisation process and the emergence of a new middle class in the post-Soviet urban Azerbaijan. Furthermore, it examines the meaning and the characteristics of the Azerbaijani middle class and the way in which the new aspirations modify the everyday life. Due to natural resources, especially oil and gas, the Azerbaijani economy went through rapid growth, at least during the first decades of this century. This engendered stark changes in the country’s social landscape and social stratification. The state used a portion of the revenues from the extractive sector gained during the last two decades to invest in the modernisation of the country and to create new aspirational values for its citizens.

Ricezione e riuso della tradizione esopica e tardo-antica nella favolistica armena medievale

The article provides a survey of the antique and late antique sources of the medieval Armenian fable tradition as attested in the collections ascribed to Mxit‘ar Goš and Vardan Aygekc‘i. Some examples of reuse of those sources are given, where the medieval Armenian authors/compilers recast and expanded their models, shifting from their original intent, adding to them didactic and parenetic discourses, or framing them in new exempla or fables.

Padre Lamberti e le Amazzoni

Arcangelo Lamberti, a missionary of the Theatines’ order, spent nearly two decades in Mingrelia, from 1635 to 1653. In 1654 his Report on the Colchis, Nowadays Called Mingrelia was printed in Naples. In the 28th chapter of his work, Lamberti reports about a battle in the Caucasus: many of the killed warriors were women. Is there any relationship between these fighting women and the Amazons mentioned in the Ancient Greek sources? This article reconstructs the story of the myth of the Amazons from Ancient Greece onwards.