Historicism as the basic principle for the Russian Ethnology. N.A. Tomilov “Siberian peoples ethnic history in works of second half of the XX Century”. Novosibirsk: IAE SB RAS, 2024. 282 p.

Any science development requires constant interpretation of its achievements, and breakthroughs. The development needs to analyze its problems, understand the reasons of dead-end directions emergence and think over the influence of concepts formulated within the framework of other scientific traditions. A distinctive feature of Russian ethnology is that since the 1920s it has become an integral part of historical science. Consequently, the principle of historicism was proclaimed as the main theoretical principle in scientific research. It determined the approaches to many fundamental issues, in particular, those related to the understanding of ethnogenesis and ethnic history. A successful solution to the problems of ethnogenesis and ethnic history would be impossible without the creation of a solid and objective scientific theory. The monograph by N.A. Tomilov examines the process of theoretical understanding of such important concepts as ethnogenesis and ethnic history by Soviet ethnologists. The author's conclusions are very important, since he himself has been developing the concept of ethnohistorical processes for many years. It is worth to note that the question of the origin of any people is the cornerstone of its ethnic self-consciousness, its ethnic identity. The monograph analyzes the discussion among Russian ethnologists in the 1970s about whether ethnogenesis and ethnic history could be considered as mutually independent areas of ethnology, or whether they should be combined and considered as a single process. The author shows that the ethnic history was gradually understood as a single process that included both the initial stage of the formation of a specific people - ethnogenesis, and its development, up to the present day, i.e. its ethnic history. Among others, thanks to the works of N.A. Tomilov, the understanding that “ethnic history is both the formation of ethnic communities (ethnogenesis) and the further ethnic development of already formed peoples and ethnic groups (ethno-dynamics) and their ethnic disintegration (ethnotransformation) has been strengthened in Russian ethnology.” Thus, the principle of historicism in the study of ethnic groups was fully realized, and the history of the peoples of Siberia received a scientific understanding. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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