The Siberian "flying intelligentsia" of Nikolai Yadrintsev: the discourse of rhizome and university discourse

In the paper, further possibilities to use the concept "flying intelligentsia", introduced by Nikolai Yadrintsev in his work "The Flying Intelligentsia" (Fact from Provincial Life), are analyzed in order to explain the current processes of young people's migration in the Siberian region. For such cities as Omsk, the outflow of university-educated specialists becomes one of the indicators of the region's depressiveness, and is associated with a low level of social well-being. It is noted that the totality of today's phenomena regarding migration of educated young people in Siberia can be treated in terms of "flying intelligentsia" proposed at the end of the nineteenth century. The author believes that the analogy with rootless plants, drawn by Yadrintsev, is no less productive for the analysis of youth nomadism than the rhizome - the rootstock of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. If the rhizome is rooted, even having no central stem, the aquatic plant floating in the current is a more accurate analogy. There is a connection between rhizome discourse and university discourse. The Siberian University, according to Yadrintsev's views, was to grow its own "rooted" intelligentsia and serve as a magnet for "flying intelligentsia". The Siberian University coped with its task before the period of active university construction in the mega-region. Today, when educational integration and mobility require commitment, the nomadization processes of the Siberian students' community are becoming relevant again. A productive analysis of educational migration in the Siberian region is possible only on the basis of works by researchers that observe its origins.

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