On November 23 through 25, 2010, St.Petersburg hosted the IV International conference “Nansen Readings” devoted to the theme “Russian emigration. The First Half of the XX Century. Results of the Study”, organized by St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations.
On November 23 through 25, 2010, St.Petersburg hosted the IV International conference “Nansen Readings” devoted to the theme “Russian emigration. The First Half of the XX Century. Results of the Study”, organized by St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations.
The conference was prepared within the framework of the Program for implementing the state policy of Russian Federation concerning the compatriots abroad for 2008–2010, approved by the Government of St.Petersburg in July 2008. Conference sessions were conducted in the premises of the All-Russia Pushkin Museum in Saint-Petersburg (Conference Room of the Memorial Apartment-Museum of Alexander Pushkin), 12 Moyka River Emb.
International scientific conferences “Nansen Readings” follow the tradition of St.Petersburg conference “Russia Abroad”, carried out since 1999. In 2007, the central theme of the conference were the issues of adaptation of Russian emigration to foreign language and the environment of different religion and culture. In 2008, the problems of interaction of Russian emigration and the mother country, i.e., the Soviet Union, were discussed at the conference. In 2009, the theme of an international scientific conference for the first time was the problem of “Russian Emigration and the Second World War”.
IV International conference summed up the study of culture and history of Russian emigration: as the main theme, chosen was “Russian Emigration. The First Half of the XX Century. Results of the Study”. This topic demanded to change the format of the conference – a considerable time was devoted to discussion and debates, for which the separate meetings were assigned. The conference was held in the form of a colloquium: there were three types of reports: (1) reports on the current status of research on the subject (topic), (2) supplementary reports, (3) poster presentations.
At the opening of the conference, a speech was made by A.V. Dolgopolov, First Secretary of the Department for Relations with Compatriots at the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Russian Federation. Guests of the conference were welcomed by M.N. Tolstoy, Advisor to the Chairman of St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations, and V.N. Pleshkov, Director of the St.Petersburg Institute of History at Russian Academy of Sciences and Chairman of the “Nansen Readings” Organizing Committee.
The main theme of the first and second days of the conference was “Advances in Studying the Russian Diaspora. Current Status”. This topic has been split into four main parts: culture, science, politics, publishing. The third day was devoted to the topic: “Source Study and Historiography of Russian Diaspora”.
This conference was designed to sum up for 3 working days the main results of work on the study of Russian foreign cultural heritage, which, without much exaggeration, was made on a global scale by scientists, historians and experts who care about the fate of Russian history and culture. The conference noted the significant progress in the evolving science – emigrantology that was born two decades ago, and attracted great public interest. During these years, the enormous factual material was mastered, the statements of the eyewitnesses were recorded, numerous memoirs, diaries, and archival documents published.
The conference participants presented to the audience their new works, monographs, studies that focus specifically on the generalization of the study of Russian abroad. For each of the presented books, discussions were held and various opinions were expressed.
There were also reports on the practical benefits of developing this direction both for Russia and for Russian emigration, which, no doubt, is an integral part of Russian culture. Participants agreed that a scientific approach to this subject secured the preservation of the priceless cultural heritage of our country, located outside of Russia.
In total, the conference featured more than 40 reports and informational messages. The conference was attended by specialists from Belarus, Poland, USA, Czech Republic, Estonia, Japan; the Russian authors were from Moscow, St.Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Barnaul, Vladivostok, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Omsk, Khabarovsk, Yaroslavl. A presentation of conference materials “Nansen Readings”, 2009, was offered; also, new books and monographs on topics of the conference were presented. The meetings were held in the Conference Hall of All-Russia Pushkin Museum.
The high scientific level of reports and organizations that sent their experts – universities, academic institutions, leading Russian libraries and archives – catered for the success of the conference.
Participants and guests expressed their appreciation to the St.Petersburg government for its constant interest in the problems of Russian emigration and studying its history and culture.
Source: St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations