NATIONAL RESEARCH
TOMSK STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of
Anthropology and Ethnology Laboratory for Social and Anthropological Resear
ch are pleased to announce II Tomsk Anthropological Forum - TAF-2 e
ntitled ‘ANTHROPOLOGY OF INTERDISCIPLINARITY’ to be held on
The TAF-2
will discuss a wide range of issues associated with the phenomenon of inte
rdisciplinarity, anthropological approaches to its analysis and its use in
anthropological studies. We seek to stimulate professional dialogue among c
olleagues on topics such as migration, indigenous and archaeological resear
ch in contemporary social and political processes, as well as the anthropol
ogy of outer space. Just like the TAF-1 held in 2016, this Forum promises t
o be a bright event in the intellectual life of the anthropology community.
Forum’s thematic symposia
Symposium 1. Migrations, diasporas, transnationalism
Migration in Russia and globally is becoming an increasingly complex and m
ultifaceted phenomenon. New migratory routes and patterns of migration are
emerging, migrants are exploring new territories and occupations, integrati
on processes are growing in importance, family immigration is on the rise,
and generations of migrants replace one another. Understanding these proces
ses requires new research and new theoretical approaches along with coopera
tion between different sciences. At the symposium, we plan to look into con
ceptual tools which are currently used to describe migration, including in
the post-Soviet space, and to revisit some of the approaches, themes, and m
ethods considered to be essential for the understanding of migration today.
Moderators: Sergey N. Abashin (Saint Petersburg, Russi
a), Sergey V. Ryazantsev (Moscow, Russia), Oleg V. Korneev (Paris, France),
Discussants: Viktor I. Dyatlov (Irkutsk, Russia), Emil Nasri
tdinov (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan)
Symposium 2. The ethnograp
hy of outer space exploration
The symposium will discuss curr
ent theoretical and practical questions in the anthropology of outer space
and will explore the history of this field going back to the first deep spa
ce researchers (with the focus being placed on social history and ethnograp
hy of scientific activity of research teams that dealt with the task of spa
ce exploration in the USSR, USA, Europe, and Asia) who shared one common (a
nthropological) characteristic, namely, complete dedication to the cause an
d enthusiasm.
Moderator: Irina G. Popravko (Tomsk, Russ
ia)
Discussant: Ivan Tchalakov (Plovdiv, Bulgaria)
Symposium 3. Indigenous studies in and of Northern and Central As
ia
More and more researchers are confronted with the phenomen
on of ‘national ethnographies’ which seem to exist in parallel worlds. Thes
e ‘ethnographies’ are written not just in different natural languages but i
n different scientific languages too and – as it sometimes seems – with lit
tle hope for or attempt at any crossover. By discussing some pressing issue
s in indigenous studies in Northern and Central Asia, with a number of inte
rnational experts involved, we would like to initiate a conversation betwee
n researchers working within the emic and etic paradigms and to make a step
forward toward rethinking the problem of interdisciplinarity in this area
of scholarly inquiry.
Moderator: Dmitry A. Funk (Mosc
ow, Russia)
Discussant: Peter Schweitzer (Vienna, Austria)
Symposium 4. Archaeology, power, and society
We are interested in elaborating on the analysis of mechanisms of and rea
sons behind the mythologisation of the pre-history period and of archaeolog
ical heritage, as well as on the problem of archaeological data being used
to create ethno-historical myths. Particular attention is to be paid to the
relationship between archaeology and nationalism at the turn of the 20th a
nd 21st centuries, the repatriation of archaeological finds and remains, an
alysis of the image of the past being created and used as a resource, and t
he link between archaeology and politics, including archaeological heritage
preservation during military conflicts.
Moderator: Ol
ga V. Zaytseva (Tomsk, Russia)
Discussant: Viktor A. Shnirelm
an (Moscow, Russia)
Forum’s languages:
Russian and English.
Information on funding opportunities avail
able for Forum participants will be provided by the Organising Committee in
the second letter to be sent out in due course.
To take part
in the Forum, please submit a filled-out application form (attached below)
and an abstract of your presentation (up to 300 words) as two separate elec
tronic files in either Russian or English no later than 1 June 2018
to This email ad
dress is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view
it. (with the subject line of your email re
ading ‘TAF-2, application’)
Formatting requirements:
Abstracts should be typed in Times New Roman 14 pt; line spacing
1,5; all margins 2 cm. Please place in the left top corner of a page your
name (last name in full plus initials) in bold italics and lower down the p
age the title of your paper in bold and centred. Do not number pages. Footn
otes are given in parentheses in the running text (Last Name year: page num
ber), references are listed in alphabetical order after the text. Abstracts
will be selected by the Programme Committee during one month of the deadli
ne for submission based on the criteria of quality and relevance for the Fo
rum’s goals. Selected abstracts will be published before the Forum.
For your information: you can have a look at an overvi
ew of I Tomsk Anthropological Forum (2016) posted on the website of TSU Lab
oratory for Social and Anthropological Research http://lsar.tsu.ru/ru.
Yours truly, Organising Committ
ee