.jpg "MSU History Department: past, present and future")
Head of the History Department of Moscow State University and member of the Russian Academy of Science, Sergei Karpov, tells VK correspondent about the results of the 2011 and the department’s plans for the next year.
“It has been a difficult year. There were many different events. I would like to start with the anniversary that we marked last year - 300 years since the birth of Lomonosov. It was widely celebrated. There were many events connected to it. I will mention them chronologically. It was the trip of a delegation of Moscow University to St. Petersburg to bring flowers to the graves of our founding fathers Mikhail Lomonosov and Ivan Shuvalov. Then we had a big international conference, attended by scholars from different countries, Nobel prize winners where many of our professors made their presentations. There were roundtables connected to Lomonosov anniversary. Many other events, Iwill not mention all of them. Publications. A special collection about the historical science in the time of Lomonosov and after him. I would like to mention the Festival of Science, that was also an important event. Now it is not conducted only as a Moscow University event and not even as a Moscow event but as an event of the whole country because it got transformed into all-Russian event. This is how it happened this year, but the central place was Moscow University. This where we were presenting our achievements, including our new discoveries.
“I would like to mention another important thing –the deep transformation of our educational system. Starting from this year we have a 6-year system of education. It should allow our students to get a better education. It required a reorganization of the whole education process. There new subjects that we had to introduce to our standards. These are the subjects of general education and natural sciences, culture of speech, questions connected to the general understanding of science, mathematics, the picture of the world, deeper psychology and pedagogy. It has been done. We needed to think of a system that would have kept the fundamental education, introduced new subjects, first of all the instrumental subjects. Many things depends on the skills in methodology and auxiliary disciplines and many other things. A historian cannot exist without it. And when the sharp problems of historical education appear, when we are asked for instance about the date when the Russian state appeared we need to answer these questions with precision based on sources. We need to sharpen our methods of working with the sources. This is emphasized. And we try to strengthen it.
“You know that this year is declared the year of Russian history, the history of the Russian state. It means that we will have several important events connected to this anniversary. It is not one anniversary of the beginning of the Russian state. It is not only on event of inviting the Normanns and creation of the Ryurik state. Not only this date. This is the date of the creation of the different paradigms and traditions of the Russian state from the Kievan Rus to the democratic Russia. It is a long process and it requires thorough understanding. Because we encounter enormous quantity of lies, the falsification of history, different distortions. There are many masters of it. Some of them have degrees. We of course need to explain what happened and how. Therefore the central event of this anniversary year will be a big conference that will take place here, in Moscow University, by several faculties headed, of course, by our faculty together with the Academy of Sciences, we have already some agreement, together with Russian State University of Humanities, and I am glad the Rector of RSUH, Prof. Pivovar is today here with us. We organize it together with other universities. It will be a big international history because we will invite here some big historians who were dealing with the question of Russian history, we will make presentation ourselves, it will be a big event here in Moscow University. We agreed about it with the rector.
“We have a big publication program. We need to publish several works in connection to this anniversary, I hope this will be interesting that will cover different stages of the Russian state. The we will have a double Olympiad - one for the schools pupils about the Russian state and its traditions and one for the students. I hope there will be some awards. Finally, when I talk about the current year, I need to mention that here are many other important dates. It is not only the anniversary of the Russian state – because of which the year was declared to be the year of Russian History. It is the anniversary of the Victory over Napoleon. It is the Trouble times in 1612. It is the anniversary of one of our reformers Stolypin.70 years since the Stalingrad battle. A very important date which marked the turn of the WWII. There are many other dates. I will not number all of them. I just spoke about the most important.
“Take for instance the date of 1812. Brilliant victory, a very interesting event that has two sides – Russian and French. Together with the French side we will organize on Borodino field a very interesting meeting and we create a collection of publication together about the participation of the Russian and the French in this war, on the different stages. There should be very interesting presentations. The scholars will come from France will come and we will hold it together. I think that we should approach this event from the different angles and cover it objectively. We are working now on a new web-site. We will update our official web-site and create a new one that will be a forum for communication with our alumni, students and those who are interested in history.
“I need to say that our work involves a great work of upbringing of our students. Maybe you know it, last year our students continued a wonderful tradition – the tradition of going on May, 9 to the different centers of our former country, of the great Soviet Union. This year they went to Baku and met the veterans of Azerbaijan. This was supported by the Russian and Azeri funds. They organized there a big patriotic concert. They went there in the military uniform. They met the veterans. And then the veterans kneeled in front of these young people. This was the effect. Before they went to Volgograd, to Brest and organized the events like this. We will continue it there. This strengthens our connections, it strengthens our educational unity. And another tradition that is also very important.
“Unfortunately, in our country there are many children in the orphanages. Many of them are disabled, many need rehabilitation, first of all psychological. We organize some holiday for them every year – New Year celebration, performance, in this building in the conference hall. Presents for which our academic councils, employees and sponsors give money to help these poor children that do not see much happiness in their lives. WE try to show them some other life. Not only the negative one from which they are saved by the state. This is a real help. I think it is also a very good thing. We try to help our veterans and our pensioners because our society is unfair towards them. If the person retires after working for many years at university and is on the verge of poverty and needs not only to survive but to have some medical treatment, to buy medicine, and it is not very cheap now. We are trying to help them using our own ways. Maybe we will help them with our Association. It has to be done. We cannot abandon people who worked with us for all their life and who gave to the university education all their health. We need to think about them. We have many plans but I do not want that the year of Russian History announced by the president will stay only the affair of the Academy of Sciences and Moscow University as it was with the anniversary of Lomonosov. The anniversary of Lomonosov should have been celebrated by the whole country. This is what our country should be proud of. We want the anniversary of the Russian state to deserve its name”.
