Culture, a powerful generator of creativity, continually surprises with its inexhaustible potential to expand the boundaries of the social world, opening up new forms of conversation about the most urgent issues. This becomes especially significant in an era of civilizational upheavals and unpredictable changes. In a rapidly changing social reality, the importance of unshakable values, which allow people to stay on track and maintain fundamental humanistic guidelines, is becoming increasingly important. Meanwhile, modern challenges often also give rise to ideological confusion, an “escape from reality”, and people's distancing from painful reflection on what is changing around them and how. Hasty decisions prevail over the search for answers to questions about the meaning and purpose of culture, which in turn further disrupts the cultural order and fuels uncertainty. Turning to new practices of cultural dialogue based on the communicative mechanisms of scientific and civil diplomacy could be very helpful in resolving this contradiction. One such practice was the launch of direct conversations with leading contemporary intellectuals about the fateful upheavals of civilization. The article reveals the key themes of these conversations, which shed light on how to understand culture and what the world should be like in the 21st century.
This is a review on a scholarly publication of the diary by one of the most prominent statesmen of the Russian Empire M.M. Speransky. This diary has been written in the 1820-ies. The review notes the depth and the thoroughness of the approach of the editors in preparing this publication. The diary entries were meticulously verified and supplemented with the detailed commentary, the name indexes, and the geographical indices. The publication is preceded by a lengthy introduction by T.V. Andreeva, an expert on the biography of Speransky and his written legacy. Thanks to this publication, the reformer’s personal account of his life and his work has become accessible to a wide audience, including both those who professionally research the past and those who are simply interested in the country’s history. Thus, the publishers have provided an opportunity to appreciate the contribution of Speransky to the history of imperial Russia in general, and to one of the most eventful decades of the XIX century in particular. This publication helps to rise our knowledge about it at a new higher level. The publication of this diary, written in the 1820-ies, should be recognized as one of the most successful historical sources publications in our times. This edition undoubtedly will be particularly useful for the specialists in the various fields of humanities who study the deeds and writings of this renowned administrator, jurist, and political thinker in the XIX century, as well as for the teachers of these disciplines and their students.
Introduction. This article examines the social and cultural conditions under which religious education and the professional training of future priests developed in Russia in the third quarter of the 19th century. These conditions arose as a result of the reform of the theological schools, which began in 1867. The Samara Seminary was one of the first school to undergo reform, and this article focuses on this subject. Modernization theory serves as the theoretical basis for this article. Materials. The study draws on a broad range of sources, including archival documents and legislative acts, periodicals, statistical data, and published reports from state and church governing bodies. Results. The article examines the administrative, pedagogical, and economic aspects of the reform, which aimed to improve the educational and upbringing activities of the theological schools, improve the living conditions of students, and increase teachers’ salaries. The audit conducted as early as 1867 revealed that Samara, as a provincial and diocesan center, had a successfully functioning educational institution providing a good general secondary education and specialized theological training necessary for a pastoral ministry. The personal efforts of Samara Bishop Gerasim (Dobrodeev), who himself had extensive experience teaching and managing theological schools, were significant and fruitful. As a church leader, he combined a support for progressive social and cultural trends with traditional religious foundations. Conclusion. The clear connection between the reform of theological schools and other reforms of Alexander II’s era was established and demonstrated. The experience of implementing this reform in Samara was sought and incorporated in all Russia.
The urban environment serves as the main arena of symbolic and objective communication in culture, where the past enters into a dialogue with the present and the future in search of optimal forms of interaction between traditions and innovations. However, the fundamental contradiction between the inertia inherent in urban objects, on the one hand, and changing social landscapes and technological mobility, on the other, creates obstacles to the implementation of balanced solutions for heritage management and limits its potential for modern development. The relationship between heritage and modern cultural practices, linking its objects with forecasts of the future, is a topic that has not yet been sufficiently studied in cultural studies. This article attempts to substantiate the communicative potential of memorial sites in urban culture, which are positioned not only as places of memory, but also as a creative arena. The authors substantiate the need for cultural analysis of this topic, propose optimal strategies for a new dialogue between the past and the present in urban spaces, and demonstrate tangible foundations for transforming the historical environment of the city through cultural interventions. This becomes possible if we consider each memorial site as an "open book", a relay of an eventful narrative around which urban stories and new architectural landscapes are assembled and constructed. The authors cite Aksakov Square, the Ship's Bell in Samara, and cultural urbanism projects in Samarkand as examples. They argue that in this case, cultural heritage sites, as symbolic markers of the past, become a magnet and catalyst for the most relevant cultural practices and artistic technologies.
Представлены результаты опытно-экспериментальной работы по формированию профессиональных технологических умений дизайнеров, осваивающих художественную обработку керамики в условиях высшего и дополнительного профессионального образования. Описана авторская педагогическая модель, реализуемая в логике циклического (спирального, инвертированного) образовательного процесса и ориентированная на осознанное освоение технологической деятельности. Раскрыта структура профессиональных технологических умений, охарактеризованы их когнитивный, операциональный и рефлексивно-диагностический компоненты. Представлена система критериев, показателей и уровней оценки их сформированности. Приведены результаты сравнительного анализа итогов обучения в контрольной и экспериментальной группах, подтверждающие статистически значимое повышение уровня сформированности профессиональных технологических умений обучающихся экспериментальной группы и эффективность реализованной педагогической модели. The results of experimental work on the formation of professional technological skills of designers who master the artistic processing of ceramics in conditions of higher and additional professional education are presented. The author's pedagogical model is described, implemented in the logic of a cyclic (spiral, inverted) educational process and focused on the conscious development of technological activities. The structure of professional technological skills is revealed, their cognitive, operational and reflexive diagnostic components are characterized. A system of criteria, indicators and levels of assessment of their formation is presented. The results of a comparative analysis of the learning outcomes in the control and experimental groups are presented, confirming a statistically significant increase in the level of formation of professional technological skills of students in the experimental group and the effectiveness of the implemented pedagogical model.
