Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series IVA, Eastern and Central European Philosophical Studies, Volume 55 General Editor George F. McLean Eurasian Frontier: Interrelation of Eurasian Cultures in a Global Age Edited by Irina Boldonova Vensus A. George The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Copyright © 2016 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Gibbons Hall B-20 620 Michigan Avenue, NE Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Names: Boldonova, Irina, editor of compilation. | George, Vensus A., editor of compilation. Title: Eurasian frontier : interrelation of Eurasian cultures in a global age / edited by Irina Boldonova, Vensus A. George. Description: First edition. | Washington, DC : The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2016. | Series: Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series IVA, Eastern and Central European philosophical studies ; Volume 55 | Series: Russian philosophical studies ; 9 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016029171 | ISBN 9781565183186 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Eurasia--Relations. | Eurasian Union. | Acculturation--Eurasia. | Frontier and pioneer life--Eurasia. | Frontier thesis. | Eurasia--Relations--Russia (Federation) | Russia (Federation)--Relations--Eurasia. | Burëiìatiëiìa (Russia)--Relations. | Eurasia--Social conditions. | Eurasia--Intellectual life. Classification: LCC DS33.3 .E95 2016 | DDC 303.48/25--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016029171 Table of Contents Foreword v Irina Boldonova Introduction 1 Vensus A. George 1. Searching for Ways of Peace 11 Thomas Menamparampil 2. The Eurasian Union’s Project: A Sustainable Future 45 Being Born Today Vyacheslav Mantatov 3. Transversal Values in a Hermeneutic Dialogue 49 Irina Boldonova and Vera Bashkeeva 4. The Frontier Thesis and Social Interactions in Eurasia 61 Oyuna Randalova 5. Social Liberalism and Holism: Solidarity of Purpose 69 Lydia Gomboeva 6. Imago Alterius as an Orientation of the Cross-Cultural 83 Dialogue and Communication Liubov Ivankina 7. The Ecological and Cultural Aspects of the Eurasian 93 Frontier: The Baikal Region Larisa Mantatova 8. Ethnic Contradictions and Political Conflicts in 99 the Globalized World: Reasons and Solutions Aleksandr Boldonov & Yuri Romanov 9. National Characters and Themes in the Russian 109 Language: Buryat Literature Svetlana Imikhelova iv Table of Contents 10. Literature and Spirituality in the Information Society 125 Irina Bulgutova 11. Genre Peculiarities of Minor Forms in the Buryat Legendry: 133 The Case of Oral Compositions of the Alar’ Buryats Maria Danchinova 12. Spheres and Aspects of Culture 145 Tsytsygma D. Bidagaeva 13. The Role of Synonymy as a Method of Systematization 155 of Medical Terminology in Intercultural Interaction Victoria Khantakova & Svetlana Shvetsova Conclusion: Geopolitical Feasibility and Sustainability 165 of the Eurasian Union in the Twenty-First Century Vensus A. George Bibliography 177 Index 187 Foreword IRINA BOLDONOVA This collection of articles presents the general idea of the Eurasian form of existence and the so-called Eurasian life model. This acquires new features from its engagement of modern culture, ideology, philosophy and education. The authors analyze the philosophical, cultural, linguistic and artistic characters of this world picture. The 21st century world is more open, integrated, and interdependent, but at the same time it has become much more complicated. Globalization has had the most noticeable impact on Eurasia. Even in isolated villages people are no longer ignorant of developments in the wider world. The physical and virtual connectivity via the internet has created an unprecedented awareness of rights and opportunities thereby empowering the global and virtual human being, this creates widespread expectations for the global age on the one hand, and the will to preserve ethnicity and national culture on the other. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, new sovereign countries have emerged in Eurasia to form a new unity. Earlier, Eurasia was relatively isolated, even though located at the centre of the world’s largest territory. Now Eurasia – including Russia as a part of it – is engaged in the process of integration, defined by a common perspective on humankind at this time of globalization. This process addresses a number of important questions: how ideas move between the East and the West?; how intercultural dialogue can be implemented?; and why some peoples, especially those in Europe, eagerly incorporated Asian knowledge, while Asians were more selective in their willingness to accept new ideas? In Siberia, with Buryatia as the Eurasian frontier is the true example of collaboration offering evidence of Eurasian intellectual interchange and a critical analysis of the impact of intercultural dialogue on people, states and cultures on both sides of the border. Buryat State University has ongoing collaboration with Mongolian and Chinese universities. It conducts extensive exchanges with Asian educational and research institutions. Thus Ulan-Ude is perhaps the most appropriate place in Russia for holding the present conference on the theme Eurasian Frontier: Interrelation of Eurasian Cultures in a Global Age because it provides the geographical and cultural link between vi Foreword Russia (Europe) and Mongolia, China and India (Asia). This international conference has brought together scholars from a variety of fields, such as philosophy, linguistics, history, politics, anthro- pology, sociology and literature, to revisit the histories, analyze the contemporary situation and encourage the creation of new knowledge regarding this era with its considerable humanistic, social, scientific, and strategic significance. This cross-cultural and cross-frontier approach is reflected not only in the international representation of the participants, but also in its consideration of analytic, continental, Asian and indigenous responses to issues and developments in the field of human and social sciences in philosophical reflection. Indeed, this territory itself has both an Asian and a Eurasian character, reflected in the ethnicity, language, culture and customs of the people. Likewise, through the centuries Buryatia has had equally intensive trading and cultural contacts with Mongolia, China and Central Asia. The most dramatic improvement in Eurasian relations has been with China. The settlement of the borders between China and Russia paved the way for the restoration of traditional trading and the historical people-to-people links in the divided regions. Being at the true crossroads, Buryatia plays an integral role in the developing field of borderland studies and economic cooperation, besides restoring traditional links, such as Silk Road, Tea Road, Eastern Ring and others. The essays presented in this volume continue the discussion of these issues in the context of Eurasian frontier – its knowledge and will, ethics and metaphysics, philosophy and religion, language and literature, education and science – thereby facilitating widespread discussion and deeper reflection. In general the papers tell about national identity formation and explore how cultures have been affected by global forces. They respond to the question: “How can Eurasian cultures manage globalization and develop while maintaining a viable national identity?” Some philosophical research is devoted to the dialectical and holistic approaches to the dialogue of civilizations and their joint efforts in the development of internal and external freedom. This, in turn, can provide the spiritual energy necessary for creating a hermeneutically oriented civil society, constitutional state, active and responsible communities, and persons in harmony with nature and the self. The hermeneutic approach is one vii Irina Boldonova of the most important ways to study issues of communications and conflict prediction, as well as to elaborate transversal values. At the same time Ulan-Ude is the centre for exploring the interplay of transnational identities in the Eurasian context. It is a place, where representatives of many nationalities live in peace and understanding. Among other cultural criteria language is used to differentiate ethnic groups and reinforce their collective consciousness. Most citizens in Buryatia consider Russian as their native language; yet the Buryat ethnic population is guaranteed education in their native language. This has made Ulan-Ude a creative transnational city with specific focus on the emergence there of the Eurasian frontier’s language reality. Hence, literature in Russia has played a key role in defining national identity. Some authors emphasize that the unification of national cultures leads to loss of the beginnings of the cultural roots, in the process washing out its value system. In these conditions it is necessary to pay attention to those spheres of culture and art which reveal universal values. The key for this is the recognition of the transitional stages, which can be analyzed from the example of the Eurasian frontier. The national Buryat literature follows the tendency to unite traditions of European and Asian cultures. Some poets write in Russian, while still having a national mentality and willingness to participate in intercultural dialogue. They represent the national culture, created on the basis of a new consciousness, in the context of the contemporary global