Методы полевой работы в дневниковом наследии востоковедов последней трети XIX в. (на материале Н.Н. Миклухо-Маклая и Н.Ф. Катанова)
Methods of Field Research in the Diaries of Orientalists of the Last Third of the 19th Century (Based on the Materials by N.N. Miklouho-Maclay and N.F. Katanov)

Summary/Abstract: This paper considers the descriptive-extensive method used by Russian orientalist ethnographers in their Eurasian studies during the era of “geographical race”, i.e., in the last third of the 19th century. In the Russian Empire, the Military Ministry, Imperial Geographical Society, and Academy of Sciences organized geographical and ethnological expeditions to Central Asia. Field diaries are the main sources for the study. They served as both a means of recording heterogeneous data received by the researcher on a certain day and documents that described the daily life and expeditionary results. For comparison, the materials of the first expedition to New Guinea by N.N. Miklouho-Maclay (1871–1872) and the journey to Tuva (1889) and Xinjiang (1890) by N.F. Katanov have been taken. The comparison is possible from several perspectives, including the preference given by both researchers to working alone or with a small group of assistants, stationary studies in the local community. The analysis of the expeditionary materials and equipment has shown that the activity of solitary researchers was inseparable from the foreign policy priorities of the Russian Empire. Furthermore, the materials collected were important for military intelligence, not only for the relevant branches of science. Therefore, the common view of N.N. Miklouho-Maclay and N.F. Katanov as pure scientists, who were distanced from the main political problems of their time, needs comprehensive revision.

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