Three generations of friends — sociologists from Russia and Serbia (Foreword by U. Suvakovic)

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Three generations of friends -- sociologists from Russia and Serbia (Foreword by U. Suvakovic)

Три поколения друзей -- социологов из России и Сербии (предисловие У. Шуваковича)

One can often hear in Serbia that the Serbs and Russians are two closest nations due to very similar cultures, languages, religion and joint participation in wars, etc. This is a common public opinion not familiar with sociological studies conducted in different decades by the author of this Foreword and his colleagues, which do confirm such an opinion. However, if we consider the scientific relationship of two countries in social sciences, we must admit that the closeness of our countries is not evident for many reasons: Russia (like the former USSR) is a huge country, one of the leading nations of the world of science; thus, the social research findings of a small country like Serbia are not of a particular interest to it; besides its own research, Russia makes great efforts for scientific cooperation with other big states (China, India, Brazil, Germany, USA), which is certainly understandable, so Serbia is much less important in that respect as well. Besides, under globalization and due to the facts that many Serbian scientists got education in the West, English is the first foreign language for 89.8% of Serbian students (Russian -- only for 2%) [1. P. 107], 86% of references in the key Serbian scientific journals on social sciences and humanities are from the USA and UK [2. P. 476], the scientific exchanges between academic communities of Russia and Serbia is limited, which is really a pity.

However, this does not mean that there is no such cooperation at all. In sociology, after the II World War, close scientific relationships were established between two researchers -- professors Zinaida Tikhonovna Golenkova (1939) and DaniloMarkoviC (1933--2018). To the memory of their fruitful cooperation and established scientific connections between Serbia and Russia we dedicate the following texts.

How did it all begin? When conducting a research for her doctoral thesis Social- Class Structure of the Contemporary Yugoslav Society and its Reflection in the Sociological Literature of the SFRY[«Социально-классовая структура современного югославского общества и ее отражение в социологической литературе СФРЮ»] that she defended in 1972 at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, ZinaidaGolenkova visited the former Yugoslavia, and DaniloMarkovic from the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade was her mentor, which created the basis for their future scientific cooperation. For decades it developed by Danilo Markovic participation in scientific conferences in Russia, and Zinaida Golenkova -- in scientific conferences in Yugoslavia and then in Serbia. Joint papers were an integral part of this cooperation together with scientific friendships with other Russian sociologists, primarily from the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Science (academicians V.A. Yadov and M.K. Gorshkov, professor Narbut, and many others). Moreover, Danilo Markovic worked as an ambassador of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in Russia (1994--1998), which he used to develop a network of Serbian and Russian scientists not only in the field of sociology but other social sciences. At that time, the Russian translation of his book Social Ecology was published, presented the Serbian sociological thought on the environmental issues and became an important textbook for many Russian universities. I believe that in the history of the Serbian diplomacy it is hard to find any other ambassador who paid so much attention to the scientific cooperation of Serbia with the host country. The Russian side paid tribute to his work by prominent doctorates from the Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and by professional awards including the Medal of Pitirim Sorokin and membership in academies.

What is especially important is that Professors Golenkova and Markovic did not hide their scientific cooperation but shared it with their colleagues and students in Russia and Serbia. From Serbia, Professors Ljubisa Mitrovic, Zoran Arandelovic, Darko Nadic, Vesna Miltojevic, and others were among the ones who had the opportunity to be part of this cooperation. Thanks to Professor Markovic, the author was introduced to Zinaida Golenkova in Belgrade, and she immediately offered him to publish an article in the journal Sociological Studies[“Социологические исследования”]. A conference in KosovskaMitrovica followed, attended by M.K. Gorshkov, Z.T. Golenkova and other Russian researchers. In the same year, Professor Danilo Markovic, Zinaida Golenkova and me published a book Sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Kosovska Mitrovica, and students still read it today. A year later, a conference on the youth value orientations in Russia, China, the Czech Republic and Serbia was held in Belgrade, and Professors N.P. Narbut and I.V. Trotsuk were also among the guests. Zinaida Golenkova was elected a foreign member of the Serbian Academy of Education and received its charter during her stay in Belgrade a few years later. Then, in 2012, Professor Markovic and I were in Moscow at the conference of the Institute of Sociology, and the Memoranda of Cooperation between the Institute of Sociology, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the RUDN University and the Faculty of Philosophy in Kosovska Mitrovica were signed.

Our regular meetings at the European Sociological Association (ESA) conferences followed, when we exchanged information about the achievements of our academic communities. Irina Trotsuk visited Serbia several times to participate in sociological conferences organized by the faculties of philosophy in Kosovska Mitrovica and Nis. During her last visit, when discussing the possibilities of the Russian-Serbian cooperation, we agreed on publishing a thematic block in the RUDN Journal of Sociology to present the contemporary sociological research in Serbia. Moreover, Serbian leading scientific journals in the field of sociology and politics (Socioloski Pregled [Sociological Review], Srpska Politicka Misao [Serbian Political Thought], Teme [Themes], Zbornik Radova Filozofskog Fakulteta u Pristini [Collection of Papers of the Faculty of Philosophy in Pristina], etc.) started to publish papers on the results of studies conducted by Russian scientists more often, and Serbian sociologists began to publish papers in the RUDN Journal of Sociology and Sociological Studies. I believe, it was very important for the Serbian sociological community to publish Serbian translations of two monographs: Peilin Li, M.K. Gorshkov's et al. Handbook on Social Stratification in the BRIC Countries: Changes and Perspectives (2014) and Z.T Golenkova and N.P. Narbut's History of Sociological Thought in Eastern and Central Europe (2015). These translations filled a large gap for Serbian scholars, especially in the field of social sciences, had almost no or little information on the issues of these two important books. A year later, the RUDN University published my book Social Changes in Serbia with the great support of my colleagues Irina Trotsuk, Nikolay Narbut and Zinaida Golenkova.

Today, there is already the third generation of Russian-Serbian sociologists who cooperate due to the scientific connections and friendships established and developed by Professors Danilo Markovic and Zinaida Golenkova in the 1970s, at the time of the USSR and the SFRY. We pay tribute to their contribution to the development of scientific and sociological cooperation between the Serbian and Russian peoples by presenting to the Russian academic community the results of sociological studies in contemporary Serbia. And we certainly invite our Russian colleagues to publish their papers in Serbian journals.

Literature

serbian russian sociologist scientific

1. Suvakovic A. Results of the European multilingualism policy in the first decade of the 21st century in member states of the European Union and Serbia. SrpskaPolitickaMisao. 2018; 2 (In Serbian).

2. Kragovic B. Globalization and scientific ideas exchange in social sciences and humanities. V. Vuletic, J. Ciric, U. Suvakovic (Eds.). Globalization and Sovereignity Decline.KosovskaMitrovica; Belgrade; 2013 (In Serbian)

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