CC BY
31
UDC 101
Ecological and cultural identity of the peoples of the North Caucasus
Yu. Petrova, M. Yarovoy
Rostov state university of economics Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation [email protected]
Ecology of culture is the youngest of the cultural sciences, which meaning until recently was regarded as intuitively clear and not requiring special analysis. In the situation of understanding of the harmful effects of industrial civilization, ecological culture that manifests itself as a result of human understanding of unity of man and nature, as "a body of knowledge, skills, moral norms and values transmitted from generation to generation in education and training may be considered especially significant. Ecology of culture of the North Caucasus is a profound spiritual formation, based on the solid socio-historical foundation. cultural-environmental, cultural-creative activities of the North Caucasus creates human ability for transformation not only of nature, society and himself in correlation with basic anthropological values, which form the basis of cultural consciousness. Ecological culture requires constant study of the dynamics and transformation of this phenomenon due to new processes in the modern world, even more raising the significance and value of this phenomenon. In this connection there was a need for a multi-ethnic concept of modern development of ecological culture of the peoples of the North Caucasus to save for descendants the main factors of life support. At the present time the nations of the North Caucasus return to the historical past and want to experience a continuity of the ethnic past. This urge has arisen as a result of violations at some stage of the historical development of the peoples of the North Caucasus of balance between continuity and discontinuity which resulted the need for a modern collective identity. Among the main problems of the North Caucasus region, this can be described as eco-cultural issues there are several significant problems which solutions in the short term are very important for the development among the people of the North Caucasus. One of the main threats to cultural heritage - thriving in the North Caucasus "black archeology", which means illegal excavations at archaeological sites in order to extract artifacts for economic gain. Equally important, but considered a traditional problem for the North Caucasus region is the destruction of monuments of archeology and history in new construction. Along with these cultural problems of ecology, it is also essential to mention that the Caucasian peoples are no exception and problems that are specific for the whole of Russia also relevant and important for them.
Key words: the North Caucasus, ecology of culture, nature, co-evolution, monuments, traditions,
moral.
In a situation of ecocentrism humanity faced a problem of a choice of "construction" of a new model of society based on a culture of ecology as the idea of an equal status of all forms of theoretical experience of mankind. Ecology of Culture acts as the dominant factor of providing balance in the relationship between man and nature, man and society, man and civilization, regulating socio-natural relations linking nature and culture, ensuring the preservation of the cultural heritage, spiritual and moral life of man. As a result, cultural-environmental, cultural-creative activities of the North Caucasus creates human ability for transformation not only of nature, society and himself in correlation with basic anthropological values, which form the basis of cultural consciousness. The culture for the society - is the same as the memory for the individual. In other
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words, the culture includes traditions that «inform» the person that «it worked» in the past. Therefore, ethnic culture is the traditional culture [11, p. 72].
Under these conditions, according to the opinion of Academician N.N. Moiseev reinforced the importance of research on "sustainable development" of the planetary community, "co-evolution of man and the biosphere" [4], accelerating the transition from ecocentrism to ecoculturalcentrism, as well as the development of new value-normative paradigm of culture, forms and methods, conditions and factors of their realization .
Based on the above, in a conceptually unsustainable interpretation of the concept of "ecology of culture", the relevance of the philosophical and cultural understanding of the culture of ecology increases in the context of the analysis of the underlying causal relationships of its multifaceted phenomena from a solely biological to the idea of the protection of traditional cultural monuments - the system "man - nature - society" as a factor in the formation of man and the world. Ecology of culture is the youngest of the cultural sciences, which meaning until recently was regarded as intuitively clear and not requiring special analysis, which does not deny the existence of the phenomena of the culture that emerged in the early days of its origin, and testifying to the harmonization of relations "man and nature", "man and society", "people and culture".
Antinomical rapprochement of such categories as "nature" and "culture", is caused by the nowadays relevance of the phenomenon of "ecology" that reflected in following concepts of culture: "environmental culture", "social ecology", "ecology of culture", "cultural and environmental awareness." In a situation of understanding of the harmful effects of industrial civilization, ecological culture that manifests itself as a result of human understanding of unity of man and nature, as "a body of knowledge, skills, moral norms and values transmitted from generation to generation in education and training may be considered especially significant [2]. Through having the collisions and relations, the environmental elements of culture passed from one civilization to another, and then were destructed or returned changed in a new transformed form. The nations that had their own ethnic culture, were in a much broader synchronous horizontal system of information communications, rather than their former communicative network.
At the present time the nations of the North Caucasus return to the historical past and want to experience a continuity of the ethnic past. This urge has arisen as a result of violations at some stage of the historical development of the peoples of the North Caucasus of balance between continuity and discontinuity which resulted the need for a modern collective identity. Ecological and cultural identity of the peoples of the North Caucasus exists on two levels: at the level of the national culture of each nation and at the level of identity of ethnic-ecological culture in relation similar cultures. The results can be presented as a natural development in the history of ecological and cultural evolution of a number of basic civilizations of different backbone principle.
Ecological culture requires constant study of the dynamics and transformation of this phenomenon due to new processes in the modern world, even more raising the significance and value of this phenomenon. In this connection there was a need for a multi-ethnic concept of modern development of ecological culture of the peoples of the North Caucasus to save for descendants the main factors of life support. Ecology of culture of the North Caucasus is a profound spiritual formation, based on the solid socio-
historical foundation. During the period of the historical development of the North Caucasian peoples was growing into the culture of each ethnic group in the scope of other cultures, while maintaining the national cultural character and way of life. The North Caucasus is populated by a variety of nationalities, the region has a great linguistic diversity, as it is well known that language can be defined as an important method of communication in any culture [13], moreover our language reflects our culture, psyche and mode of thought [12], nevertheless it is a fact that the North Caucasus is rich in different nationalities with its own specific behavior, consciousness and activity, expressed in works of art, tools, symbols, signs, and forms of language, reflected in the acts of communication [14, p. 47]. However, the example of the common characteristic of the many peoples of the North Caucasus is the fact that interpersonal and intergroup relations are regulated and subjected by various taboos [15, p. 54]. In addition, peoples of the North Caucasus committed to traditional values [5, p. 198]. Symbiosis of multicultural origins preserves the national cultural character and way of life of each nation but also forms together a single socio-cultural identity - the challenge of our age [1, p. 47-48]
Still ruling linear approach to the study of the history and culture of the peoples of the North Caucasus poses a risk to the new emerging integrity, because it not only led to a system of global crisis, but is not able to show the way to resolution. Humans consciously alter and manipulate their environments, generally to achieve a desired result [16, p. 117]. One of the main threats to cultural heritage - thriving in the North Caucasus "black archeology", which means illegal excavations at archaeological sites in order to extract artifacts for economic gain. This leads to the complete destruction of all these discoveries accompanying scientific information and, consequently, to the loss of of substantial portion of scientific and cultural values of artifacts. According to the director of Institute of Archaeology of Russian Academy of Sciences N. A. Makarov, "taking archaeological items into the private collections and antique stalls, we destroy the general fund sources for the study of the "big "history of our country" [3, p. 192].
The problem of destruction of archaeological sites is burning issue in most areas of the Krasnodar Kray, and Ust-Malokarachayevsky and Dzhegutinsk districts of Kara-chay-Cherkessia [6, p. 172-175], the majority of the Kabardino-Balkaria areas, especially in the Baksan gorge. According to estimates for 2002, in Ust-Dzhegutinsk districts of Karachay-Cherkessia area the number of burial mounds looted increased in 7 times and reached one-third of the total number of embankments in 8 years [6, p. 173-174]. In 2000s "black archeology" infiltrated from Krasnodar Kray into Abkhazia, especially in the border areas of the Republic [7, p. 57-61]. Equally important, but considered a traditional problem for the North Caucasus region is the destruction of monuments of archeology and history in new construction, which primarily affects the most interesting to study and rich of antiquities territories which are currently the most populated and heavily built up areas of the Black Sea coast.
Along with these cultural problems of ecology, it is also essential to mention that the Caucasian peoples are no exception and problems that are specific for the whole of Russia also relevant and important for them. "Crisis" of ideology and morality felt by all segments of the population of today's urban and rural communities of the North Caucasus. On the one hand, no longer current Soviet system of values and morality have al-
most disappeared from the life of the modern people of the region, preserved in fragments, and on the other, "transition" from the Soviet to whatever it was that ideology has appeared in many too slow.
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