Tishkov Valery Alexandrovich - a famous Russian historian, a scientist engaged in social anthropology. He has the title of professor and doctor of historical sciences. Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Since 1989, he heads the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences named after Miklouho-Maclay, and also heads the center of social anthropology of the Russian State University for the Humanities.
Biography of a scientist
Tishkov Valery Alexandrovich was born during the Great Patriotic War - November 6, 1941. He was born in the small Ural town of Lower Sergi, located in the Sverdlovsk region. The town is small, but very beautiful and picturesque. Locals even call it "Ural Switzerland."
The younger brother of Valery - Leonid, was an artist. Father Alexander Ivanovich and mother Raisa Tyagunova taught at the school. So from childhood there were a lot of books in the house, parents paid great attention to the upbringing and education of children. At the same time, mother taught lessons in elementary school, and father taught physical education and geography at once. From the first days, father left to serve in the front. Without really participating in any battle, he was captured and stayed in the camp until 1945.
Schooling
At school, Tishkov Valery Alexandrovich studied well. As he himself admits, he could not keep up, so as not to disgrace his parents. Favorite subjects were history and literature. The class teacher Nina Vasilievna Malinina played a big role in his life, it was she who convinced him to go to Moscow State University, which was hard to imagine for the residents of this small town, where they tried to study at the Polytechnic Institute or, at best, at the Ural University in Sverdlovsk.
He graduated from school in 1959 with honors. At first I was going to enter the Faculty of Philology, but, having learned that the competition was too high there, at the last moment I chose the history faculty. Parents were at first against this adventurous trip, but the mother nevertheless supported her son, and went to Moscow Tishkov Valery Alexandrovich. The family allocated 50 rubles with the expectation of a return ticket.
Initiative and independence - the qualities that Tishkov showed then remained with him for life. True, this decision was not easy. The next ten years had to wander around dormitories. First student, then graduate student.
At this time, his younger brother dropped out of medical education and devoted himself to painting. Tishkov Valery Alexandrovich did not forget about relatives. He tells interesting facts about postcards that he sent to the Urals. His grandmother suddenly began to paint in old age. He regularly sent her postcards from the capital, and she redrawn them and asked for more.
Studying at the University
In those days, at the initiative of Khrushchev, the preferences of medalists were canceled. 80 places in universities were intended for those who had at least two years of experience in any job. The remaining places were distributed among all the others. As a result, the so-called interns were enrolled with triples, and ordinary students had to score 19 points out of 20.
Tishkov Valery Alexandrovich received a four in English, but brilliantly passed the five on the story and entered. I decided to specialize in the Department of History of the CPSU.
Even in his student years, the freedom-loving nature of Tishkov manifested itself. He read the book "Stalin. Political Biography" with an American trainee and began at the seminar talking about camps and repressions, which the authorities had not yet recognized. Only the intercession of senior comrades saved him from being expelled, however, he had to transfer to the Department of US History.
Going to Magadan
After graduating from the History Department of Moscow State University in 1964, Valery Tishkov, by distribution, ended up in the Magadan Pedagogical Institute. A year later, he became the youngest dean of the faculty in the history of the university. He was only 24 years old.
In Magadan, he worked until 1972 with short breaks for admission to graduate school and the defense of a candidate dissertation. Work defended the history of Canada. In many ways, I had to return to Magadan due to the fact that there was no one else to give lectures on recent history and students missed them for three years.
Just before the departure, an important event took place, after which Valery Alexandrovich Tishkov could not help but change. The personal life of the scientist began to improve, he married Larisa Nikishova, who worked at the Tretyakov Gallery as an art critic. The wife soon moved to her husband in the Far North, where she began to give courses on the history of Russian art. In 1971, their son Vasily was born.
The Tishkovs got a two-room apartment, but the desire to do research work overpowered everything. Two years later they returned to Moscow. Tishkov Valery Alexandrovich, whose biography already included several in-depth studies, dreamed of engaging in the ethnic history of the American Indians. In particular, those who lived in the territory of modern Canada. He begins to work at the Institute of General History of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
First publications
In 1977-78 releases the first works of Tishkov Valery Alexandrovich. The books were called Maple Leaf Country: The Beginning of History and The Liberation Movement in Colonial Canada. They came out in the publishing house "Science".
By and large, it was an extended candidate dissertation. Colleagues, having familiarized themselves with the works, advised on their basis to defend the doctoral. Which was already done in 1979.
Work at the Institute of Ethnology
Since 1989, Tishkov has headed the Miklouho-Maclay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. He is one of the research institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In the areas of interest of the institute, various directions are human evolution and the origin of cultures, ethnic and social cultures, nationalism, religious and gender studies, physical anthropology.
Scientific interests
Tishkov's main works are devoted to the social anthropology of North American countries, in particular to the features of their interethnic relations.
He received the title of candidate of historical sciences, defending a dissertation on the topic "Historical background of the Canadian Revolution of 1837." A doctoral dissertation was defended by liberation movements in Canadian colonies.
Work at the head of the institute
Tishkov headed the Institute of Ethnology in a difficult time for the country. Perestroika, glasnost, almost do not pay attention to science. At this time, he decides to create an association of ethnographers and anthropologists.
Her first congress was held in Ryazan in 1995. Only 80 scientists came to the first congress, after 12 years there were already more than 700 of them, from all corners of the globe.
For 7 months, Tishkov was Minister for Nationalities. But when he left this service, he was only happy because the work did not bring pleasure, was not to his liking. But it came to the realization that few in the political elite can imagine how to manage a multi-ethnic and multinational country in the modern conditions of democracy and liberalization.
The first serious ethnic conflicts had already occurred, Russia was seriously threatened by separatism, Tishkov notes at that time. Then he decided to focus on early warning of conflicts. As a result, in 1994, a network of ethnological monitoring was created. By the way, this term is still not found in foreign science.
The project was entirely led by Russian scientists, its results were used by authorities and the expert community.