Annual Report 2010-2011

The Landscape Concept in Russian Scientific Thought, c1880s – 1991

AHRC award reference number: AH/G011028/1

Jon Oldfield, University of Glasgow, UK
Denis Shaw, University of Birmingham, UK

Brief overview of activities

During year two, we continued work in relation to the early development of landscape science in Russia, with a particular focus on the work of V.V. Dokuchaev and his school during the late tsarist period concerning the zonation of soil types and, more broadly, natural regions. Grounded on an understanding of the intimate connections between organic and inorganic nature, Dokuchaev’s work explored the influence of climate, vegetation, ground-rock and relief on the prevailing character of soil. He developed this work towards the end of his life in order to establish a series of distinct natural zones. Dokuchaev’s work on soil and natural zones was considered pioneering in this regard and provided a stimulus for a large volume of work undertaken by a range of his former students as well as contemporaries (e.g. G. Morozov, A. Krasnov, N. Sibirtsev etc.). Importantly, a number of these individuals would go on to play significant direct (and indirect) roles in the subsequent development of Russian geography.

The second area of work carried out during year two focussed on the work and ideas of some of Russia’s earliest professional geographers as well as those working in closely related areas of study. While the focus of Russian geography remained a contested issue into the Soviet period, an exploration of the complex interaction of natural phenomena at the earth’s surface emerged as a key area of debate. We looked in some detail at the work of A.N. Krasnov (1862-1914), who took up the first chair in geography outside St. Petersburg and Moscow at the University of Kharkov in 1889. Krasnov published one of the earliest geography textbooks in which he advanced geographical study as ‘the study of the contemporary state of the earth’s surface.’ Furthermore, he maintained that a key task of geography was to determine the ‘causal connections between forms and phenomena, the combination of which brings about the dissimilarity of various parts of the surface….’ As a former student of Dokuchaev’s, this approach had significant overlap with the earlier work of his mentor with its emphasis on complex interactions between natural phenomena at the earth’s surface and resulting natural orderings. The work of another former student of Dokuchaev, the plant geographer G.N. Tanfil’ev (1857-1928), in addition to the Moscow-based geographer A.A. Kruber (1871-1941), was also examined in detail.  

 A third area of work explored the intellectual links between the work of Dokuchaev and his school and the later work of L.S. Berg concerned with the formal establishment of landscape geography as a key element of Russian geographical practice. More specifically, this involved an examination of Berg’s 1913 and 1915 papers related to landscape regions and the object of geography, respectively.

A fourth area of work concerning the activities of the Permanent Commission for the Study of Natural Productive Forces (KEPS) was also broached. Initiated by V.I. Vernadskii (1863-1945) in 1915, KEPS was tasked with establishing Russia’s natural resource potential. Furthermore, it would provide an impetus for geographical work during the early Soviet period. Work related to this initiative will continue in 2012.

Library work (including bibliographic work) was carried in London (British Library), Helsinki (National Library of Finland, Slavonic Collection) and St. Petersburg (National Library of Russia, both old and new buildings/collections). In addition, the Slavonic collections of the University of Glasgow and University of Birmingham were also accessed.

Conference attendance:

Two panels were convened for the BASEES 2011 Annual Conference, Cambridge (2-4 March) entitled: Managing resources & conceptualizing nature during the late tsarist and early Soviet periods I & II.

Papers were delivered by: Alexandra Bekasova (St Petersburg branch of the Institute for the history of science and technology), Catherine Evtuhov (Georgetown University), Julia Lajus (European University at St Petersburg), and David Moon (University of Durham), in addition to papers by Oldfield and Shaw.

  • Jon Oldfield, Conceptualisations of the natural environment in the late tsarist period’
  • Denis Shaw, The rise of modern biogeographical studies in Russia

A further panel was convened for the 6th European Society for Environmental History, Turku, Finland (28 June-2 July) entitled: Russian natural science and society: explorations of the links between scientific conception, practice and the state during the late 19C and early 20C.

Papers were offered by Marina Loskutova and Anastasia Fedotova in addition to Oldfield and Shaw. David Moon acted as discussant.

  • Jon Oldfield, Natural science conceptualizations of Russian territory during the late tsarist period
  • Denis Shaw, The science of landscapes: a Russian perspective

Papers/writing in preparation:

  • Natural complexes, natural zonation and the Russian geographical practice, 1880s-1915
  • Conceptualisations of natural resources amongst Russian natural scientists during the late tsarist period

Book:

  • Oldfield, J and Shaw, DJB, provisional title: Russian Environmental Thought, 1880-1991, contract with Routledge, provisional publication date 2012/13