10 Evolution of Geographical Thinking and Disciplinary Trends in the Soviet Union and Contemporary Russia

Dr. Janki Jiwan

Component II – e-Text

I.  Introduction

Geographical thought in Russia has been evolving since the 9th century when scholars focused on geographical knowledge of country’s areal extent, preparation of Atlas and concepts of formation of landforms and climatic processes.The Modern period in Russia is divided into three phases. The first phase refers to the pre-revolutionary period between 18thcentury to end of 19th century, the second phase is the period of revolution and USSR. The third period is Contemporary Russia, especially after disintegration USSR. In these three periods, various geographical branches were evolved and new disciplinary trends were set in.

II.   The first phase (Development of Geographical Thought During Pre-Revolutionary Period): Evolution of geography thought evolved in Russia in the certain background. Between the period of the 9th and 12th century, the geographical knowledge focused on discovering areal extent, routes, means of communication for trade. Historians of Russia in the 12th century wrote about developing routes to connect Baltic sea, Rome, Northern Africa, Asia Minor, Persia, and India. Between 14th and 17th century, scholars from Russia went for the expedition and did research on Western Europe, China, central Asia, different parts of Siberia and Pacific ocean. For example, Peter the Great, who ruled Russia from 1682 to1725, encouraged Alexander von Humboldt to explore the territory, east of the Urals. The objective of Humboldt’s exploration was to collect geographical information to guide the expansion of the Russian Empire towards east. During the 18th century and early 19th century, a number of geographical books, maps, and monographs and Atlas were written and prepared in different areas and routes. For example, Remezov prepared first Atlas of Siberia in 1746. In the 18th century, Russian Academy of Science was established, which continued the publication geographical Atlas for Russian Empire. In the nineteenth century, many faculties, institutions, and departments of geography were established. In addition, the Imperial Geographical Society of Russia was founded in 1845. The purposes and aims of this Society were to promote the study of geology, meteorology, hydrology, anthropology, and archaeology. The diverse specialties represented in the society were known collectively as ‘the geographical sciences’. The prominent scholars of the Pre-Great Revolution period were M. V. Lomonosov, V. V. Semenov, Tyan-Shanski, Vocikov, Dokuchaiev and Anuchin. They mainly contributed to various fields of physical geography. Surprisingly, the majority of the Russian geographers, before the Revolution, did not agree with inhuman environmental determinism.

A. Main Geographers Before Great Revolution Period

Some of the prominent geographers and their contribution are discussed as follows:

1. M. V. Lomonosov (1711-1765): He was the father of geology and regarded as the first geomorphologist in the world. He studied internal structures of the earth. He was the first scholar who pointed out that landforms are a function of endogenic and exogenic forces. In addition, His expedition to arctic land and writing about it is remarkable.His writing reveals that he believed in the universality of physical processes on the earth surface.

2. A. I. Voeikov (1842-1916): He was also a physical geographer and worked on earth’s heat and water balance. He tried to study climatology for the development of agriculture. He also contributed appreciably to the science of glacier. As per his suggestion, the government introduced tea plantation in Georgia, cotton cultivation in Turkistan (Turkmania), wheat in Ukraine.Voeikov further points out that the overgrazing of the Russian-steppes as the cause of gully erosion and asserted that irrigation facilities can increase the productivity of semi-arid lands.

3. V. V. Dokuchayev (1846-1903): He was the first professor of geography at St. Petersburg in 1885. Dokuchayev believed that all natural elements are functioning interdependently which causes several changes on the earth surface over the space and time.He also proposed the concept of the law of the zonal distribution of integrated natural complexes.In 1889, his publication on soil forming processing and their zonation seems to be a great contribution to applied soil geography. As per his view, man is very active agents in transforming the natural landscape into the cultural landscape. His view seems to be similar to the Schluter’ concept of landscape. Later translations of his works influenced many young geographers across the world.

III. Development of Geographical Thought During the USSR Period (1917 to 1989)

V. I. Lenin led the socialist movement in Russia and laid the foundation of new USSR. With the establishment of USSR, the geographers started working on various facets of the subject with socialist perspectives. Some of the prominent geographers are as follows:

A. Dmitry Nikolayevich Anuchin (1843–1923): He was an anthropologist but trained geographer in the German tradition. He wrote a number of text-books for geography which popularised his name and his subject geography in Russia.

B. Nikolai Mikhailovich Knipovich (1862 -1939): He was a Russian marine zoologist and oceanographer, notable as the founder of fisheries research in the Russian North. Knipovich led the various expeditions to many seas and ocean and authored numerous monographs on hydrology and fisheries in the Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea, Caspian Sea, Azov Sea, and the Black Sea, as well as a number of studies on the geological history of the northern seas.

C. Lev Semyonovich Berg (1876-1950): He was a leading Russian geographer who served as President of the Soviet Geographical Society between 1940 and 1950. He is known for his own evolutionary theory named‘nomogenesis’ (this is a form of orthogenesis incorporated the concept of mutationism) as opposed to the theories of Darwin and Lamarck.

D. Yuly Mikhailovich Shokalskiy (1856-1940): He was a Russian oceanographer, cartographer, and geographer. Shokalsky’s most important monograph was on Oceanography. This book was the collection of his lectures investigating inter- connection between meteorology and hydrology and highlighted the importance of monitoring marine phenomena in order to understand global changes in climate. Shokalsky insisted on differentiating oceanography and hydrography and coined the term “World Ocean”.

E. Nikolay Nikolayevich Baransky (1881-1963): He was a Soviet economic geographer, founder of ‘Soviet Rayon (Regional) School of Economic Geography’, and corresponding member of Soviet Academy of Sciences (1939). During 1919-20, he worked in Supreme Soviet of the National Economy. Later, Baranskiy led research in areas of regional economic geography and geography of cities. Baransky authored various textbooks on the economic geography of the USSR for high schools, works on social, economic geography and cartography.

IV. Disciplinary Trends (Branches)

Above stated geographers developed various thoughts and set up new disciplinary trends (different branches) in geography like Physical Geography, Economic Geography, Applied Geography, Regional Planning, Soil Geography, Environment Geography, Resources Geography, Tourism Geography, GIS and Remote Sensing etc. An account of those disciplinary trends (branches) and major contributing geographers are as follows:

A. Physical Geography: Physical geography focused on the general scientific laws to explain causes for distribution of different physical features on the earth surface. Geographers in pre-revolutionary period concentrated on the physical explanation of the distribution of geographical phenomena. For example, Dokuchaiev’s concept of landscape seeks physical laws to make geography a physical science. In addition, Gerasimov also regarded physical geography as real geography. Later Soviet scholars started a trend of specializations in physical geography. Geographers during this period began to study geomorphology, glaciology, soil geography and bio-geography.

B. Economic Geography: Regional economic geography, spatial distribution and location of productive forces and resultant social political and political super-structures have been the main contents for economic geography. Moreover, some Soviet economic geographers seek general economic laws for making economic geography as a universally applied subject. Earlier apparent dichotomies between physical and economic geography seemed to be faded away with the publication of V. A. Anuchin’ book entitled ‘The theoretical Problems in Geography’ which aimed at making geography as a holistic and scientific subject rejecting unscientific human and economic geography and inhuman physical geography. The Later movement led V. A. Anuchin aimed at a unity of the geography as a subject. This movement for the unity of the subject got wide supports soviet geographers including Baranskiy and Saushkin. After the 1970s, Soviet Geography focused on the specification of the subject making it more scientific and applied. For example, regional planning and town planning.

C. Planning: It refers to systematic steps for achieving defined socio-economic goals. Soviet Geographers promoted state-sponsored regional (town planning) and sectoral planning in USSR. For example, USSR’s state-sponsored planning for industrial development, especially the deployment of production enterprises in depressed and backward areas. In addition, Geographical science in the The The The Soviet Union revealed that a considerable attention of scholars was put on the concept of territorial industrial complexes (TIC). The TIC concept was the planned organization of large industrial units. Under sectoral planning, the government began various schemes for agricultural development in the country. The USSR government also planned for infrastructure development like roads, railways, and telecommunications. Geographers played an active role in the selection of optimal sites for the construction and routing of roads, in the development of the service industries, recreational and tourist facilities, the provision of resorts and the provisions of health care, and so on and so forth. Further, Geographers emphasized on proper utilization and conservation of natural resources for the promotion of sustainable development in erstwhile USSR. In the period of planning, while interaction with socialist society and nature, Geography was regarded as one of the sciences involved in the implementation of research-based tasks. In addition, Soviet geographers identified existing and possible environmental problems and suggested various methods to solve them.These new methods for sustainable development consolidated the harmonious relationship between society and nature in the country.

D. Social and Cultural Geography: After the Second World War, the outstanding Soviet researcher R.M. Kabo introduced the concept of socio-cultural geography(A. G. Druzhinina, et al. 2015). According to Kabo, this discipline deals with the study of the relationship between nature and man but the dominant community of economic geographers did not acknowledge Kabo’snovel and productive ideas about socio-cultural geography as a scientific discipline. However, last quarter of the 20th century, geographers again developed an interest in social and cultural geography. For example, during the post-war period, Yu. G. Saushkindisplayed the developed interest in the studies of the cultural landscape. The V.M. Gokhman provided further impetus to the rise of the cultural branch inhuman geography (A. G. Druzhinina, et al. 2015).He categorized three broad areas in human geography. First is social geography dealing with the study of territorial aspects of developing social structures, Second is economic geography dealing with the study of territorial aspects of economic life and Third is cultural geography dealing with the study of territorially differentiated cultures and their changes over time.

   E. Resources and Population- Geographers often focused on a balance between population and resources in Russia and suggest a solution for the problem of environment, uneven distribution and population growth in the country. Soviet geographer often suggests for improvement of the socialist use of natural resources and the formation of an effective demographic policy.

F. Disaster management– Russia is a vast country in which a number of disasters occur recurrently. Geographers promoted management mudflows and avalanches, droughts and other natural disasters. Now, researchers are forecasting of weather and changes in the hydrological balance.

G. Socialist Geography: Development of socialist geography lies in the concept of Marxism. The class struggle in Russia and October Revolution created a new perspective of geographical study. That perspective was to study the spatial distribution of class forces and their influences and the resultant creation of social and economic inequalities. After October revolution in 1917, Geographers promoted the utilization of collected information on regions, regional economic, social processes and spatial distribution of resources for economic and regional planning through state-sponsored mechanisms in the country.One of the objectives was to social, regional and economic inequalities in the Russian societies.

H.   Dichotomy between Determinism and Possibilism in Russian

1. Determinism: Some Russian geographers like G. Plekhnov, Vasily Kluchevskiy, Lev Mechnikov have either fully or partially supported one of the oldest paradigm named Determinism. For long period, determinism has been influencing geographer across the world, Russian Geographers were not aloof from the impact. Great environmentalist Vasily Kluchevskiy pointed out that Russian people and their ideas have been influenced by the environment of local grassland named Steppes, forest, and rivers. Later Lev Mechnikov viewed that rivers being a major factor in shaping the entire physical geographical condition of a region, which in turn, determine the ways and paths of development of Russian society. Surprisingly, Kluchevskiy also accepted man’s role in the creation of a geographical environment. Another geographer was G. Plekhnov whose intention was to explain social Darwinism and Marxism. According to this concept, certain geographical conditions creates a pattern of productive forces, this pattern of productive force again generates economic forces, which untimely determine all social relationships in the society. Later N. N. Baranskiy, leading Russian economist, popularized the Plekhnov’s concept. In addition, Anuchin followed the concept of Baranskiy and proposed a concept of Neo- Determinism. As per this concept, a part of nature is changed by various human activities on the earth surface, in turn, the changed part of natural determines the ways and paths of development of human society on the earth surface. In his book entitled ‘the Theoretical Problems of Geography (1960) explains impacts of geographical conditions on development and life of all societies. He opposed both inhuman determinism and unscientific possibilism or indeterminism. In other words, he pointed out that the concept of determinism was mechanical in nature while indeterminism was not scientific.

2. Possibilism: It has been developed in the broad conceptual context in pre-and during Soviet Russia. As the state was becoming powerful, the concept of indeterminism was strengthened as a state-sponsored paradigm, especially after the establishment of USSR. Even before USSR, in 1887-88, Chernyshevskiy believed in indeterminism or possibilism. As per his view, people, society, and state play a significant role in shaping the paths of development in any country. Later, Pokrovskiy pointed out that with the development of science and technologies, development of society does not depend upon the mercy of nature. Another geographer Voskanyan also favored Pokrovskiy’s views. However, Saushkin opposed possibilism saying such kind of thought might lead to developing a unique relationship with exploited nature and exploiter man. Therefore, the dichotomy between determinism and possibilism (Indeterminism) created obstacles for the growth of geography as a scientific branch of knowledge. Geographers like Saushkin and Anuchin favoured geography to be unified social science. At the same time, Geographers, especially physical geographers believed in determinism making geography as a purely physical science.

    V.  Recent Trends

As a result of a strong foundation of geography prepared by predecessors in Soviet Russia, this subject finds a wide spectrum of developing disciplines in the recent period. Now geographical studies seek the laws determining natural, historical and economic factors affecting the territorial distribution of productive forces. Scholars in this country work to protect and improve the environment, develop their profound theoretical knowledge and practical skills to observe and solve various geographical issues. Researchers are being trained in more than twenty-six specialist areas like urban geography, cartography, hydrology, meteorology, ocean science, management of natural resources, eco-geology, tourism etc.

Contemporary geographers in Russia increasingly show their interest in the study of Urban Geography and developed various methods of cities classifications. Geographers like O. A. Konstantinov explained extensive methodologies to study quantitative based model for studying cities.

In addition, Geographers are trained in Cartography and Geoinformatics making them specialists in field cartography equipped with the skills of creating and editing thematic and geographic maps and atlases.Geographers now widely use remote sensing data in Geographical Information System (GIS) for making different thematic maps and Atlas.

In the field of Environmental Management, faculties teach specialized areas in environmental conservation, assessment, and its control to ensure effective use of natural resources for social and economic development.

Since a long time in Russia, Economic and Social Geography has been a special area. Its importance still continued in the country. In this subject, scholars estimate the natural conditions of resources in various Russian regions and suggest ways and means for regional development and rationality for balance distribution of resources and population.

The growth of Recreational Geography and Tourism Geography has been new trends in the country in which scholars with expertise in geography, economics, technology, and management are trained in the tourism industry. Faculties give special focus on foreign languages and practical skills in this field.

Study of Landscape Planning is still continuing in Russia. The Program “Landscape Planning” is jointly supported by three departments viz., The Departments of Geomorphology, the Environmental Management and Physical Geography (Landscape Science). In which researchers are equipped with skills and knowledge of multi-level ecological territorial planning and design of landscapes, cities, manors, recreational areas and historic sites.

References

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