Ludmila A. Chernaya V.N. Tatishchev as the First Russian Cultural Studies Scholar

Abstract
This article offers, for the first time in the scholarly literature, an analysis of the contribution of Vasily Nikitich (Nikitovich) Tatishchev to the theory of world culture. It provides a brief biography of the first comprehensive Russian historian and geographer, who approached these disciplines from rationalist positions, employing source criticism, and drawing on the achievements of Western European scholars of his time. Taking into account Tatishchev’s experience in scholarship and education, the author analyzes his approach to defining the stages of development of world culture, to which a section of his extensive work (A Conversation Between Two Friends on the Benefits of Science and Schools) is devoted. The article examines in detail the scholar’s views on the typology and periodization of world culture. Tatishchev proposed his own periodization of the development of world culture, identifying the causes of humanity’s rapid progress in the process of knowledge: the invention of writing, the emergence of Christianity, and the invention of printing. All these changes, in Tatishchev’s view, were connected with the spread of knowledge and ethical norms, which allowed humanity to move from barbarism to a civilized society. The article also considers the convergence of this approach with the so-called “technological” (“activity-based”) approach developed in the second half of the twentieth century by the Armenian philosopher and cultural theorist Markaryan. This approach assigns a central role in the development of human culture precisely to changes in technology and modes of activity. For the first time in Russian scholarship, the concept of the development of world culture formulated by Tatishchev in the first half of the eighteenth century is interpreted as the first attempt to create a theory of world culture.

Keywords:
V.N. Tatishchev; Science; Theory of world culture; Periodization; Typology of cultural studies; Technological approach

For citation:
Ludmila A. Chernaya. V.N. Tatishchev as the First Russian Cultural Studies Expert // The Historical Reporter. 2026. Vol. 57. P. 120–133. DOI:

Ludmila A. Chernaya
D.Sc. (History), Professor of the of Art Theory and History Department, V.I. Surikov Moscow State Academic Art Institute at the Russian Academy of Arts. Moscow, Russian Federation.
e-mail: tchernie@rambler.ru
ORCID: 0000-0003-0347-436X

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