Institute of Oriental Studies

The authors examine a little-studied scientific problem: the connection between the collective image of the future and sporting identity, which is based on the achievements of talented Armenian athletes such as Tigran Petrosyan (chess), Yuri Vardanyan (weightlifting), and Eduard Azaryan (gymnastics). It is shown that their successes, as well as those of the Ararat football club enhanced the Armenians’ national pride. The authors conclude that in the late 1980s, sport became a communicative mechanism for expressing national sentiment. In the context of Soviet reality, the achievements of Armenian athletes aroused a sense of pride among citizens and contributed to the increasing of national self-awareness, shaping a positive image of Armenia both within the USSR and internationally. The success stories of outstanding Armenian athletes, their performances on the international stage and at world championships, have become part of the nation’s cultural heritage. In the second half of the 20th century, high-performance sports in the Armenian SSR, serving as a means of social consolidation and a symbol of national pride for the Armenian people, influenced social processes in the multinational USSR, fostering a sense of local identity.

The beginning of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine was a pivotal event in modern history, the consequences of which a ected the whole world, including South Asia. This shift could not fail to attract the attention of a wide range of researchers specializing in this region. However, their focus is primarily on the impact of new global realities on Russia’s interactions with India. Meanwhile, the small countries of the Himalayan region of South Asia remain “in the shadow.” Nepal is the main object of research in the present article. Special attention is paid to the evolution of the Himalayan state’s ties with Russia. The authors tried to explain the reasons for the low level of bilateral relations and Nepal’s critical approach to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. A special subject of the study was the participation of a signi cant number of Nepalese citizens in the SMO. India and China are the natural main exogenous actors in Nepal. The reasons why they have no e ect on Nepal’s foreign policy in relation to the Special Military Operation are of particular interest, and their disclosure is of the most serious importance for a more complete understanding of Russia’s geopolitical potential. Some recommendations were made to improve the level of bilateral relations and to prompt a potential change in Nepal’s approach to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The conclusions of the study are based on materials from various sources. First of all, it is a regulatory framework that includes both general documents and special ones (contracts, protocols, declarations and other acts). Furthermore, the work uses statistical data (obtained from both national databases and databases of international institutions). The article uses the method of identifying the interconnections and mutual in uences between di erent facets of foreign policy, bilateral and international relations; as well as interpretation of the complex interaction of socio-economic, political and cultural development.

The author studies the problem associated with the appearance in Russian archival documents of the second and third decades of the 17th century of references to people called Chekars, as part of the Oirat Derbets who were dwelling in southern Siberia. The points of view of specialists who previously drew attention to this problem (S.K. Bogoyavlensky, V.P. Sanchirov, V.T. Tepkeev) are considered, their achievements and failures are noted. Basing on a comprehensive study of the sources, it is concluded that the Chekars were the representatives of the Chahar Mongolian people, who found themselves in the troops of the Altyn Khans even before the fall of the Chahar Khanate (1634) and took an active part in the battles with the Oirats. After the death of the (Chahar) Khagan Ligdan, they were also seen in the detachments of the Oirat Derbet leader Dalai Taishi, who used them to attack other Oirats - Torgut rulers with the aim of subjugating them. At the same time, to combat the growing influence of the Elet (Dzungar) Taishi Khara-Khula, Dalai Taishi tried to revive his old family name, the same as that of Khara-Khula - Choros (Churas). This family name was associated with the Churas people in Moghulistan and its representatives who created the Choros dynasty as rulers of the Oirat state (first half of the 15th century). It is stated that Dalai Taishi’s activity, as well known Oirat leader, at the discussing period was complicated and aimed to return his previous authority. With his death in 1637, the issue of Chekars and connected the Churas peoples disappeared forever from the Russian archival documents. The author presents the article as the problematic one and believes that its further study should be supported by the comprehensive analyze of the history of the Oirats and Eastern Mongols of the late 16th - first third of the 17th centuries.

The study is based upon documents from the National Archives of India and its Bhopal Branch, which offer us valuable information about the servants of the Bhopal princely family. Those men and women, Muslims and Hindus and of various castes, worked to sustain the lavish lifestyle and comfort of the rulers. A few of them were slaves; however, the majority were hired free persons. Almost ignored by other sources, they come out of the darkness in the palace documents, especially those referring to the visit of the Viceroy to Bhopal in 1891: To impress the visitors, the ruling family ordered all servants to dress in uniforms, which created many problems, at the same time disclosing important details about the princely domestics. As employees of the Bhopal government, the servants had to serve European visitors of a lower rank for whom special guesthouses were maintained. Who and how had to pay, reward and punish the servants was an important matter which concerned both the Bhopal rulers and their visiting British suzerains. The relations between the princely families and their servants subsisted within the framework of patriarchal tradition, where servants were usually perceived as subordinate members of an enlarged family.

The reforms of the occupation period in Japan significantly changed the education system in the country. Meanwhile, the main principles and ideological foundation of the new educational policy were laid in 1946—1947, when the Basic Act on Education, the School Education Law, and amendments to the Constitution of Japan were created and promulgated. At the same time, there are still debates about whether these reforms were mainly imposed by the SCAP (Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers), or whether Japanese politicians, academics, and educators had sufficient opportunities to promote their initiatives. This article is devoted to assessing the role of Japanese political actors involved in the education reforms of 1946—1947.In the work, it was found that SCAP, having enormous opportunities and powers to influence the course of reforms, in practice used its power in education policy for the most part only on issues of key importance to the occupation administration. SCAP influenced elections, allowing left-liberal politicians to come to power; it strictly supervised the prevention of the spread of nationalistic and militaristic ideas through the education system. However, on other issues, Japanese political actors were freer to act. The creation of the Basic Act on Education and the School Education Law, which became the basis of the new education system, resulted from debates and compromises between various Japanese politicians and educators. The analysis presented in this article leads to the conclusion that Japanese actors played a huge role in shaping the education system. Although most of the results of the changes can be considered victories of liberal actors, conservatives also managed to achieve partial victories, such as the adoption of the Resolution on Religious Sentiment Education. Moreover, the laws that laid down the basic principles of educational policy were not excessively detailed. This feature, also established at the initiative of Japanese actors, made it possible to develop educational policy more flexibly in the future.

This paper presents an innovative training model for early career orientation aimed at preventing NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) situations among adolescents through early career orientations, developed within the EU-funded CHAMELEON project. The model integrates digital transformation, sustainability, and entrepreneurship competences, grounded in the DigComp, GreenComp, and EntreComp frameworks. A reflective co-design approach involving students and teachers was applied in a series of workshops held in Barcelona Spain in 2024 to align the framework with the user needs. Generative AI tools were employed in the workshops to support creative corporate storytelling, enabling students to reimagine traditional careers as sustainable and innovative career paths. Our findings highlight the potential of GenAI to enhance student engagement, reflection, and competence development, offering a scalable and transferable model for career guidance in secondary education.

Attempts to create a relevant methodology for understanding the spiritual heritage of the Prophet Muhammad under the umbrella of tawhid (monotheism) within the framework of the renewal movement in Islam (known as «tajdid» or «islah») since the activities of Musa Bigiev (1875–1949) and Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938) have been and continue to be acutely polemical. The issues of convergence (adaptation) of the heritage of traditional Islamic orthodoxy with modern (sometimes with the prefix «ultra») approaches to its comprehension are in the center of attention of many prominent reformist scholars associated with the academic environment of European countries and the USA. This article attempts to outline the horizons of this discursive practice in the scholarly works of such wellknown Muslim scholars of Arab origin as Tawfiq Ibrahim (b. 1947) and Muhammad Arkoun (1928–2010), whose work has long been influenced by the Russian/European intellectual milieu. Their scholarly credo impresses with the diversity of their research approaches, the depth of their analyses of medieval Arabic sources and their latest interpretations on the basis of Islamic epistemology as a kind of modern theory of scientific cognition that emerged at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries.

Afghanistan has experienced a series of upheavals over the past 40 years. The civil war (1992–1996), the first Taliban rule (1996–2001), the American intervention (2001–2021), and the return of the Taliban (since 2021) have all affected the country’s geopolitical image. Central Asian states have gone from seeing Afghanistan as a threat to recognizing its role in regional stability. Today, it is a symbiosis of risks and new oppor tunities for economic cooperation, which determines its place on the re gional agenda.

This paper discusses iconographic features of the deity or “demon” Medjed (Mḏd). The specific and unusual image of this character is only found during the 21st Dynasty and is unknown in the funerary art of the New Kingdom and Late Period. Only oneYe coffin and nine papyri are known in which the image of Medjed is depicted. Eight are in the context of Spell 17 of the Book of the Dead. In the text of Spell 17, Medjed is described in lines 71–72 of Grapow’s Urk. V Abschnitt 24. The “invisibility” of this “demon” is evidently the reason for his unusual iconography: Medjed has a conical shaped body, with human legs. Although he does not have a true head, his eyes are indicated, and he wears a belt. Equally the deity could be depicted as a figure covered entirely in a conical cover except for the eyes and feet, which are visible. This curious treatment can be understood as an attempt by Egyptian artists to depict an invisible being.

The article examines the main elements of influence and mechanisms of imple- mentation of the global strategy of energy transition and decarbonization of energy and industry in Central Asian countries. Various aspects of the ideological, political and energy impact of the introduction of the green agenda on Central Asian economies and societies are analyzed separately. Various decarbonization mechanisms have been launched in the European Union, which could negatively affect the export and development of energy in the region in the near future. Similar processes are developing in China, which is important for the Central Asian economies. Under these conditions, the republics of post-Soviet Asia are trying to implement some elements of the energy transition program formulated within the framework of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and subsequently developed by the countries of the collective West in their national economic development models. The possibilities and prospects for realizing the stated commitments in the field of green economic policy are being assessed, which means that sustainable economic growth and energy development in the region’s countries are already facing progressive negative trends.