Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences

Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Name	Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Native name	Институт востоковедения АН СССР
Established	1930
Dissolved	1991 (reorganized 1992)
Location	Moscow
Parent institution	USSR Academy of Sciences

Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences

The Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences was a central Soviet research institution for the study of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, affiliated with the USSR Academy of Sciences and based in Moscow. Founded in 1930, the Institute became a major center for philology, history, ethnography, and political analysis related to China, Japan, Korea, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine (region), Israel, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Madagascar, and South Africa studies. Its remit intersected with diplomatic institutions such as the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, the Soviet Union, and cultural organizations including the State Publishing House.

History

Formed from earlier departments in the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Asiatic Museum legacy, the Institute consolidated Oriental scholarship during the interwar period alongside entities like the Leningrad Oriental Institute and regional centers in Tashkent and Baku. During the 1930s purges and the Great Purge, scholars faced repression linked to cases implicating figures like Nikolai Bukharin and policies set by Joseph Stalin. World War II and the Eastern Front (World War II) reshaped priorities, with wartime research informing Soviet policy toward Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and theaters such as the Battle of Moscow and the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation. Postwar expansion paralleled Cold War interactions with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and movements like the Non-Aligned Movement, affecting studies of decolonization in India and Algeria. Reorganization in the late Soviet period reflected reforms by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and culminated in transition after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union to successor bodies within the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Organization and Structure

The Institute comprised area-specific departments covering Sinology, Japanology, Korean Studies, Indology, Iranian Studies, Arab Studies, Turkology, Central Asian Studies, and African Studies, working alongside methodological sections for philology and ethnography that liaised with archives such as the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents and libraries like the Lenin Library. Administrative oversight involved the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and the Institute coordinated with universities including Moscow State University and regional academies in Tashkent State University and Baku State University. It maintained foreign-language reading rooms, language training tied to institutions like the Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU), and exchange arrangements with foreign counterparts such as the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Academy of Sciences of the GDR, and the Academy of Sciences of Vietnam.

Research and Academic Activities

Research spanned linguistic work on Arabic language, Persian language, Hindi language, Bengali language, Tamil language, Telugu language, Urdu language, Kazakh language, Azerbaijani language, Turkmen language, Uzbek language, and Mongolian language; historical studies of dynasties like the Qing dynasty, Ming dynasty, Tokugawa shogunate, Mughal Empire, Safavid dynasty, and Ottoman Empire; and analyses of contemporary politics in states including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The Institute produced cartographic work for regions such as Xinjiang, Tibet, Kashmir, and Kurdistan and strategic assessments used by ministries such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Collaborative projects involved scholars associated with the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute and participating editors in comparative programs with institutions like the Royal Asiatic Society and the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Collections and Archives

The Institute curated manuscript collections including Arabic manuscripts, Persian manuscripts, Ottoman archives, Sanskrit manuscripts, Pali texts, Tibetan manuscripts, and materials on Mongolian script. Its library holdings encompassed periodicals such as Al-Ahram, The Times of India, Die Welt, and Yomiuri Shimbun microfilms, and special collections preserved correspondence related to expeditions like those of Pyotr Kozlov and Sergei Oldenburg. Ethnographic collections contained artifacts from fieldwork in Buryatia, Tuva, Karakalpakstan, and Kyrgyzstan, while photographic archives documented sites including Angkor Wat, Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Potala Palace, and Petra.

Notable Scholars and Directors

Directors and senior scholars associated with the Institute included figures from the Russian and Soviet intelligentsia and specialists connected to institutions such as Mikhail Rostovtsev, Vasily Bartold, Nikolai Marr, Sergei Oldenburg, Yevgeny Bertels, Boris Marshak, Igor M. Diakonov, Vasily Shcheglov, Fyodor Shcherbatskoy, Vasily Vladimirtsov, Vladimir Minorsky, Aleksei I. Kiselev, Boris Grakov, Lev Gumilev, Evgeny K. Levin, Zalman Abramov, and later directors who navigated relations with figures such as Mikhail Gorbachev and institutions like the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Visiting scholars and collaborators included connections to Paul Pelliot, Aurel Stein, Sylvain Lévi, Stanislas Julien, James Legge, Max Müller, Edward Said, Bernard Lewis, Joseph Needham, Georges Dumézil, Arthur Waley, and W. Norman Brown through correspondence, joint projects, and comparative scholarship.

Publications and Journals

The Institute issued monographs, critical editions, and journals that shaped Oriental studies in the Soviet sphere. Key periodicals and series included titles akin to regional journals of the USSR Academy of Sciences, philological bulletins, and annuals that paralleled Western journals such as the Journal of Asian Studies, T'oung Pao, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, and Die Welt des Islams. It produced Russian-language editions of classical texts like the Rigveda, Talmud, Kitab al-Aghani, Haṭhā Yoga Pradīpikā, and translations of works by Mao Zedong, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sun Yat-sen, Ho Chi Minh, and Gamal Abdel Nasser for academic and policy audiences. Publishing collaborations extended to presses in Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, and Beijing.

Legacy and Influence on Oriental Studies

The Institute's legacy persisted after 1991 through successor bodies within the Russian Academy of Sciences, influencing area studies curricula at universities such as Lomonosov Moscow State University and research programs in Saint Petersburg State University and regional centers in Central Asia. Its philological editions, archival catalogs, and field collections continue to support scholarship on Eurasian history, linking to contemporary projects on Silk Road studies, comparative religion (scholars of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism), and international relations involving China–Russia relations, India–Russia relations, Russia–Middle East relations, and post-Soviet dynamics in Central Asia. The Institute shaped generations of specialists whose work engaged with global academic networks including the Association for Asian Studies and the International Association for the Study of the Middle East and Islamic Cultures.

Category:Oriental studies Category:Academy of Sciences (USSR)