Cultural Dynamics of the South of Russia: Formation and Development of Regional Complexes (17th – Early 21st Centuries)
Authors: С.Я. Сущий, 
Published: January 2023

В статье проанализирована историческая динамика культуры на Юге России, процесс ее эволюции в различных социотерриториальных общностях макрорегиона от спорадически-очаговых проявлений к устойчивой масштабной практике, со временем институционально и структурно оформившейся в ряд региональных комплексов, располагающих значительными профессиональными кадрами, развитой инфраструктурой, широкой социальной средой распространения и потребления. Анализ основан на результатах исторических, культурологических, искусствоведческих исследований и данных статистики. В процессе формирования данных комплексов выделено несколько этапов, различающихся по уровню развития региональных творческих сообществ и социокультурной инфраструктуры, интенсивности и широте общественной потребности в продуктах культурного процесса. Установлено, что южнороссийские культурные комплексы эволюционировали от провинциализма к самобытному регионализму, позволившему им в ХХ в. занять заметное место в российской социокультурной системе.

The article analyzes the features of the historical dynamics of culture in the South of Russia and fixes the specifics of the formation of its regional complexes. As sources, studies of historians, culturologists, art historians, as well as statistical materials reflecting the sociocultural indicators of the studied regions were used. The methodology provides for the study of the formation of cultural complexes in direct relationship with the political, administrative and socioeconomic development of each of the southern Russian territorial communities. At the same time, its own internal algorithm of the dynamics of the local cultural process is also taken into account. There are several stages in the development of regional cultural complexes in the South of Russia. The “initial” (1) stage coincides with the period of inclusion of territories into the empire, when local societies have practically no layer of professional cultural figures and its infrastructure, and the public need for its products is minimal. The “organizational-infrastructural” (2) stage is associated with the emergence in the southern regions of local stable groups of representatives of creative professions, the formation of public education, the organization of the first institutions of cultural infrastructure; gradual activation of cultural life. The “reproductive” (3) stage of cultural dynamics in most regions of the South of Russia coincides with the post-reform decades and is characterized by an increase in the number of professional cultural figures, diversification of cultural infrastructure, and a significant expansion of the social environment for the distribution and consumption of cultural products. At the same time, South Russian culture was only groping for its own original creative beginning. The 1930s–1980s are the “sociocultural complex” (4) stage in the cultural dynamics of the South of Russia, during which culture becomes one of the leading elements of the social life of the macroregion. The increased personnel potential of culture contributes to the growth of creative productivity, the transition from provincialism to original regionalism. At the end of the twentieth century, the “transformational” (5) stage begins in the development of South Russian culture. It is associated with the reforms of the state and society, the crisis of the 1990s, and subsequent socioeconomic stabilization. Thus, local cultural life has evolved from sporadically focal manifestations to a stable large-scale practice, which over time institutionally and structurally took shape in a number of regional cultural complexes.