On April 4-6, 2006, St. Petersburg State University hosted an international scientific conference dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg. State Institution " Oriental and African Studies at the universities of St. Petersburg, Russia, and Europe. Actual problems and prospects". The conference was attended by 311 scientists from Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Germany, Georgia, Egypt, Israel, Indonesia, Iraq, Spain, Italy, Yemen, Kazakhstan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, the United States, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Finland, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, Ethiopia. Some of them (about 30 people in total) they were unable to attend and sent only the abstracts of their reports. Others, on the contrary, did not have time to prepare their abstracts, but found time to speak personally at the conference.

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The conference organizing committee headed by the rector of St. Petersburg State University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Education L. A. Verbitskaya and her deputies - the Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies E. I. Zelenev and the head of the Department of History of the Middle East N. N. Dyakov-did a lot of preparatory work. Invitations were sent out to universities in Russia, the CIS and abroad, abstracts were published in different languages (in a collection with a total volume of over 22 printed pages), 11 sections of the conference were organized and many participants (not only speakers) who came both from abroad and from many Russian cities-Moscow - were accommodated Astrakhan, Barnaul, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Krasnodar, Kyzyl, Makhachkala, Novosibirsk, Petrozavodsk, Ulan-Ude, Ussuriysk, Chita, Elista, Yaroslavl.

The conference opened with a plenary session in the assembly hall of St. Petersburg State University in the famous building of 12 colleges on the Universitetskaya embankment of Vasilyevsky Island. After reading out official greetings, including those from Moscow State University, Kazan State University, and the Oriental University at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (which donated to the Faculty of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg State University recently published textbooks on the history of Arab countries and Southeast Asia), seven reports were heard.

V. M. Alpatov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Oriental Languages of the Russian Academy of Sciences, congratulated the Oriental Faculty on its anniversary and spoke about the history of Oriental linguistics in Russia and the USSR, emphasizing that the practical study of a number of Oriental languages began in our country in the XVIII century, first in St. Petersburg, then in Kharkov and Kazan, and later in Moscow. Focusing on the combination of practical Oriental studies and general linguistics, the speaker used data from Mongolian studies, Indology, and Japanese studies, and also touched upon the negative role of N. Y. Marr's "new teaching on language", which, according to V. M. Alpatov, was hindered by "insufficient linguistic training" and the fact that "he began to publish his own works". beyond science." Academician M. N. Bogolyubov (St. Petersburg) GU) he dedicated his speech to the ancient Iranian thinker Zarathustra. A philosopher and religious reformer, a teacher of faith and a preacher, a poet and hymnist who lived in the 2nd millennium BC, Zarathustra, who proclaimed monotheism to his fellow tribesmen, paid great attention to the concept of the soul. "Among us," said Zarathustra, " neither thoughts, nor concepts, nor minds, nor oaths, nor words, nor deeds, nor beliefs, nor souls agree." According to the speaker, the mention of "soul" at the end of the list emphasized its dominant position. R. M. Valeev (Kaz. GU) spoke about the University of Oriental Studies in Kazan in the XIX-XX centuries, which occupies an important place in Russian and world orientalism. The works of Kazan Orientalists of that time still represent the most valuable sources of scientific research, and the category of Oriental literature of the University in Kazan marked the beginning of systematic and comprehensive higher Oriental education in Russia. M. N. Pak (MSU) spoke about the results and tasks of the International Center for Korean Studies of the Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. The Center was established at the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University in March 1991 for a broader and more in-depth study of Korea, training highly qualified Korean specialists and strengthening scientific and cultural ties between the peoples of Russia and Korea, as well as to help solve the problems of national and cultural revival of Russian Koreans. To date, the center has published more than 30 books, including a Russian translation of the Samguk Saga (Historical Records of the Three States). Kim Busika (XII century) in three volumes.

A. B. Davidson (Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) devoted his report to the topic "Afro-Asianism in the XXI century". Based on the data on the rapid demographic growth of the population of Asia and Africa and the equally rapid numerical expansion of Afro-Asian diasporas in Europe and America, he formulated the main idea of the report as follows: will not Europeans and Americans in the XXI century become Afro-Asians both ethnically and obviously (this conclusion suggests itself), in socio-cultural terms? Partial answer (or rather semi-answer) This question was answered in the report of Holger Daun (Stockholm University) "Globalization and competition against moral education". It said that Islam (i.e., the religion of almost one and a half billion Afro-Asians) is both a "victim of globalization" and a" globalizer " in its essence. And being prone to expansion (as well as "some types of Protestantism", according to X. Down) and the absolutization of its values, but at the same time, it cannot but experience in the course of globalization as such the influence of neoliberal views, the desire for rationality, competition, individualism, and consumer values.

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ideals. At the same time, competitive personalities are clearly formed due to the loss of moral values. But many Muslims, including those living in Europe and North America, do not want this.

R. G. Landa's report "Political Islam: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow"was devoted to another aspect of the same problem. In it, political Islam (Islamism) is characterized as a certain stage of the socio-political development of the world of Islam, which followed pan-Islamism of the XIX century and nationalism of the first half of the XX century. Considering it as a result of the "Islamic boom" born of the 1978-1979 revolution in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the speaker pointed out its main causes-the progressive poverty of the majority of Muslims, the growing aggravation of socio-economic and other contradictions in the world of Islam, the growing gap between its elite and the masses of the people, and also-between the world of Islam as a whole and the developed countries of the West under the influence of various deformations introduced into the Muslim environment by the processes of globalization. The report distinguishes between radical Islamism that reaches the level of terrorism and its moderate version, which is supported by the majority of Muslims and with which a compromise is possible. Attention is drawn to the need for a political, rather than a military solution to the problem, which will only accelerate the already outlined transformation of Islamism into a global enemy of the West, including in ideological terms.

Further, the conference was divided into sections.

The first section (headed by Academician I. M. Steblin - Kamensky) considered the history and current problems of Oriental studies. Among the 24 reports presented, attention was drawn to "Finnish students of Oriental studies in St. Petersburg in 1833-1870" by K. Y. Karttunen (Helsinki University), "Sinology in Germany" by L. Mehthild (Free University of Berlin), "Formation of Sinology at Kazan University in the XIX century" by R. Ya. Ziangirov (Kaz. GU), "The role of the Leningrad School of Oriental Studies in the formation of Uzbek Indology" by A. N. Shamatov and N. D. Kim (Tash. GIV). N. A. Samoilov (St. Petersburg State University) spoke about the study of socio-cultural interaction between Russia and China in the light of new requirements and paradigms of the XXI century. Georgian historian P. A. Surguladze spoke about the role of Ivane Javakhishvili, an outstanding scientist and public figure of Georgia, in the life and work of the Eastern Faculty of St. Petersburg University, where Javakhishvili graduated from the Armenian-Georgian department in 1899. Later, he became a lecturer and privatdozent of the faculty, where he worked until 1916, publishing a number of scientific papers and organizing a circle of Georgian scientists, who later became the core of the founders of Tbilisi University. The report of N. I. Kirey (Kuban State University, Krasnodar) on the work of Kerope Patkanov (1833-1889), a native of the Gypsies, who became a professor at St. Petersburg University and made a huge contribution to the study of the history and ethnogenesis of various groups of Gypsies, especially Transcaucasian and Central Asian ones, was also interesting. A page from the biography of Alexander Kazem-Bek, a famous orientalist of Caucasian origin and professor of St. Petersburg University, presented by the St. Petersburg researcher R. S. Sharafutdinova, is also interesting. In the autumn of 1859, he met with Imam Shamil, who had arrived in the northern capital on his way to Kaluga, and talked with him about Arabic manuscripts, Muslim theology, and jurisprudence.

The second section discussed issues of philology (headed by A. K. Ogloblin and O. I. Redkin). More than 50 reports were presented here, i.e. more than in other sections. Of course, it is difficult for the author of this review to judge, without being a philologist, the level of work in this section. But, as far as we can judge from what we heard and from the published materials, the reports of B. S. Avezova (Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation)were interesting "Comparative typology of phraseological units of Hindi and Tajik languages", E. A. Baklanova (ISAA MSU) "Types of loanwords in Tagalog", V. TS Golovachev (IB RAS) "Milestones of language policy in Taiwan", U.-Zh. Sh. Dondukova (Ulan-Ude) "On the prospects of the formation of the common Mongolian written language" E. G. Kaitukova (MSLU) "Economic terminology in the Turkish language", M. S. Salikhova (Spb.GU) "Development of the vocabulary of the modern Persian language". Of the seven reports of Arabic philologists, the most interesting ones were: A. G. Belova (Institute of Philology of the Russian Academy of Sciences) "Preparation of an etymological dictionary of the Arabic language", O. I. Redkina (St. Petersburg State University) " Will the West Speak Arabic?", Yafia Yusif Dzhemal (St. Petersburg State University). GU) "Proverbs and sayings in the Baghdad dialect". Many of the reports presented in this section were devoted to the issues of phonetics, phonology and phonology.-

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in the field of computer science, grammatical morphology, and the use of computer technology in linguistic research and language teaching.

The third section - "Literature of Asia and Africa" - (heads - M. S. Pelevin, N. A. Speshnev, A. G. Storozhuk) was presented with 29 reports. Among them, the research of F. I. Abdullayeva (Oxford University, Great Britain) about a unique manuscript from the collection of St. Petersburg University, containing the Turkic version of the famous poem "Shah-nam" by Firdousi, E. M. Fein (St. Petersburg State University) about the manuscript collection of the Eastern Department of the St. Petersburg Library, is certainly noteworthy.GU and especially about the manuscript " Ruznamayi Safari Pitirburg "("Journey to Petersburg"), which is a diary of the" redemptive embassy " sent from Iran with apologies for the murder of A. S. Griboyedov. Also interesting are the reports of L. Haloupkova (Prague) on the works of Uratsky Mergengegen and A. Samart (University of Porto in Portugal) on the intercultural dialogue between Portuguese and Indians in the XIX-XX centuries. We should also mention the reports of I. L. Lebedinsky (Ukraine) on the works of the Palestinian Mayor of Nazareth, Tawfiq Zayyad, one of the greatest poets of the modern Arab East, M. N. Suvorov (St. Petersburg State University) on the modern prose of Yemen, and A. G. Storozhuk (St. Petersburg State University).GU) on the synthesis of the" three teachings " (Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism) in Tang prose in China in the seventh and tenth centuries.

Special mention should be made of a talk by Federico Corriente of Cordoba (University of Zaragoza in Spain) on Arabic and Romance dialect poetry in the country of Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). A gifted philologist who speaks many languages, one of the best Arabists of modern Spain, F. Corriente, presented his theses in English, delivered the speech itself in Russian, while emphasizing that he was doing this specifically in order to interest Russian-speaking researchers, among whom, according to him, the topic of the origin and nature of Al-Andalus poetry in the Middle East. Nowadays, few people were interested, with the exception of the Leningrad literary critic V. P. Grigoriev and the Moscow scholar of Al-Andalus literature, academician A. B. Kudelin.¹ In general, it seems that Corriente's report, which in some ways continued the long-standing controversy among Spanish (and not only) experts in Al-Andalus about the "mixing" or "non-mixing" of Arabic and Roman elements in Al-Andalus poetry, at the same time goes beyond the narrowly literary framework, returning to the never-before-published version of the book. the resulting dispute between the supporters of the" Latinism "of the Al-Andalus civilization, led by Claudio Sanchez-Albornoz, and the adherents of its" cultural-confessional " (Islam-Christian-Jewish) pluralism, led by Americo Castro.

The fourth section (headed by E. I. Zelenev, N. N. Dyakov, A.V. Filippov) discussed problems of history and historiography of Asian and African countries. Abstracts of 36 reports were submitted, but not all were read out due to the lack of authors, mainly from the Netherlands, the USA and Turkey. The topics of the presentations were quite diverse: N. Ch. Akhundova (Baku State University) "Stages of the Turkic rise in the Caliphate", N. E. Vasilyeva (St. Petersburg.State University) "Sasanian Military Theory", A. O. Zakharov (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) "Polities of Central and Eastern Java in the VIII century", O. A. Vodneva (St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) "Main sources on the customary law of Pashtun tribes", G. D. Daushvili " On the analysis of anthropological inaccuracy in Marco Polo's report on the Hindu Kush people pashai", Z. A. Dzhandosova (SPb.GU) "Early stages of the formation of the state border of Afghanistan", D. R. Zhantiev (ISAA at Moscow State University) "Abul-Huda al-Sayadi and Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani", M. A. Rodionov (MAE RAS) "South Arabia: cultural past in the oral and written tradition", N. Ergemlidze (University of Tbilisi) "Sign system of Sacred Scripture", O. B. Frolova, I. V. Gerasimov (St. Petersburg.GU) "Ideas about the harmony of man and the universe in medieval Middle Eastern cosmographies".

Special interest was aroused by the report of the absent G. M. Gluskina (Israel), read by O. B. Frolova, on new materials for the biography of the Andalusian poet and philosopher Yehuda Alkharizi, who emigrated to the Middle East in the 13th century. Originally from Toledo, he wrote in Arabic and Hebrew, but spoke Arabic "with a typical Maghreb accent", which once again testifies to the cultural and linguistic unity of the Maghreb and Al-Andalus of the XII-XIII centuries.-

¹ F. Corriente, who was quite familiar with Russian Arabic studies, obviously had in mind the article by V. P. Grigoriev "Notes on the most ancient lyrical poetry on the Iberian Peninsula" [Vestnik LSU, 1965. Issue 2. N 8. pp. 86-96] and the section "Arabic-Spanish stanzas as a" mixed poetic system"in the monograph: [Kudelin A. B. Arab literature. Poetics, stylistics, typology, interrelations. Moscow, 2003. pp. 255-292].

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Sidi Abu Madyan Shuaib al-Maghribi al-Andalusi (1126-1198), who became famous as a luminary of Sufism in the Arab West, lived close to Alkharizi: a native of Muslim Seville, he preached all his life in the Maghreb and is buried in Tlemcen, whose patron saint is considered to this day. The manuscript of his "Penitential Poem" ("Al-Qasida al-istiq-fariya"), found in the collection of the Escorial in Spain, was introduced to the section by N. I. Dyakov (St. Petersburg State University), who gave a detailed description, description and analysis of this work, as well as its place in the work of Abu Madyan and in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. the heritage of Maghreb Sufism. I would also like to mention the report of A. S. Matveev (Spb.GU) "The Middle East during the First Crusade: Fatimids, Seljuks and Crusaders in the struggle for Jerusalem". It proves that it was not the confrontation between Christianity and Islam that was the main driving force of events in the Middle East of the XI century, but the half-century rivalry between Sunni Seljuks and Shiites Fatimids, during which the latter tried to use newcomers from the West against the Seljuks as the main competitors, but were "outplayed" by the Crusaders, who successfully took advantage of the struggle among Muslims.

The fifth section (headed by S. O. Kurbanov) was devoted to the Korean language and literature. She reviewed 26 reports, 3 of which were made up of memoirs about the life and work of A. A. Kholodovich. The remaining reports dealt with various issues of Korean linguistics, grammar, poetry, and mythology.

At the sixth section (headed by S.E. Grigoriev and V. G. Erman), 25 speakers addressed various problems of religion and social life in Asia and Africa. The subject matter of the reports was very wide, covering both the Yezidi shrines in Armenia and Georgia (H. R. Omarkhali) and the situation of the Shiites of Kabul (S. E. Grigoriev, St. Petersburg.GU), and muallaki, i.e. famous works of pre-Islamic poetry of the Arabs, as a source of representations of the Koran about the soul (P. Y. Neshitov, St. Petersburg.State University), and the current religious situation in Vietnam (O. V. Novikova, ISAA at Moscow State University). But the topic of Islam prevailed, which, in one way or another, was covered by 10 reports. Among them, we should mention the research of I. L. Alekseev and G. A. Khizrieva (RSUH) on the teachings of the Chechen Sufi Kunta-Haji ² and the report of M. V. Nekhorosheva (St. Petersburg State University) on the role of the personality of Khwaja Akhrar (1404-1490), an influential politician and religious figure in the Timurid state, in reforming the practice and growing socio - economic ties.political influence of the Naqshbandiyya Sufi brotherhood.

The Islamic theme was also present in the seventh section " Politics, Economics and Law in Modern Asia and Africa "(headed by S. M. Ivanov and V. N. Kolotov), where four reports (out of 23) dealt with the relationship between Islam and globalism, the policy of the Russian Empire in Muslim regions, and the problems of terrorism in modern Islamic thought and re-Islamization of various ethnic groups in Central Asia. However, the section focused on the reports of Abdulsamad Abdullah Ahmed Mohamed (Yemen) "The current domestic political situation in Yemen", A. A. Breslavets (VSUES IMO) "The concept of open regionalism as a political and diplomatic tool for regional stability and security in the East Asian community", reports by V. N. Kolotov (St. Petersburg State University), A. A. Smirnova (MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation), M. A. Syunnerberg (ISAA) about Vietnam, as well as B. G. Doronin (St. Petersburg State University), Yu. A. Kalinina (Barnaul State Pedagogical University), A. A. Kovalev and V. M. Mazyrin (ISAA at Moscow State University) about China. S. M. Ivanov (St. Petersburg) shared his interpretation of Max Weber's concept of the economic history of the East. GU). The following thesis deserves special attention: "M. Weber was, apparently, one of the first European scientists who drew attention to the fact that the European technogenic civilization cannot exist without economic expansion to other regions of the world, without the introduction of Western economic culture, the corresponding system of values, technologies and capitalist organization production facilities". N. A. Neflyasheva's report "The Adyghe Diaspora in the Middle East: Ways to build social ties"is also interesting, especially in the light of recent events in the North Caucasus.

² The authors of the report call Kunta-Hadji a " Vainakh preacher "and a" Chechen", while he was a Kumyk by origin, although he spent his entire adult life among the Vainakhs. They, especially Chechens, formed the bulk of his followers. But Kunta-Haji wrote his letters in Arabic and Nogai. about him: Ibragimova Z. Kh. Kunta-Hadji / / Voprosy istorii. 2005. N 12. Pp. 127-134); Bennigsen Broxup M. The North Caucasus Barrier. N.Y., 1992. P. 118; Dunlop J.B. Russia Confronts Chechnya. Cambridge, 1998. P. 31 - 82].

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The eighth section was organized jointly by the Eastern Faculty of St. Petersburg. The second international scientific conference "Russia and the Turkic World" (organized by V. G. Guzev, Yu.A. Petrosyan, and G. Z. Pumpyan) was organized by the State University and the Library of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. 40 reports were presented on the history and study of the Turkic peoples in Russia and Western Europe, Turkic philology, economic, cultural and human relations of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Central Asia with Russia and Georgia. A number of reports related to library, archive and museum collections, scientific relations between Turkey and the Turkic states of the CIS. The report of Fehmi Yilmaz (Marmara University, Turkey) on the need to review the history of Russian-Ottoman relations of the XVIII-XIX centuries in the direction of greater objectivity is noteworthy. based on the analysis of about 3 thousand documents of the Ottoman Archive in Istanbul; joint report of Akhmed Nakhmedov and Hayati Iilmaz (Mugla University, Turkey) on Russian loanwords in the dialect of the north-eastern regions of Turkey, reports of T. N. Vinogradova (St. Petersburg.Russian Academy of Sciences) on the influence of the campaign to romanize the written language of the Turkic-speaking peoples of the USSR on the graphic arts reforms of other peoples and her colleague B. S. Zadvaeva on the Turkic-speaking ethnic groups of Northwestern Mongolia. Against the background of many reports on ethnography, cartography, missions of diplomats, descriptions of manuscripts, T. N. Lebedinskaya (Ukraine) about Roxalan-Khurram, that is, the Ukrainian Nastya Lisovskaya, who was captured by the Ottomans and later became a powerful sultana, the beloved wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, I. A. Makarova (St. Petersburg State University) about the problems of modernization of modern Turkey, E. N. Timoshenko (St. Petersburg State University) on the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 in the Caucasus. The report of A. M. Farzaliyev (St. Petersburg State University) "Azerbaijani studies and teachers at the Eastern Faculty of St. Petersburg State University"is also noteworthy.

At the ninth section " Africa: Societies, Cultures, Languages. Scientific readings in memory of D. A. Olderogge " (heads-N. A. Dobronravii, A. Y. Zheltov, A. S. Zdanevich) 43 reports were presented. 25 of them are devoted to the problems of language, literature, epigraphy and fine arts, including the tradition of Koran correspondence by African Muslims. Approximately nine reports dealt with D. A. Olderogge's personal contribution to ethnology and socioanthropology and general problems of African studies. Nine participants also devoted their speeches to historical topics, among which I would like to mention K. V. Vinogradov (Kuban State University) "From the history of religious contacts between Russia and Ethiopia", A. V. Voevodsky (RSUH) " Africans in the colonial system of Natal (1845-1906)", N. A. Dobronravin (St. Petersburg State University)"The Sufi Bible in West Africa".

The tenth and eleventh sections were devoted to scientific readings dedicated to outstanding Sinologists Acad. V. M. Alekseev and G. V. Efimov. B. N. Melnichenko (St. Petersburg State University), N. V. Burlakov (Petrozavodsk State University), B. G. Doronin (St. Petersburg State University) and others paid tribute to the life and work of G. V. Yefimov, his activities as the head of the Department, organizer of historiographical conferences, researcher of the famous reforms of Kang Yuwei and the new history of China in general. E. A. Serebryakov, G. Ya. Smolin and other representatives of St. Petersburg State University, and not only Sinologists, spoke about V. A. Alekseev. For example, A. A. Dolinina, a specialist in Arabic literature and former student of the founder of Russian Arabic studies, Academician I. Y. Krachkovsky, devoted her speech to the relationship between V. A. Alekseev and I. Y. Krachkovsky. O. B. Kaganovich told about Alekseyev's relations with Academician S. F. Oldenburg, and S. M. Anikeyeva (Publishing House "Oriental Literature" of the Russian Academy of Sciences) told about Alekseyev's translations of masterpieces of Chinese classical prose.

At the final plenary session of the conference, the results of the work of the sections were summed up and four more reports were heard. Acad. B.C. Myasnikov (Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences) spoke about the interaction of St. Petersburg and Moscow Orientalists, and in particular about his correspondence in 1957-1959 with the famous Leningrad Sinologist P. E. Skachkov and joint work with him. S. A. Kirillina (ISAA), who has long studied the notes of Russian pilgrims to the Holy Land, described them as an important group of sources on history Ottoman Empire of the XVI-XVIII centuries, which describe much that lies beyond the borders of the textbook pilgrimage interests. Along with data on the geography, nature, trade, economy, agriculture, and political life of the Arab lands subject to the Ottomans, they contain unique information about religious cults, customs and customs, the moral qualities and mentality of local residents, and attractions both related and unrelated to the history of Christianity. Based on their vivid personal impressions and concrete observations, the pilgrims, despite their inherent religious and moral pathos, inevitably came into conflict with many stereotypes, especially ethno-

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in their eyes and in the eyes of their readers, the East gradually became attractive in itself, and not only as the cradle of Christianity.

A.D. Savateev (Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in his report "Civilization: reality and meanings of the concept" focused on attempts to deny African peoples the right to civilization. In his opinion, civilization arises as a result of the formation of a universal socio-cultural connection between people and groups of individuals. This connection organizes social structures that function for a long time in a large-scale space. The form of such universality can be both economic and interpersonal ties mediated by universalizing spiritual factors of religious and socio-cultural origin. As a rule, civilization is based on a great religious idea (the absolute), which plays the role of spiritual bonds, although for all the enormous semantic complexity of civilization, it has a wide margin of internal variability.

Of course, this is one of the possible (and many) definitions of civilization. If only because many scientists (including those who oppose "civilizational" and "formational" approaches to the reality of the East) often exclude economics and social structures from the concept of civilization, putting spiritual and other purely superstructural structures in the foreground. However, in his last speech at the conference, E. M. Zelenev drew attention to the specifics and diversity of civilizational processes in the Afro-Asian area. These processes take place in different ways and at different times in different countries and regions of Asia and Africa, being formed under the influence of far from identical, as a rule, nationally and confessionally peculiar phenomena that bear the stamp of historical, geopolitical and regional uniqueness. At the same time, in our time of globalization of world economic and intercultural relations, the civilizational factor is not always decisive, often retreating (even temporarily) before external influence and pressure of political, military-strategic, financial and economic expediency.

In general, the International Forum of Orientalists and Africanists in St. Petersburg was interesting primarily from a scientific point of view, allowing more than 280 scientists from 32 countries to communicate for three days, get valuable professional information, discuss or clarify controversial and unclear issues. The Forum helped to establish and strengthen scientific contacts, strengthen the mutual interest of scientists in the work of colleagues. It has certainly played a positive role in strengthening international relations. It is enough to point out the support of Samsung Corporation and the Consulates General of Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Sri Lanka in St. Petersburg for the forum. For Russian Orientalists and Africanists, the forum has become an important stage in restoring ties and mutually enriching interaction with their colleagues both in the East and in the West.

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