Afanasiy Prokopievich Shchapov (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Афанасий Прокофьевич Щапов) (5 October .S. 17 October1830 – February 27 N.S.10 March1876) was a Russian historian accused of " Siberian nationalism" and persecuted by tsarist authorities.

Life

Afanasiy Shchapov was born in the village of Anga some 210 miles from

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

, into a family of a Russian sexton and Buryat peasant woman. Educated in

, he moved to

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

and became a student at Kazan Theological Academy (1852–1856). Upon receiving his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

, Shchapov began to deliver lectures on Russian history at his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

(1856–1860) and later at

Kazan University Kazan Federal University (; ) is a public research university located in Kazan, Russia. The university was founded in 1804 as Imperial Kazan University, which makes it the second oldest continuously existing tertiary education institution in Rus ...

(1860–1861). He also studied the

Solovetsky Monastery The Solovetsky Monastery (, ) is a fortified monastery located on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea in northern Russia. It was one of the largest Christian citadels in northern Russia before it was converted into a Soviet Union, Soviet pris ...

library, which had been evacuated during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

to Kazan. Fascinated with the Solovetsky Uprising, Shchapov started writing articles about the

Raskol The Schism of the Russian Church, also known as (, , meaning 'split' or 'schism'), was the splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church into an official church and the Old Believers movement in the 1600s. It was triggered by the reforms of Patria ...

and

Old Believers Old Believers or Old Ritualists ( Russian: староверы, ''starovery'' or старообрядцы, ''staroobryadtsy'') is the common term for several religious groups, which maintain the old liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian ...

. On April 16, 1861, he delivered a revolutionary speech dedicated to the victims of the Bezdna Unrest, after which he was arrested and escorted to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. After the investigation, Shchapov was dismissed as a teacher and appointed to the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

as an official in charge of the

sectarian Sectarianism is a debated concept. Some scholars and journalists define it as pre-existing fixed communal categories in society, and use it to explain political, cultural, or religious conflicts between groups. Others conceive of sectarianism a ...

affairs. In 1862, he was discharged and placed under police surveillance. Afanasiy Shchapov was a contributor for many Russian

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

s, such as ''Отечественные записки'' (Notes on Fatherland), ''Русское слово'' (Russian Word), ''Время'' (Time), ''Век'' (Century), and others. In 1864, he was

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

d to his native village and then Irkutsk on suspicion of his connections with Alexander Hertzen and

Nikolai Ogarev Nikolay Platonovich Ogarev (Ogaryov; ; – ) was a Russian poet, historian and activism, political activist. He was deeply critical of the limitations of the Emancipation reform of 1861, claiming that the serfs were not set free, but had simply ...

. In the summer of 1865, Shchapov was arrested in connection with the so-called Siberian oblastniks affair. After his release, he worked in a number of magazines, including ''Дело'' (Cause), ''Записки Сибирского отдела РГО'' (Notes of the Siberian Department of the Russian Geographic Society), and others. In 1866, Shchapov took part in an expedition to the

Turukhansk Turukhansk () is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and the administrative center of Turukhansky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located north of Krasnoyarsk, at the confluence of the Yenisey and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. Until 1924, the t ...

regions as an

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

, organized by the Siberian Department of the Russian Geographic Society. Afanasiy Shchapov died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

in 1876.

Ideas

Afanasiy Shchapov authored many works on the history of

sectarianism Sectarianism is a debated concept. Some scholars and journalists define it as pre-existing fixed communal categories in society, and use it to explain political, cultural, or Religious violence, religious conflicts between groups. Others conceiv ...

and

, which he viewed as a manifestation of popular protest against social oppression. In 1856-1864, influenced by Grigory Yeliseyev and Stepan Yeshevsky, he came forward as a supporter of the so-called "

zemstvo A zemstvo (, , , ''zemstva'') was an institution of local government set up in consequence of the emancipation reform of 1861 of Imperial Russia by Emperor Alexander II of Russia. Nikolay Milyutin elaborated the idea of the zemstvo, and the fi ...

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

theory" (земско-областническая теория), viewing Russian history as an interaction process between certain "oblasts". Shchapov's focus on

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

as two principal agencies in history is thought to have heralded the next generation of Russian historians, as represented by

Vasily Klyuchevsky Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky (; – ) was a leading Russian Empire, Russian Imperial historian of the late imperial period. He also addressed the contemporary Russian economy in his writings. Biography A village priest's son, Klyuchevsky studi ...

Paul Vinogradoff Sir Paul Gavrilovitch Vinogradoff (; – 19 December 1925) was a Russian and British historian and medievalist. He was a leading thinker in the development of historical jurisprudence and legal history as disciplines. Early life Vinogradoff ...

, and

Michael Rostovtzeff Mikhail Ivanovich Rostovtzeff, or Rostovtsev (; – October 20, 1952), was a Russian historian whose career straddled the 19th and 20th centuries and who produced important works on ancient Roman and Greek history. He served as president of t ...

. Since geographical conditions of various Russian lands differed enormously, Shchapov scorned the possibility of writing a general history of Russia. He held that Sibiryaks were ethnically distinct from the rest of Russian nation, as their character was shaped by rugged nature of inhospitable land they lived in and by the adventurous and enterprising spirit of the Old Believers who had been the original settlers of Siberia.

References

Bibliography

External links

Shchapov Society in Irkutsk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shchapov, Afanasy 1830 births 1876 deaths People from Irkutsk Governorate Russian people of Buryat descent 19th-century historians from the Russian Empire Anthropologists from the Russian Empire Ethnologists from the Russian Empire 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis History of Siberia Siberian nationalism Tuberculosis deaths in the Russian Empire

Life

Ideas

See also

References

Bibliography

External links