Mikhail Vasilyevich Kryukov (; 12 July 1932 – 19 June 2024) was a Russian anthropologist and historian.

Biography

Born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Kryukov attended

Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies (, abbreviated МИВ (''MIV'')) was a university-level educational institution that operated in Moscow, Russia, from 1920–1954. It was created as a result of merging Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languag ...

, where he received a B.A. in 1954. He earned an M.A. in 1955 from

Moscow Institute of International Relations Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (, also known as MGIMO University) is an institute of higher education located in Moscow, Russia. The institute is run by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. MGIMO offers educat ...

, and from the

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

in 1962. He earned a Ph.D. degree in 1965 from the USSR Academy of Sciences. Beginning in 1965, he was Senior Research Fellow of the

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology The Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography or N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (; abbreviated as ИЭА in Russian and IEA in English) is a Russian institute of research, specializing in ethnographic studies of cultu ...

of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

. Kryukov’s major contributions to

cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term ...

belong to two fields: (1) studies of the

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

of kinship terminology and (2) the study of long-term dynamics of the Chinese ethnos. Kryukov undertook the study of the dynamics of

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

terminology among Eurasian

ethnic groups An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, rel ...

having deep historical traditions of written records. However, though he seems to consider his results as having universal applicability, they appear to be most applicable to the evolution of kinship terminology in

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

and among the Austronesians. He had shown that among those peoples bifurcate merging systems tended to get transformed either into bifurcate collateral, or generational ones. On the other hand, the lineal kinship terminology developed either from bifurcate collateral ones (this development is most typical for Eurasia), or from generational systems. Note that these are not mere speculations, as Kryukov supported his conclusions with a wealth of diachronic data. Being a sinologist he paid special attention to the evolution of kinship terminology among the Chinese, thoroughly documenting the transition from the bifurcate merging to bifurcate collateral kinship terminology among them in the first millennium BC and its further development up to the present. Kryukov wrote over 15 books and 250 articles dealing with his research interests. These include (1968) ''Historical Interpretation of Kinship Terminology''. Moscow: Institute of Ethnography, USSR Academy of Sciences, (1972) ''Chinese Kinship System''. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian), and (1978–1993) a series of monographs (6 vols.) on historical dynamics of the Chinese ethnos from the 2nd millennium BC to the 20th century (Moscow: Nauka; in Russian). Kryukov died on 19 June 2024, at the age of 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kryukov, Mikhail 1932 births 2024 deaths Russian anthropologists 20th-century Russian historians Russian sinologists Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies alumni Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie editors Scientists from Moscow