ASU hosted the round table on intercultural dialogue and civic identity

On 18 March 2016 in the framework of the ASU Student Associations Development Program the round table on intercultural dialogue and civic identity among young people that was organized by International Affairs Department and Department of Extracurricular and Educational Work. The round table was one of the key events of the II Student Congress of Central Asian Peoples, which was confined to national holiday of Persian and Turkic peoples Nowruz.

The participants included students of Altai State University, I.I. Polzunov Altai State Technical University, Altai State Medical University, Altai State Pedagogical University, Novoaltaysk State Art School and ASU College. ASU lecturers and Altai Krai Administration representatives acted as experts. The participants discussed the problems and future of cooperation between Central Asian countries, general history, modern approach to the history, integration processes, the variety of Central Asian peoples’ cultures and young people’s ways of communication. ASU students from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan spoke on ethnical and cultural peculiarities of Nowruz celebration in their countries.

The main purpose of the meeting was to form the base for intercultural tolerance through showing students special aspects of different cultures and their variety, strengthening communication between students of different nationalities, adapting new international students.

Consultant of the Department of Internal Policy under Altai Krai Administration, secretary of the Committee for Countering Extremism, Candidate of Philosophy Marina M. Gradusova touched upon the problems of fringe groups’ activation, provided examples of fighting against interethnic hostility in Altai Krai. Marina M. Gradusova also told the audience how fringe groups attract students to join them, what legal consequences can occur, what to do, who to address, and how to avoid problems.

Consultant of the Department of Internal Policy under Altai Krai Administration, secretary of the Council for the Issues of State National Policy Realization in Altai Krai, Candidate of Sociology Oksana E. Noyanzina described national and confessional structure of Altai Krai population, migration processes occurring in the world, activities of national and cultural associations (there are around 50 of them in Altai Krai for the present date) and their role in international relations regulation.

Head of the Department of Public Events Organization under the Committee for Work with Citizen’s Requests and Public Associations within Barnaul Administration Alexey N. Klychnikov emphasized the historical traditions of Central Asian countries’ cooperation from the 19th century and dwelled upon historical basis of relations between the former Soviet republics. He concluded that there are more common features than disagreements and problems in the history of our peoples’ relations.

The experts’ reports contained applied data and a lot of interesting factual evidence that supported their opinion.

Faculty of Sociology representatives – Doctor of Sociology, Professor, Head of the Department of Psychology of Communication and Psychotechnics Svetlana G. Maximova and Candidate of Sociology, Assistant Professor Darya A. Omelchenko – devoted their report to the problems of national self-identification. They presented the results of major research, which was conducted among the representatives of different nationalities inhabiting our country.

In the course of reports discussion a lot of questions were asked. The experts talked about the linguistic aspect in the process of national identification and the role of the Russian language in international communication between the peoples of Central Asia.

Report of Head of the Department of Oriental Studies, Candidate of History, Assistant Professor Dmitry A. Glazunov concerned the projects in Central Asian countries integration, such as “The Silk Road” and others. He also talked about the collaboration between SCO countries, especially members of SCO University, where Altai State University is a base higher education establishment.

In the second part of the round table ASU students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan delivered reports on special aspects of Nowruz celebration in Asian countries, congratulated everybody on this holiday and made interesting national performances.