Sergey A. Tokarev as an Expert and his Field Diaries as an Ethnographic Source

10.33876/2311-0546/2024-4/94-116

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the most fascinating “episodes” in the scientific life of Sergey A. Tokarev, namely his work as an expert member of the International Commission for the Establishment of New Postwar Frontiers. This was the case when ethnographers' knowledge was in demand not only at the state level but also at the international one. In the 40s and 50s of the last century, one of the most pressing issues of international politics was the question of the statehood of Julijska Krajina (Croatian and Slovene; Engl. The Julian March) or Venezia Giulia (Italian; Engl. Julian Venetia). Trieste is a city and a region, which is a paradigmatic case for all historians and politicians dealing with borders and minorities. The so-called “Trieste model” is often recalled when dealing with the problem of disputed territories. Today, this historic territory is divided between three states: Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. But such a division took a long time to be established, in which different players participated. The fate of the region was decided in several stages. The main criterion for drawing the border after World War II was the ethnic composition of the population in the disputed territories. The USSR played an important role in making the decision. Sergey A. Tokarev, a prominent Russian ethnographer, was a member of the commission that drew the borders. During his foreign trips in 1946–1947, S. A. Tokarev kept diaries in which he recorded daily everything that happened to him during the day, his observations during meetings and trips to Istria and northeast Italy. The diary is written in such detail that it is a living sketch of the life in the area studied by the Commission, which conveys the difficult atmosphere of those years. That is why the diary is of interest not only to scholars but also to a wide range of readers. After returning home, S. A. Tokarev began to prepare for publication an ethnographic work based on the materials of his diary, but he did not have time to complete this work. Only recently, for the last anniversary of Sergey Aleksandrovich, thanks to the initiative of his daughter, Evgenia Sergeevna, these diaries were published.