Dmitri Bondarenko
Encyclopedia
Dmitri Bondarenko born 1968 in Moscow
, is a Russia
n anthropologist, historian, and africanist. He has conducted field research in a number of African countries (particularly, Tanzania
, Nigeria
, Benin
, Rwanda
, Zambia
) and in Russia
. He is Vice-Director for Research of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Full Professor with the Center of Social Anthropology of the Russian State University for the Humanities. Dmitri Bondarenko is also a co-founder and co-editor of "Social Evolution & History".
, Department of Ethnography, School of History. He completed his Ph.D. in 1993 at Russian Academy of Sciences
. He also holds Doctor of Sciences degree (2000) from the Russian Academy of Sciences
.
, pre-industrial societies, intercultural interaction in contemporary world (including ethnic, racial, and religious aspects), culture and history of Africa south of the Sahara.
Bondarenko has introduced (together with Andrey Korotayev
) and started elaborating the notion of homoarchy
to be coupled with the one of heterarchy
, noting that the heterarchy (defined as "the relation of elements to one another when they are unranked or when they possess the potential for being ranked in a number of different ways") is not the opposite of any hierarchy all together, but is rather the opposite of "homoarchy", defined as "the relation of elements to one another when they are rigidly ranked one way only, and thus possess no (or not more than very limited) potential for being unranked or ranked in another or a number of different ways at least without cardinal reshaping of the whole socio-political order".
Basing primarily on the precolonial Benin Kingdom evidence, Bondarenko has elaborated the conception of "megacommunity" as a specific type of the non-state supercomplex society, integration of a supercomplex (exceeding the complex chiefdom level) society on community (and hence non-state) basis being its main distinctive feature. He has contributed to the studies of the state origins and nature by dealing with such aspects of the problematics as the dynamics of kinship and territoriality as principles of socio-political organization, transformations in ideology, and others.
In publications on contemporary issues Bondarenko argues that globalization should be viewed as a primarily cultural, not economic and political, phenomenon which is by no means a recently appeared one but which embraces essentially the whole human history, and which can turn out a "successful historical project" in the shape of a "federation of local civilizations" only.
Among his more important articles in English are:
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, is a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n anthropologist, historian, and africanist. He has conducted field research in a number of African countries (particularly, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
, Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
) and in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. He is Vice-Director for Research of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Full Professor with the Center of Social Anthropology of the Russian State University for the Humanities. Dmitri Bondarenko is also a co-founder and co-editor of "Social Evolution & History".
Education
Bondarenko graduated with the M.A. degree in 1990 from the Moscow State UniversityMoscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
, Department of Ethnography, School of History. He completed his Ph.D. in 1993 at Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
. He also holds Doctor of Sciences degree (2000) from the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
.
Research interests and major contributions
Theory of cultural evolution, political anthropologyPolitical anthropology
Political anthropology concerns the structure of political systems, looked at from the basis of the structure of societies. Political anthropologists include Pierre Clastres, E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Meyer Fortes, Georges Balandier, Fredrik Bailey, Jeremy Boissevain, Marc Abélès, Jocelyne...
, pre-industrial societies, intercultural interaction in contemporary world (including ethnic, racial, and religious aspects), culture and history of Africa south of the Sahara.
Bondarenko has introduced (together with Andrey Korotayev
Andrey Korotayev
Andrey Korotayev is an anthropologist, economic historian, and sociologist, with major contributions to world-systems theory, cross-cultural studies, Near Eastern history, and mathematical modeling of social and economic macrodynamics.Education and career=Born in Moscow, Andrey Korotayev attended...
) and started elaborating the notion of homoarchy
Homoarchy
Homoarchy is“the relation of elements to one another when they are rigidly ranked one way only, and thus possess no potential for being unranked or ranked in another or a number of different ways at least without cardinal reshaping of the whole socio-political order”- Homoarchy and Heterarchy...
to be coupled with the one of heterarchy
Heterarchy
A heterarchy is a system of organization replete with overlap, multiplicity, mixed ascendancy, and/or divergent-but-coexistent patterns of relation...
, noting that the heterarchy (defined as "the relation of elements to one another when they are unranked or when they possess the potential for being ranked in a number of different ways") is not the opposite of any hierarchy all together, but is rather the opposite of "homoarchy", defined as "the relation of elements to one another when they are rigidly ranked one way only, and thus possess no (or not more than very limited) potential for being unranked or ranked in another or a number of different ways at least without cardinal reshaping of the whole socio-political order".
Basing primarily on the precolonial Benin Kingdom evidence, Bondarenko has elaborated the conception of "megacommunity" as a specific type of the non-state supercomplex society, integration of a supercomplex (exceeding the complex chiefdom level) society on community (and hence non-state) basis being its main distinctive feature. He has contributed to the studies of the state origins and nature by dealing with such aspects of the problematics as the dynamics of kinship and territoriality as principles of socio-political organization, transformations in ideology, and others.
In publications on contemporary issues Bondarenko argues that globalization should be viewed as a primarily cultural, not economic and political, phenomenon which is by no means a recently appeared one but which embraces essentially the whole human history, and which can turn out a "successful historical project" in the shape of a "federation of local civilizations" only.
Publications
Bondarenko has authored 5 monographs (including 2 in English) and over 300 other publications:- Homoarchy as a Principle of Culture's Organization. The 13th-19th Centuries Benin Kingdom as a Non-State Supercomplex Society. Moscow: URSS, 2006.
- A Popular History of Benin. The Rise and Fall of a Mighty Forest Kingdom. Frankfurt am Main etc.: Peter Lang, 2003 (with P.M. Roese).
Among his more important articles in English are:
- The Second Axial Age and Metamorphoses of Religious Consciousness in the ‘Christian World’ (Journal of Globalization Studies. 2011. Vol. 2, № 1. P. 113-136)
- The Social World’s Parts and Whole: Globalization and the Future of Some Non-Western Cultures in the Civilization and World-System Theories Perspectives In J. Sheffield (ed.). Systemic Development: Local Solutions in a Global Environment. Litchfield Park, AZ: ISCE Publishing, 2009. P. 17–24.
- Kinship, Territoriality and the Early State Lower Limit (Social Evolution & HistorySocial Evolution & HistorySocial Evolution & History is a peer-reviewed academic journal focused on the development of human societies in the past, present and future. In addition to original research articles, Social Evolution & History includes critical notes and a book review section. It is published in English twice a...
. 2008. Vol. 7, No 1. P. 19-53) - Approaching “Complexity” in Anthropology and Complexity Studies: The Principles of Socio-political Organization and Prospects for Bridging the Interdisciplinary Gap (Emergence: Complexity and Emergence. 2007. Vol. 9, No 3. P. 55-67)
- Homoarchy as a Principle of Sociopolitical Organization: An Introduction (Anthropos. 2007. Vol. 102, № 1. P. 187–199)
- What Is There in a Word? Heterarchy, Homoarchy and the Difference in Understanding Complexity in the Social Sciences and Complexity Studies (K.A. Richardson and P. Cilliers, eds. Explorations in Complexity Thinking: Pre-Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Complexity and Philosophy. Mansfield, MA: ISCE Publishing, 2007. P. 35–48)
- Ethnographic Atlas XXXI: Peoples of Easternmost Eurasia (Ethnology. 2005. Vol. 44, No 3. P. 261–289 (with A. Kazankov, D. Khaltourina, and A. Korotayev)
- A Homoarchic Alternative to the Homoarchic State: Benin Kingdom of the 13th - 19th Centuries. Social Evolution & HistorySocial Evolution & HistorySocial Evolution & History is a peer-reviewed academic journal focused on the development of human societies in the past, present and future. In addition to original research articles, Social Evolution & History includes critical notes and a book review section. It is published in English twice a...
. 2005. Vol. 4, No 2. P. 18-88. - The “Fruit of Enlightenment”: Education, Politics, and Muslim-Christian Relations in Contemporary Tanzania (Islam and Muslim-Christian Relations. 2004. Vol. 15, No 4. P. 443-468)
- A Historical-anthropological Look at Some Sociopolitical Problems of Second and Third World Countries (M. Gammer, ed., Community, Identity and the State. Comparing Africa, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East. London – New York: Routledge, 2004. P. 14-41, with A. Korotayev)
- Advent of the Second (Oba) Dynasty: Another Assessment of a Benin History Key-Point (History in Africa. 2003. Vol. 30. P. 63-85)
- Early State in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Statistical Re-Analysis of Henri J. M. Claessen's Database // Cross-Cultural Research. The Journal of Comparative Social Science. 37/1 (2003). P. 104–131 (with A.V. Korotayev)
- In Search of a New Academic Profile: Teaching Anthropology in Contemporary Russia (D. Drackle, I.R. Edgar, T.K. Schippers, eds., Learning Fields. Vol. 1. Educational Histories of European Social Anthropology. New York; Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2003. P. 230-246, with A.V. Korotayev)
- Alternative Pathways of Social Evolution // Social Evolution and History. Studies in the Evolution of Human Societies. 2002. Vol. 1. # 1. P. 54–80.
- Family size and community organization: a cross-cultural comparison // Cross-Cultural Research. The Journal of Comparative Social Science 34/2 (May, 2000). P. 152–189 (with A.V. Korotayev).
- Polygyny and Democracy: a Cross-Cultural Comparison // Cross-Cultural Research. The Journal of Comparative Social Science. 34/2 (May2000). P. 190–208 (with A.V. Korotayev) (Paper reports negativeNegative- Science and mathematics :* Negative number* Negative mass* Negative energy * Electrical polarity* Negative result * Negative lenses, uses to describe diverging optics, see lens - Photography :...
correlationCorrelationIn statistics, dependence refers to any statistical relationship between two random variables or two sets of data. Correlation refers to any of a broad class of statistical relationships involving dependence....
between polygyny and democracy.)