The archetypal grounds of friend-or-foe antinomy during the Caucasian War

The article discusses the features of the binary friend-or-foe opposition formed in the minds of the Cossacks in the hostilities in the Caucasus region in XIX century. Cossack folklore works, which reflected the stereotypes and the collective consciousness universals, were of primary importance for the study of this problem. The basic “cosmos” and “chaos” archetypes were the basis of the polarization of the world concerning friend-or-foe direction. After processing by consciousness archetypes got a specific form of archetypal images under the influence of particular historical situations. The article shows how during the Caucasian War of 1817-1864 the Highlanders being the opposition and foe were endowed with such negative features as immorality, heterodoxy and barbarism in the Cossacks’ minds. The denouement of friend-or-foe confrontation involved either displacement or destruction of the enemy.