The understudied aspects of the culture of Armenians in Russia and abroad

The review analyzes a collection of articles dedicated to the memory of Alla Ter-Sarkisyants, a prominent researcher of the history and culture of the Armenian people. The authors of the articles in the collection reflect the cultural peculiarities of various groups of the Armenian population of the Caucasus and abroad; they also raise the problems of the formation of local communities of Armenians and the transformation of the Armenian folk culture in a different ethnic environment. The review pays close attention to articles on the life and work of Alla Ter-Sarkisyants, describes and critically analyzes articles on the traditional rituals, social institutions, history, and peculiarities of self-consciousness of various groups of Armenians living in Russia. The review thoroughly analyzes the article by N.R. Shakhnazaryan on the ethnography of the Armenian-speaking Hemshil Turks of Krasnodar Krai, shows the main results of the author’s research, reveals contradictions in his conclusions, characterizes the research results concerning the modern ethnosocial position of Hemshil Turks in Russia. The review offers a scholarly assessment of the articles that describe the development of elements of Armenian culture in the Transcaucasus - specific practices of non-canonical Christianity in rural Armenia, the formation of various types of identity among residents of a Karabakh village during the 20th century, the history of medicine in the Erivan Province. It also offers a detailed analysis of the articles on ethnohistorical issues (the problem of the territorial belonging of Western Armenia during the First World War and the Civil War, and the position of the Armenian diaspora in China in the first half of the 20th century). Summing up the results of the review, the reviewers point out a certain narrowness of the geographical diversity of the authors, mainly representing research centers in Moscow and Krasnodar Krai, and express a desire to revive the tradition of writing joint works by researchers from different regions under academic guidance.