Some aspects of interaction between the state and local ethnic-confessional groups in the history of the southeast of the European Russia (debatable questions of imperial policy of acculturation and preservation of ethnic identity in the scientific works by S. V. Dzhundzhuzov)

The authors underline the value of modern methodology which is used for studying the history of relationship between the state and the various ethnic groups (including local ethnic-confessional groups) during the imperial period. They focus on the cycle of works by Orenburg historian Stepan Dzhundzhuzov who examined the history of specific group of baptized Kalmyks and the process of their adaptation to the Russian culture at the interdisciplinary level (history of the Russian state, social history of Russia, and ethnic-social history, etc.). Stepan Dzhundzhuzov contributes to the study of the role of power structures in the settlement of the Kalmyks in the Middle Volga and South Ural region; to the definition of the main directions of imperial policy of their acculturation. The authors underline Dzhundzhuzov's achievements in studying of the given problem and attract attention on debatable questions.