The training of historians in the period of "perestroika": a new "superstructure" on an old "foundation" (on the example of the higher school of Siberia)

Based on hitherto unknown archive documents, the article reconstructs the processes undergoing in Soviet historical higher education in the period of perestroika in the latter half of the 1980s. Geographically, it encompasses the universities and higher education institutions of Siberia. The topic is relevant due to the paramount significance which the system of historical knowledge bears for the basic ideological constructs of the Soviet Union and modern Russia. In the hard and controversial conditions of perestroika higher school historians proved to be at the forefront of ideological, political, organizational and spiritual changes, transforming, once and for all, society and its historical consciousness. The regional specifics of transformations being underway in that period, largely, the seminal ones, are analyzed in the context of unique scientific, academic, social and cultural environments of Siberia. The distinctive features of the Siberian academe shaped the character and formal variety of its response to historic challenges. Due to this the epoch's major trends were reflected through Siberia's realities, destroying the old rules, on the one hand, and opening entirely new prospects, on the other. The major “perestroika-driven” changes affected primarily the methodological and historiographical aspects of history education at Siberian universities and higher education institutions. Methodological capacities were considerably expanded and historiographical ones were redefined. This facilitated a fast and fairly painless reintegration of the post-soviet academic community into the global one. The most vivid and substantial changes in higher historical education were demonstrated in the organization and contents of the training of historians. Changes affected the syllabus and methodology of historical education, the teaching staff and student contingent.