Special nature and characteristic features of nomadic mentality: culturological analysis

The article endeavors to determine the key theoretical base lines in order to disclose the content and reveal peculiarities of nomadic peoples’ mentality. Mentality is one of key notions in today’s humanitarian knowledge and is utilized by a number of disciplines each of them adds its own to its content. The author takes a socio-cultural approach as a basis; it treats this concept as a unity of ideas, views and kinship «feeling» of people in a certain epoch, geographical area and social environment that influence on historical and socio-cultural processes. In other words, mentality is a certain integral characteristic capable of describing the peculiarity and special nature of this or that culture type. Nomads’ mentality has been emerging for a long historical time and acquiring its typical features affected by the natural, economic, social and lifestyle, religious, historical and other factors. The appeal to the concept «nomadic mentality» allows revealing a new vision of peculiarity and uniqueness of the nomads’ culture and overcoming negative stereotypes in its understanding.