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Conference publicationsAbstractsXVI conferenceStudy of local lore as knowledge and activityKirov school of general education, Muchkap district, Tambov region 1Chair of History and Philosophy of Science, Institute of Philosophy RAS
Study of local lore as a field of knowledge is integrative since it joints data on geography, history, fine arts, history of literature, science, etc. The integrative basis is the relation of all these data to one and the same area. A distinctive feature (and power!) of local lore study is that it pays a particular attention to fates of individual persons, estimates the importance of events and cultural monuments, beauty of local landscapes.
Study of local lore as a kind of activity demands not only specific knowledge, but stimu-lates people, especially young, to become interested in all the mentioned, to work in museums, libraries, consult with specialists, to read much. Persons involved into development and perception of local lore science may be not only scientists but the general public as well, beginning from sufficiently early age. The latter is an exclusive peculiarity of local lore studies that is actively used by the authors in their daily work. Participation of every age persons in the collecting of local material is of huge pedagogical significance in itself, being one of patriotic actions. Local lore studies can become a basis for integration of people around definite topics and occupations, good-neighborly relation (according to academician D.S. Likhachev) to history, culture and nature. It teaches people not only to love “their own place” but to like knowledge about “their own” (and not only about “their own”) places. Collecting and keeping of memory about the past of the native territory allows a person to feel him- (her-)self within the history, to understand the own, let it be modest, significance in the modern life. This material attaches historical meaning to the definite area, discovers in its past something which is quite new, transforms the present knowledge about it. In this aspect, ear-nest attention to the study of local lore at school, delivering of local history course for first-year students is very promising. It is a way to let impressions of the past to come softly into the inner world of humans, to help anybody to develop respect for ancestry and remember that the same memory is, in turn, necessary for his issue. In other words, feeling of moral responsibility regarding both past and future people is being formed.
Study of local lore as a phenomenon of culture has a remarkable feature: as early as in the primary school it allows tight binding of humanitarian and natural-science education, shows that ecology as a science and activity should not confine to problems of natural environment conservation. Humans live also in the cultural environment created by their ancestry and them-selves. Solicitous maintenance of cultural environment is important just as preservation of nature. While humans need nature for maintenance of their biological life, the culture environment is necessary for their spiritual life. The local lore studies cultivate love to the native land and give knowledge without which it is impossible to save local monuments of culture.
Thus, the above mentioned properties of local lore studies as a field of knowledge create its big fostering potential. Therefore, as a science and activity, it should play a deserving role in school and higher level education.
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