Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography

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The Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography (IAE) was established in the Soviet Union by the amalgamation of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (MAE) and the Institute ofr the Study of Narodnosti of the USSR (IPIN) in autumn 1933.

[edit] Institutional History

Its first director was Nikolai Matorin. However on 23 December 23, 1933 he was dismissed by the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of USSR and replaced by Ivan Meshchaninov on 1 January 1934.

On 25 January, 1935, the IAE was transformed into the Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography. Meshchaninov remained director until this organisation was in turn dissolved in 1937.

On 11 February, 1937,the Institute was restructured with sections being replaced by several departments or cabinets:

Europe and Caucasus, headed by Dmitrii Zelenin
Siberia and Western Central Asia, headed by Ya.P. Koshkin
East and South Asia, headed by N.V. Khner
Africa, America, Australia and Oceania, headed by I.N. Vinnikov
Archaeology, headed by P.P. Efimenko
Folklore, headed by M.K. Azadovskii
History of Religion, headed by Yu.P. Frantsev)

The Museum of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography was set up as separate part of the institute under the directorship of Dmitrii Alekseevich Olderogge. It consisted of various departments:

Europe, Caucasus and Western Central Asia, headed by Nikolai Kislyakov
Siberia, headed by V.N. Chernetsov;
India, Indonesia, and the Far East, headed by N.V. Khner;
The Early Stage of the Primeval Society, Australia and Oceania, headed by I.N. Vinnikov;
North, Central and South America, headed by S.A. Sternberg;
Africa, headed by D.A. Olderogge;
Archaeology, headed by S.N. Zamyatnin;
Physical Anthropology, headed by B.N. Vishnevskii

On August 5th, 1937, the Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography into the Institute of Ethnography

[edit] Activities of the IAE

The IAE brought together ethnographers and physical anthropologists from throughout the Soviet Union in order to promote and research the physical-constitutional and sociohistoric development of the population. Political leaders had set the antrhopogists the task of showing that "race" from the marxist-leninist point of view was not a significant factor in the "historical process". This was a response to the Nazi development of a "race science" (Rassenkunde) which was presented as the scientific basis for political theory and practice.