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The development of scholarly knowledge about Tatar fairy tales in the works of researchers from the second half of the 19th century to the first third of the 20th century

https://doi.org/10.26907/2541-7738.2025.5-6.47-57

Abstract

This article examines the formative period of Tatar folklore scholarship, with particular attention to the traditions that developed in the study of the Tatar fairy tale genre as its constituent part. The stages of collecting, recording, and publishing of folklore materials on the mythology of the Kazan Tatars and the research findings on Tatar fairy tales are outlined. The selected period from the second half of the 19th century to the first third of the 20th century, when ethnography appeared as a distinct scholarly branch, was marked by a growing interest in the cultures of the peoples who lived across the territory of the Russian Empire at that time. A theoretical framework that articulates key characteristics of the Tatar fairy tale genre is proposed. The texts of scholarly works dating to the considered period, in which the Tatar national consciousness is unveiled through the most representative Tatar mythological images and fairy tale plots, are carefully assessed. The study is methodologically based on comparative and typological analysis, through which the works of scholars devoted to the Tatar fairy tale and the mythology of the Kazan Tatars are explored. The most significant contributions to the study of this genre, which laid the foundation for the formation of Tatar national folklore scholarship, are identified.

About the Authors

T. A. Titova
Kazan Federal University
Россия

Tatyana A. Titova, Dr. Sci. (History), Full Professor, Leading Researcher, Department of Archeology and Ethnology of Tatarstan, Anthropology, and Ethnography

Kazan, Russia



D. N. Gizatullina
Kazan Federal University
Россия

Diana N. Gizatullina, Teaching Assistant, Department of Archeology and Ethnology of Tatarstan, Anthropology, and Ethnography

Kazan, Russia



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Review

For citations:


Titova T.A., Gizatullina D.N. The development of scholarly knowledge about Tatar fairy tales in the works of researchers from the second half of the 19th century to the first third of the 20th century. Kazan Journal of Historical, Linguistic, and Legal Research. 2025;167(5-6):47-57. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.26907/2541-7738.2025.5-6.47-57

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ISSN 2541-7738 (Print)
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