“New Worlds” of a Soviet historian: Travel notes and reflections of Sergey Utchenko

In their article, the authors examine the international contacts of Soviet historians of antiquity during the Thaw period, as well as the academic and journalistic pursuits of the esteemed Soviet historian Sergey Utchenko, which were inextricably linked to these contacts. In response to the increasing demand on the part of Soviet scholars for the establishment of international contacts during the mid-1950s, in April 1958, the Commission of the CPSU Central Committee on Ideology, Culture and International Party Relations took the initiative of implementing two pivotal decisions: the dispatch of academic delegations from the Soviet Union abroad and the invitation of researchers from the USSR Academy of Sciences to undertake international visits as tourists. These decrees considerably broadened the opportunities available to Soviet academics beyond the confines of USSR. Since 1958, the phenomenon of “academic tourism” started to gain momentum, facilitating both the participation of Soviet researchers in international conferences and the inspection of historical and cultural monuments. In the Thaw era, Utchenko astutely identified the growing need within the USSR to expand its geographical outlook through international trips. In addition to playing a pivotal role in fostering international connections among Soviet historians of antiquity, Utchenko also demonstrated remarkable proficiency in a hitherto novel genre for the historian of antiquity, namely the travelogue. This latter form of writing gained considerable currency among the liberal Soviet intelligentsia during the 1960s. It facilitated the presentation of previously inaccessible international travel experiences while also engaging the general public in the discourse surrounding historical issues and controversies within the field of historical scholarship. Utchenko’s travel notes and reflections exemplified a novel genre of popular academic historical narrative, one that gained distinct salience in the 1960s.