Department of Religious and Cultural Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy and Political Science of Al-Farabi KazNU held an international scientific conference entitled «Symbols, Artifacts and Monuments of the Great Steppe» dedicated to the two-year anniversary of the President program «Spiritual Revival» within the framework of the VI International Farabi Readings.

The Conference is aimed at the formation of stable relations between scientists and specialists studying cultural, religious, philosophical, social and political aspects of the XXI century. During the Conference, topical socially important issues of the modern world were discussed. The scientific meeting discussed a wide range of issues: symbolic phenomena in the process of modernization of public consciousness, information and communication technologies in modern Kazakh society, mass culture, the impact of religious values on human consciousness, modern theories of globalization and their impact on ethnic, national culture, the concept of the Steppe and the city, the doctrine of civilizational processes in the Great Steppe, cultural tourism in Kazakhstan, the dialogue of cultures in the Great Steppe, and the national code and values.

The International Conference was moderated by the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Political Science, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Aliya Massalimova and Professor of the Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, Doctor of Philosophy Tursyn Gabitov. Dean of the Faculty, Alia Masalimova, highlighted as following: «Our Faculty has done a great job in the framework of the «Spiritual Revival» program. Most importantly, with the participation of the professors of the Department there were translated four textbooks from English into Kazakh in the field of Sociology, philosophy, Cultural Studies, and Psychology. Within two years, several scientific articles, monographs, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and online lectures have been published. Today, the main goal is not only to tell about the work done, but also how to implement our plans and tasks for the future» - she said.

«The main contribution of the program «Spiritual Revival» in the Humanities has been positively impacted for our Department, since Cultural Studies was introduced in all Universities as a compulsory subject. This was the long-awaited good news. At the same time, the programs of Cultural Studies and Philosophy have been updated. According to the updated program of Cultural Studies, there are several scientific works have been realizing. In particular, a number of works of Tursun Hafizovich, founder of Cultural Studies in Kazakhstan were published. Today there was a presentation of the textbook «Cultural Studies», based on the updated curriculum. And we would like to have this tutorial to turned out to be one of the main areas in other Universities», - said Ainur Durbelenovna.

At the Conference that was dedicated to two years anniversary of «Spiritual Revival» program, several scientists presented their papers: Professor of Tallinn Technology University, Peeter Muursepp (Estonia), Professor of Akdeniz University, Sahin Filiz (Turkey), Professor of Hacettepe University, Seify Yildirim, Chief Researcher, Institute of Philosophy, Political Science and Religious Studies, Head of Sector of Farabi Studies, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Galiya Kurmangalieva, Head of Department of Philosophy at Al-Farabi KazNU Gulzhikhan Nurysheva, and others have shared their achievements during the two years of implementation of this program, as well as with their plans for the future.

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