From “admission by calling” to “attracting an applicant”: the evolution of argumentation for future historians in the corporate newspapers of two perm universities during the era of change (1986–1994)

Abstract

This article analyzes the rhetorical strategies of self-presentation at the history departments of Perm State University (PSU) and Perm State Pedagogical Institute (PSPI) during the sociopo litical transformation of 1986–1994. The source material consists of notices for applicants in spe cial issues of the university newspapers “Perm University” and “Teacher”, which are considered tools for constructing the public image of the department and the professional identity of histori ans. The author identifies two different discursive paths of adaptation to the changing context of late perestroika and the post-Soviet period. The history department of the Pedagogical Institute chose a socially engaged model, evolving from a “teacher-legalist” (1986) to a “fighter for truth” (1989) and an “institute of national memory” (1993–1995), promptly incorporating current social trends into its rhetoric. Colleagues from the classical university, by contrast, moved from the monumental rhetoric of “highest qualifications” (1986–1988) through the discourse of intel lectual elitism (1990) to the pragmatic positioning of history as a “comprehensive humanities edu cation” (1994). Contrary to the widespread notion of direct competition, the study shows that both faculties avoided open confrontation but fought for hegemony in the minds of applicants, gradually cementing their own values behind the images of the “good historian” and the “proper education”.