SUMMARY:

This article explores how the collapse of the Russian Empire and the subsequent rise of the Soviet state forced a generation of humanities scholars to reconstruct intellectual traditions on the “ruins” of old institutions. The author argues that a true decentering of knowledge requires more than just adding new names to history; it involves examining how scholars in diverse geographic hubs – such as Kharkiv, Tbilisi, and Prague – navigated the violent shift from imperial to postimperial reality. By analyzing the unique trajectories of figures like Nikolai Efimov, Aleksandr Beletsky (Oleksandr Biletskyi), Shalva Nutsubidze, and Roman Jakobson, the author demonstrates how personal displacement and political upheaval became the catalysts for theoretical innovation. The new universalist knowledge produced during this era emerged not from a linear progression, but from a radical re-stitching of cultural identity across fragmented national and linguistic borders. Specifically, the article identifies four typological models or scenarios for the production of new theoretical knowledge. The “nomadic” strategy represented by Efimov involved moving between various regional academic centers (such as Odesa, Smolensk, and Central Asia) rather than staying in Moscow or Petrograd. The “remade” or “turned inside out” strategy exemplified by Beletsky in Kharkiv manifested itself in reinterpreting classical cultural traditions within a new Soviet and Ukrainian national framework. The “autochthonous” strategy identified with the Georgian philosopher Nutsubidze focused on constructing a direct line of cultural continuity from early times to the Soviet national republic. Finally, the “unconventionally emigrant” strategy pursued by Jakobson utilized “extraterritoriality” to consolidate and transform academic traditions from abroad.