The Opening of S. N. Spielrein’s Museum in Rostov-on-Don
Abstract
The article is devoted to the opening of the first museum of psychologist in
Russia – the museum of outstanding woman-psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, pedologist
Sabina Nikolaevna Spielrein in Rostov-on-Don. According to Y. M. Lotman’s theory, the
museum is regarded as the material embodiment of the semiosphere idea – whole
semantic space of the culture. Entering the semiotic space of the city, the museum
becomes its sign and symbol.
The authors note the symbolic significance of S. N. Spielrein’s museum, allowing
to rethink underappreciated factors of psychological science formation, such as:
the role of woman-scientist in the development of scientific knowledge, represented
by the images of prominent men – patriarchs of psychoanalysis; the role of the
peripheral city of Russia, Rostov-on-Don, along with Moscow and St. Petersburg, in
the psychology’s history of the XX century. In the article the main stages of S. Spielrein’s
life are described. The authors discuss her contribution to the development of
psychoanalysis, in developmental psychology (the study of thought and speech in
children), clinical psychology (psychological studies of schizophrenia). The article
also contains the characteristic of the main works in S. Spielrein’s scientific heritage.
The authors describe the opening of S. N. Spielrein’s museum as a landmark event
in the modern history of psychology, explain the concept of the museum and clarify
the prospects for its development.
Keywords
- museum
- semiosphere
- Spielrein
- Jung
- Freud
- Bleuler
- psychoanalysis
- destruction
- schizophrenia