Strategies for constructing the identity of travelers — Russian nobles N. M. Przhevalsky and A. M. Ossendovsky in Mongolia; [Стратегии конструировании идентичности путешественников — русских дворян Н. М. Пржевальского и А. М. Оссендовского по Монголии]

The article analyzes the construction of representations by Russian travelers of the late 19th to early 20th centuries, specifically N. M. Przhevalsky and A. M. Ossendowsky, regarding Mongolia. It examines the role of spatial images in the authors’ interpretation of their own identities through the lens of G. D. Gachev’s Cosmo-Psycho-Logos concept. This theoretical framework allows for a description of Mongolian culture as a unified semiotic space that accumulates archetypes of the sacred landscape, national character, and modes of thinking. The article explores how these travelers perceived the mythologized image of the invisible land of Agarti (Przhevalsky) and Agharta (Ossendowsky), which Russian travelers associated with widely known legends of Tibet and India about the land of Shambhala on the one hand, and the Old Believers’ concept of Belovodye in Siberia on the other. It is argued that these travel authors, within a multicultural environment, employed a strategy of hybrid or mixed identity. The narrative of an invisible land in their works represents an existential experience of encountering both “self” and “other” spaces. The travelers display openness to elements of Central Asian culture, viewing it as compatible with their native culture. © 2024 Ch. K. Lamazhaa. All rights reserved.