Basile Kerblay—an explorer of Russia[Базиль Кербле—Исследователь России]

The article by Alexis Berelowitch describes the milestones of the scientific biography of the prominent French sociologist and historian of the 20th century, Professor of Sorbonne University Basile Kerblay. The article presents the main themes of Kerblay’s works—history of Russia and sociology in the late Soviet society—in the context of the Western sovietology debates of the 1960s—1970s and disputes of “totalitarianists” and “revisionists”. The author considers as distinctive features of Kerblay’s works his broad outlook, comparative approach to the study of Russian history, and lack of ideological bias. The article emphasizes the importance of Kerblay as one of the first biographers, researchers and publishers of A.V. Chayanov’s works on the theory of peasant economy.