The article examines the main methodological principles underlying the scientific work of academician Rakhim Masov, who played a key role in the development of Tajik historiography as an independent scientific school. Based on the material of published works and relying on the source study approach, the basic principles of the researcher are analyzed, including his desire to identify the internal logic of the historical process, freed from ideological burden. Particular attention is paid to his criticism of the schematism of Soviet historiography and attempts to rethink the role of the national factor in the history of Central Asia. R. Masov considered historical knowledge as the result of systematic work with the source, when priority is given to analytical interpretation, and not to foreign policy opportunistic goals. The importance of R. Masov's scientific legacy for the subsequent generation of researchers who continued the development of the discipline in the post-Soviet period, including in the specialized departments of the A. Donish Institute of Atomic Energy and Evolution of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, is emphasized.
academician R. Masov, history, historiography, theory of history, methodology, Tajik historiography, scientific principles, critical problems, Soviet Union, Tajik SSR, NAST
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