Scienza e politica in Aleksandr F. Hilferding: osservazioni su Poezdka po Gercegovine, Bosnii i Staroj Serbii

This paper examines the scholarly work undertaken by the philologist Aleksandr F. Hilferding during his tenure as Russian consul in Bosnia (1857-1858). It first seeks to clarify the tasks assigned to Hilferding by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archival evidence indicates that he was instructed to provide prompt and reliable information on the religious, social, and political conditions in Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina, while simultaneously establishing channels of communication with the Orthodox Christian population. To this end, Hilferding submitted numerous detailed reports to both the Ministry and the Russian Consulate in Constantinople. Alonside these official duties, Hilferding produced a scholarly account of Bosnia, Hercegovina and the so-called Old Serbia, in which he addressed issues of fundamental importance to the region, including the role of religious affiliation in shaping national identity, the causes of economic and cultural underdevelopment, and the shortcomings of the Ottoman tax system. This paper argues that, for Hilferding, scholarship and political engagement were mutually reinforcing rather than distinct spheres of activity.