Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of reception by the leader of the Siberian regionalism G.N. Potanin, factors of formation, circumstances of development and evolution of the regional movement as an ideology that was formed in the conditions of colonization in the outlying (Siberian) regions of the Russian Empire. The object of the research is the socio-political discourse of Russia in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. The subject of the study is Siberian regionalism as an intellectual and socio-political movement in the epistolary and scientific-journalistic heritage of G.N. Potanin. The purpose of this article is to identify the ideas of G.N. Potanin about regionalism as an intellectual and socio-political movement that was formed in the active phase of his life biography. In methodological terms, the formulation of the problem, its solution and conclusions are provided by approaches and practices tested within the framework of the research direction new cultural and intellectual history, one of the problematic fields of which is intellectual biography and discursive practices. Within the framework of this article, the concept of “representation” is the semantic one, reflecting the subjective interpretation of the historical reality by G.N. Potanin in connection with the functioning of the regional movement as a sociocultural phenomenon. The sources of the research are the scientific and journalistic writings of G.N. Potanin and his extensive epistolary heritage, which captured the ideas of one of the leaders of the regionalists about the evolution of the movement in the wide chronological boundaries of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. The author concludes that the history of regionalism as an intellectual and social movement was closely associated with the biographical context of the fate of the leaders of the movement. This fact, according to G.N. Potanin determined the evolution of the regional ideology, which has come a long way from manifestations of local patriotism, radical political delusions, to the construction of an original concept based on the recognition of Siberia as a colony of Russia.

Abstract: The authors pay special attention to the problem of inclusion and identification of the colonization potential of the peasantry, the Cossacks and the indigenous population of Asian Russia in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries. in the views of the Siberian oblasts. The object of the work is the socio-political thought of Russia in the post-reform period. The subject of the research is the representation of the actors of agrarian colonization of Asian Russia in the scientific and journalistic discourse of the Siberian oblastnichestvo. The purpose of this article is to reveal the content of the ideas of Siberian oblasts about the status and opportunities of social groups and ethnic communities in the colonization of the eastern outskirts of the Russian Empire. In the context of this article, it is important to understand how the community of Siberian oblasts "imagined" the actors of agrarian colonization, developing the foundations of the ideology of the movement and constructing, on this basis, projects for the incorporation of Asian territories into the national space.    Methodologically, the course and results of the research are provided by research practices and approaches developed in the field of new cultural and intellectual history, appealing to the special role of language and narrative in the reflection of any forms of mental activity. The article makes a conclusion, according to which, in the representations of the texts of the Siberian oblasts, the specifics of the lifestyle, economic and cultural interests of the Cossacks, indigenous peoples and Russian settlers in the colonization process were taken into account. In general, representatives of the Siberian oblastnichestvo came to the conclusion about the gradual decline in the potential and socio-cultural role of the Cossacks in the colonization process and the decisive importance of joint farming practices of Russian settlers and settled representatives of indigenous peoples.