In Memory of a Scholar and Educator: An Evening of Remembrance for Professor Madina Tekueva was held at KBSU
A memorial evening for Doctor of Historical Sciences and Professor Madina Anatolyevna Tekueva was held at Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh.M. Berbekov. On what would have been her 68th birthday, colleagues, friends, and family gathered to remember the life and academic career of this outstanding researcher, educator, and mentor.
Madina Anatolyevna was born in Nalchik on February 12, 1958, to Anatoly Tekuev and Raisa Afaunova, both Moscow State University graduates. After graduating from School No. 3 with a gold medal, she entered the History and Philology Faculty of Kabardino-Balkarian State University in 1975 and remained associated with her alma mater for the rest of her life. A graduate with honors, she rose through the ranks from senior lecturer to head of the Department of Ethnology, History of the Peoples of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, and Journalism. In 2007, she defended her doctoral dissertation on «Gender as a Sociocultural Construct of Adyghe Society,» becoming the author of over 130 scientific papers and the founder of a school of thought on gender history in the North Caucasus.
Welcoming the guests, Murat Gukepshokov, Vice-Rector for General Affairs at Kabardino-Balkarian State University, addressed the audience with heartfelt words about the transience of time and the power of human memory.
«The impossibility of stopping time is clear to everyone. The only thing that can slow it down is history and photographs. Madina Anatolyevna was one of those people who leaves behind not just memories, but a legacy. A woman who started a family, raised children, and simultaneously wrote a doctoral dissertation—I know what a monumental undertaking that is. And how important it is that she left us with such fond, cherished memories.» Khusein Kushkhov, Vice-Rector for External Relations at KBSU, conveyed words of support to the family from Acting Rector Yuri Altudov, emphasizing that the university administration and the Academic Council will take the necessary measures to perpetuate the memory of Professor Tekueva. Khusein Sagidovich himself, a fellow student of Madina Anatolyevna, shared personal memories.
«A beautiful woman and a profound researcher. She managed to build a brilliant academic career and a large, strong family. Today, her daughter continues her work at the university. This is the continuity on which science rests.»
Zukhra Kuchukova, Doctor of Philology and Professor in the Department of Russian and Foreign Literature and Journalism at Saratov State University of Kabardino-Balkaria, drew attention to the profound connection between generations: the topic that the legendary radio journalist Raisa Afaunova once brought to the airwaves has acquired academic depth in her daughter’s work.
«As a child, I listened enchanted to Raisa Afaunova’s radio programs, her famous series of programs for women, ‘Adiyukh,’ in the Kabardian language. She raised topics that were rarely aired at the time. And years later, I saw her daughter pick up the baton—this time in academia. Madina Anatolyevna established a solid academic foundation for gender issues across the entire North Caucasus. She possessed an amazing gift: shedding light on a problem’s archetypal roots while remaining a subtle, sensitive observer of modern times. Her scholarly legacy is a contribution that is difficult to overestimate.»
Elena Nalchikova, Deputy Director of the Kabardino-Balkarian State University’s Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, admitted that Madina Anatolyevna’s passing was a personal loss for everyone who knew her.
«Not a day went by that we didn’t remember her. She loved life and loved communication.» And she had a very special attitude toward her birthday, considering it the most wonderful day of the year, when everyone says only good things to you. Today we have gathered for precisely this—to speak of her with love. We have come to her birthday.”
A musical gift for all present was a performance by Eldar Dymov, Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and History of State and Law at KBSU’s Institute of World Economy and International Relations, PhD in Philosophy and a former student of Madina Tekueva. Accompanied by soloists from the KBSU «Callisto» Dance Theater, Dymov performed the song «Ne iazyai» (Don’t Disappear).
For the memorial evening, KBSU library staff prepared a presentation of a bibliographic index of Professor Tekueva’s works. This fundamental work, which brings together the researcher’s entire scientific legacy, was given to her family as a symbol of the continued existence of Madina Anatolyevna’s legacy within the university.