University of Sussex Library] at 10:10 23 February 2017 Soviet Orientalism and the Creation of Central Asian Nations

Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 10:10 23 February 2017 Soviet Orientalism and the Creation of Central Asian Nations Orientalism – the idea that the standpoint of Western writers on the East greatly affected what they wrote about the East, the “Other” – applied also in Russia and the Soviet Union, where the study of the many exotic peoples incorporated into the Russian Empire, often in quite late imperial times, became a major academic industry, and where, as in the West, the standpoint of writers greatly affected what they wrote. Russian/Soviet Orientalism had a particularly important impact in Central Asia, where in early Soviet times new republics, later states, were created, often based on the distorted perceptions of scholars in St. Petersburg and Moscow and often cutting across previously existing political and cultural boundaries. This book explores how the Soviet Orientalism academic industry infl uenced the creation of Central Asian nations. It discusses the content of Oriental sources and discourses, considers the differences between scholars working in St. Petersburg and Moscow and those working more locally in Central Asia, providing a rich picture of academic politics, and shows how academic cultural classifi cation cemented political boundaries, often in unhelpful ways. Alfrid K. Bustanov obtained his doctorate from Amsterdam University, the Netherlands, and is now TAIF Professor of the History of Islamic Peoples of Russia, European University in St. Petersburg. Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 10:10 23 February 2017 Central Asian Studies Series 1 Mongolia Today Science, culture, environment and development Edited by Dendevin Badarch and Raymond A. Zilinskas 2 Turkestan and the Fate of the Russian Empire Daniel Brower 3 Church of the East A concise history Wilhelm Baum and Dietmar W. Winkler 4 Pre-tsarist and Tsarist Central Asia Communal commitment and political order in change Paul Georg Geiss 5 Russia’s Protectorates in Central Asia Bukhara and Khiva, 1865–1924 Seymour Becker 6 Russian Culture in Uzbekistan One language in the middle of nowhere David MacFadyen 7 Everyday Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia Maria Elisabeth Louw Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 10:10 23 February 2017 8 Kazakhstan Ethnicity, language and power Bhavna Dave 9 Ethno-Nationalism, Islam and the State in the Caucasus Post-Soviet disorder Edited by Moshe Gammer 10 Humanitarian Aid in Post-Soviet Countries An anthropological perspective Laëtitia Atlani-Duault 11 Muslim-Christian Relations in Central Asia A. Christian van Gorder 12 The Northwest Caucasus Past, present, future Walter Richmond 13 Turkmenistan’s Foreign Policy Positive neutrality and the consolidation of the Turkmen regime Luca Anceschi 14 Confl ict Transformation in Central Asia Irrigation Disputes in the Ferghana Valley Christine Bichsel 15 Socialist Revolutions in Asia The social history of Mongolia in the 20th Century Irina Y. Morozova 16 Post-Confl ict Tajikistan The politics of peacebuilding and the emergence of a legitimate order John Heathershaw 17 The Politics of Transition in Central Asia and the Caucasus Enduring legacies and emerging challenges Edited by Amanda E. Wooden and Christoph H. Stefes 18 Islamic Education in the Soviet Union and Its Successor States Edited by Michael Kemper, Raoul Motika and Stefan Reichmuth 19 The Military and the State in Central Asia From Red Army to independence Edited by Erica Marat Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 10:10 23 February 2017 20 Politics and Oil in Kazakhstan Wojciech Ostrowski 21 Political Islam in Central Asia The challenge of Hizb ut-Tahrir Emmanuel Karagiannis 22 Caspian Energy Politics Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan Edited by Indra Øverland, Heidi Kjærnet and Andrea Kendall-Taylor 23 Securing the Indian Frontier in Central Asia Confrontation and negotiation, 1865–1895 Martin Ewans 24 Ethnicity, Authority and Power in Central Asia New games great and small Edited by Robert L. Canfi eld and Gabriele Rasuly-Paleczek 25 Counterterrorism Policies in Central Asia Mariya Y. Omelicheva 26 Party System Formation in Kazakhstan Between formal and informal politics Rico Isaacs 27 Institutional Reform in Central Asia Politico-economic challenges Edited by Joachim Ahrens and Herman W. Hoen 28 Growing Up in the North Caucasus Society, family, religion and education Irina Molodikova and Alan Watt 29 Soviet Orientalism and the Creation of Central Asian Nations Alfrid K. Bustanov Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 10:10 23 February 2017 Soviet Orientalism and the Creation of Central Asian Nations Alfrid K. Bustanov Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 10:10 23 February 2017 First published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Alfrid K. Bustanov The right of Alfrid K. Bustanov to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-01922-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-77907-2 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 10:10 23 February 2017 Contents Acknowledgments ix List of abbreviations x Introduction xi 1 The Leningrad connection: Oriental projects of source editions 1 Classical Oriental studies and Soviet politics 1 Toward the new scholarship: planning and collective work 2 Dividing sources into national pieces: the Turkmen project 5 Semen Volin: Bartol’d’s unacknowledged successor 8 Evgenii Bertel’s and the crown of source editing: Jami‘ at-tawarikh 1 1 The Kirgiz group in Leningrad 18 The Kazakh project: completion of the program 19 Conclusion 26 2 Nationalism and regionalism: dividing and integrating Soviet Central Asia in meta-histories 36 Regional and national perspectives in history writing 36 The early Soviet discourse on the nomads 38 The impact of national delimitation and sedentarization 39 Sandzhar Asfendiiarov: the nomadic concept of Kazakh history (1920s–30s) 46 Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 10:10 23 February 2017 The Soviet concept of autochtonism in Central Asia 50 Anna Pankratova and the offi cial Kazakh history of the 1940s 52 Discussions around Kazakh history: the late 1940s–50s 54 The 1954 Tashkent conference: freezing of the dogma? 60 The rehabilitation of “bourgeois” Orientalists: Bartol’d reemerging in the 1950s–70s 65 viii Contents A great provocation? A tentative switch to the regional concept of history in the USSR 70 Conclusion 76 3 The establishment of Kazakh Orientology 89 The Institute of History and its structure 89 The Nusupbekov–Dakhshleiger tandem 90 Reincarnations of Orientology in Kazakhstan 93 Sapar Ibragimov: between Leningrad and Alma-Ata 101 Veniamin Iudin: an oppressed Orientalist 103 Klavdiia Pishchulina: the continuity of Kazakh statehood 106 Sergei Kliashtornyi: Orientalists in the state service 108 The team of young Orientalists in Alma-Ata 113 In search of shajaras : genealogical narratives of the Kazakh tribes, 1970–80 118 Conclusion 125 4 General conclusion 135 Politicization of philology 136 Regional vs. republican approaches in nation building 137 Triangle: Moscow–Leningrad–Tashkent 138 Power and scholarship 140 Index 143 Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 10:10 23 February 2017 Acknowledgments My foremost gratitude goes to Michael Kemper and Stéphane Dudoignon, the supervisors of my Ph.D. project at Amsterdam University. I am very grateful to the renowned specialist in Old Turkic history the late Sergei G. Kliashtornyi (1929–2014) and the expert in Central Asian Islamic historiography Tursun I. Sultanov, who generously acted as my mentors at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (formerly the St. Petersburg/Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies) and the Oriental faculty of St. Petersburg University in 2008–2009. I thank Stanislav M. Prozorov, Roman Iu. Pochekaev, Dmitrii Rukhliadev, Aleksandr G. Iurchenko, Irina R. Katkova, Pavel Lur’e, and Asan Torgaev for fruitful discussions, academic advice, and organizational help when- ever I am in St. Petersburg. It was a great pleasure for me to experience Kazakh hospitality during my trips to Almaty, Turkestan, Sayram, and Chimkent in 2009 and 2010. Many thanks go to Ashirbek K. Muminov, Mervert Kh. Abuseitova, Kanat Uskenbay, Safar Abdullo, Erbulat A. Smagulov, and the collective of the Turkestan Archeological Expedition who made my trips fascinating and useful. During a joint visit to Almaty, Niccoló Pianciola shared with me his experience in writing about early-20th-century Kazakh society. I received positive critiques, help with sources and literature, and wise recom- mendations from Devin DeWeese,

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