Mutual Cultural, Spiritual And Educational Cooperation Between The Russian And Turkestan Jadids

Abstract

This article examines the cultural, spiritual and educational cooperation between the Crimean Tatar (Russian) and Turkestan Jadids in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, centred on the figure of Ismail Gasprinski. It traces the penetration of his “usul-i sawtiyya” (phonetic method) and the influence of his newspaper Tarjimon into Turkestan, his visits of 1893 and 1908, and his contacts with local enlighteners such as Munavvar Qori Abdurashidxonov, Mahmudxoʻja Behbudiy, Abduqodir Shakuriy and the poet Chulpon. Drawing on archival directives and correspondence, the article shows how the colonial administration and the missionary N. Ostroumov sought to obstruct the new-method schools, and how Gasprinski defended the Turkestan reformers in the press. It concludes that the Turkestan Jadid movement was, in many of its domains, a close collaborator of Gasprinski in the processes of renewal.