Paper long abstract:

This paper examines Imperial Russian policy vis-à-vis Yakub Beg's insurgent regime in Kashgaria from 1865 to 1877. It focuses on debates within the Russian administration about how to contain Yakub Beg. Local military commanders in Tashkent and other frontier garrisons advocated an aggressive policy, which resulted in the occupation of the Ili Valley northeast of Kashgaria in 1871. More cautious officials in the imperial capital, however, feared alienating their Chinese neighbour. Further complicating matters were British efforts to establish Kashgaria as a buffer against the perceived tsarist threat to India.

By examining relevant Russian and Uzbek archival sources, my basic objective is to determine to what extent local generals drove St Petersburg's relations with Kashgaria under Yakub Beg's rule. I argue that, much as during tsarism's drive into western Turkestan during the reign of Tsar Alexander II (r 1855-1881), decision making in St Petersburg regarding Yakub Beg was muddled by the contradictory impulses of imperial expansion and the desire to avoid military confrontations in the wake of the Crimean War.

The Kashgar question was particularly sensitive. During much of its existence, the insurgent regime posed a very real threat to Russia's own ambitions in Central Asia. There was still some hard fighting to impose tsarist rule over Western Turkestan. At the same time, it was not implausible that Yakub Beg's summons to jihad might well find a sympathetic response among the tsar's new Muslim subjects. Therefore, until his defeat became increasingly likely, there were sound reasons for maintaining a modus vivendi with Yakub Beg. But since the days of Peter the Great, Russia had enjoyed relatively peaceful relations with the Middle Kingdom, which it was loath to jeopardise.

I conclude that, despite its setbacks during the nineteenth century, China was far too big to offend by appearing to be too friendly with its insurgents. The Kashgar question was a dilemma that proved beyond the capabilities of the tsar's generals and diplomats. Ultimately, it could only be solved by forces entirely outside of their control.

This is part of my research for a book, "Russia's Great Game: The Struggle for mastery in Central Asia," which studies the diplomacy of tsarist expansion in greater Turkestan, Mongolia and Tibet.

Paper long abstract:

According to Islamic law, an orphan is an under-aged infant (saghir) before the age of puberty whose father or both his/her parents have died. Yet in the qaḍī court record cases produced in colonial-era Tashkent, under-aged children who lost their mother were not defined as orphans. This novel way of defining orphans reflects the changing socio-economic roles played by fathers and mothers. In this paper I focus on the transformation of Tashkent qāḍī court records, with special attention to four books written in Sibzar 1888, Beshaghach 1888, Kukcha 1899, and 1890 Shaykhantaur districts respectively. These sources have been almost entirely neglected by scholars, despite their importance for illuminating the social and economic circumstances of orphans in Muslim society in Tashkent.

In 1867, when Russian colonial authorities started to reform juridical system in Turkestan, the qāḍis were ordered to give information to the colonial administration by written annual registers about all issues which they judged. Therefore, everytime someone of even lower socioeconomic status went to a qāḍī court, the case was documented. I apply statistical and comparative methods to these qāḍīs register ledgers in order to approach answers to the following questions:

- what were the new orders of Russian statutory law in the register books?

- were the court recordings which contained full information on ophans created to safeguard the livelihood of orphans or for registering orphans' inherited properties to control it?

- what were differences between qāḍīs' old and 'new' register books (i.e. before and after the colonial legal reforms)?

- howwere the proceedings forappointing a guardian for orphans held?

Preliminary findings suggest an increasing importance of documentation and paperwork in the colonial context. It also suggests that Muslim judges to innovate new procedures and solutions within the broader framework of Islamic law to address new challenges in colonial society.

Paper long abstract:

This paper studies process of medicalization of childbirth and the pathology of the birth act in medical discourse. The process of medicalization of female reproductive health was expressed in that it took under control a whole life period of the woman - from maturation to pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum recovery and female diseases. By the end of 19th century, the hierarchy in the activity of a doctor-obstetrician and midwife was established in Turkestan. Doctors-midwives began to control the area of pathological obstetrics and to provide benefits for "difficult births." And the bulk of local population, especially population of small towns and villages, were treated exclusively during "difficult births". The authority of scientific obstetrics was confirmed due to the development of the theory of operational obstetrics. Cesarean section operations began to be performed not only in hospitals, but also at home. On the other hand, there were gender stereotypes of society regarding the inadmissibility of men to examine and study the female body on the way of spreading scientific obstetrics. For this reason, the first dispensary intended for the local population of Turkestan was an outpatient clinic for women and children, that began its activity in 1883 in Tashkent, and later similar dispensaries were opened in other cities of the region. In the outpatient clinic of this type only women worked. However, the Muslims of the large cities of the region began to turn to male doctors of "European" origin. I argue that birth process transited from folk medicine to scientific midwifery in Turkestan at late 19th and early 20th centuries. Furthermore, I show that in 1920s, Muslim women who had no children started to contact the gynecologists about consent to artificial insemination. This research is based on periodical materials, published materials and archival documents from Central State Archive of Uzbekistan and Central State Archive of Scientific, Technical and Medical Documentation of Uzbekistan. The approaches of the social history of medicine, gender history and feminist anthropology, as well as the methods of content analysis and discursive analysis play main role in this paper.

Paper long abstract:

The Khanates of Bukhara and of Khoqand became the most prominent political actors in the history of Central Asia in the nineteenth century, yet their rivalry has not received due attention partly because of the dominant discourses, such as Russian Orientalism and the "Great Game" narrative, which are essentially Eurocentric and focus mainly on the external factors of development. However, prior to the Russian expansion into the region in 1865, the politics of Central Asia was predicated upon the activities of Bukhara and Khoqand, and their clashes. After acquiring political consolidation in the Zarafshan valley and in Ferghana respectively, the Manghity dynasty in Bukhara and the Ming dynasty in Khoqand found themselves in the position that they could achieve further expansions only at the expense of each other. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the competition led to military conflicts, which culminated in Bukhara's occupation in 1842 although Khoqand could restore its independence almost immediately. The political competition involved such important border polities such as Shahrisabz. The rivalry also became manifest in the realms of propaganda and legitimation. The both dynasties competed in wearing religious garments, manufacturing their titles, manipulating their genealogies and claiming its own superiority over the other in legitimacy.

By scrutinizing indigenous sources and some diplomatic documents, this paper will map the dynamics of the Central Asian societies through the prism of the Central Asian great rivalry, uncovering the major factors that shaped the political landscape, such as tribes, religious symbols, and external powers. The paper ultimately seeks to contribute to overcoming the tendency of depending too much upon the so-called "Great Game" narrative in conceptualizing Central Asia in the nineteenth century.

Paper long abstract:

Central Asian history remains a domain of elite history, for the most part. Most studies focus on elites: men who were privileged by birth, wealth, or education. Studies of people with humbler origins are few and far between. This study seeks to recover the voices and life stories of one such marginalized group: native Central Asian women, particularly those who engaged in prostitution.

The challenge in writing any historical account of the social life of women in pre-revolutionary Turkestan is that women in Russian Central Asia rarely came into direct contact with the colonial state and thus left few traces in written sources. There existed a category of women, however, who were closely monitored by the authorities and were the subject of extensive documentation. Prostitution was officially regulated in the Russian Empire from 1843 on, and after the conquest of Central Asia this regulation spread to the territories controlled by the Tsarist authorities. Russian officials generated vast amounts of documentation, and their policies elicited strong and sustained responses from their Central Asian subjects.

This paper focuses on the prostitution control exercised by the colonial administration in Tsarist Central Asia and the interplay between colonial authorities and local societies. Using the case of five years long attempts by the Russian colonial administration to close down two brothels, I aim to illustrate interrelation between colonisers and colonised, limits of colonial power and the struggle to define marriage, female freedom and its limits both by the brothel keepers and the Russian officers.

My research relies mostly on documents in the Central State Archive of Uzbekistan, located in Tashkent. By reading extensive amount of primary material deposited in this vast collection of colonial records of Russian Turkestan against the grain, I intend to highlight the aspects of social life under the Russian rule in late modern Central Asia which were largely neglected.