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My paper approaches identity shifts among Uzbeks, Tajiks and Afghans, from a comparative angle by critically examining how these groups were represented in the precolonial, colonial and nationalist historiographies. This paper is part of my PhD dissertation research, which is about "language and nationalism in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan". A detailed examination of precolonial historiographies reveal that Mawara al-Nahrian and Khurasani identities as well as other forms of belonging such as identification with a city, region or clan prevailed in both Central Asia and Afghanistan. The Arrival of Western (both British and Russian) orientalists offered the possibility to re-imagine self and others from a fresh angle. Groups depending on their degree of exposure to colonial/orientalist knowledge were internalizing and recycling orientalists; thoughts about self and others. At the start of the twentieth century, the rise of constitutionalist movements in the Ottoman, Iran and Russia, and access to print-capitalism created an opportunity for the literati and members of the ruling group to mobilize people around new ideas. Nationalist historiographies deploying colonial knowledge (in adapted, mediated and appropriated manner) helped fixate identities which were fluid, multiple and at places very hybrid.

For this research, I have studied numerous Persian manuscripts produced in Bukhara, Khuqand, Khwarezm, Kabul, Tehran, and British India within the time frame of the nineteenth century. I have also studied travelogues written by Iranian, British and Russian writers to add the orientalist perspectives. I have then delved into leading newspapers such as Bukhara-i Sharif, Shu‘lah-i Enqilab, Siraj al-Akhbar, Ayinah and Aman-i Afghan. At last, I have compared publications of leading pioneers of Uzbek, Tajik and Afghan nationalism (Abd al-Ra’uf Fitrat, Sadr al-Din ‘Ayni and Mahmud Tarzi) in order to grasp the identity shift in intelligentsia of three eras. This is not attempted before. I believe that my paper endorses a fresh way of looking at identity in the context of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. It would also contribute to the comparative study of Persian/Perisianate literature.

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This paper explores the petitions produced by Muslim communities of the Kazakh steppe addressing tsarist authorities. Scholarly works usually emphasize the significance of petitions as informational instruments aimed at provoking political action. In this paper, however, rather that focusing on the grievances expressed in the petitions, I prioritize different language strategies employed within them. I argue that in the late imperial period, tsarist Muslims have developed a special rhetorical device to persuade Russian authorities to grant their requests. This rhetorical device that I refer to here as “speaking tsarist” included affirmation of Muslims’ loyalty to the Russian empire by referencing tsar’s name and Muslim prayers for the tsar and his “august royal family,” while also exploiting tsarist stereotypes about “ignorant Qazaqs” and “fanatical Muslims.”

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A written history of Central Asia for the most part is the history of men who were privileged by birth, wealth, or education. Very little is said or heard, by contrast, about people of humbler birth and more marginal status. One notable marginalized group are Central Asian women, who are generally neglected both in contemporary sources and in modern historical scholarship.

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. In an attempt to regulate and control prostitution, Russian officials generated vast amounts of documentation, while their policies elicited strong and sustained responses from their Central Asian subjects. I intend to write an account of Russian colonial rule in Central Asia and its impact on the lives of these women. By using colonial records stored in the Central State Archive of Uzbekistan, I aim to explore a much wider range of Russian colonial practices that have not been studied before.

This project contributes to scholarship on colonial politics in the Russian Empire’s periphery. Russian Turkestan and the Tsarist authorities’ attempts to control and regulate prostitution serve as a representative case study. I focus on the prostitution control exercised by the colonial administration and the interplay between colonial authorities and local societies. This focus serves as a starting point to analyse and understand various aspects of the region’s social history in the nineteenth century.

In my paper, I focus on dual language documents: petitions from the local populace to the Russian authorities which were ‘translated’ and dealt with according to the ‘translation’. However, very often these ‘translations’ rarely matched the actual content of the petitions. Interpreters abridged, distorted the actual texts of the pleas, excised important information, tweaked the arguments and created a new text which was delivered to decision-makers. This discrepancy between what was asked and what was understood is a potentially fruitful line of research in understanding ‘dialogues’ between colonised and colonisers.

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Whenever speaking about the Turkish studies in Hungary, one may recall the name of Vámbéry, who went from Istanbul to the Central Asia, thus to Bokhara and Khiva, then returned across Afghanistan, arrived at Persia, all way going on foot. Moreover, he covered his European identity, for it was dangerous and he could be killed if unfolded, hence his marvellous knowledge of the languages and extremely strong spirit, ability for serenity, saved him. In that time, the middle of the 19th century, there happened “The Great Game” between the British Empire and the Russian Tsardom, for gaining the power over the Central Asia. (Ingram, 1980; Rezun, 1986; McDaniel, 2011) Therefore, he was evaluated by the officials of the British Empire, such as the Ambassador of the UK in Teheran, who became his friend and provider, too, by financial and official help. Due to this patron, after his wanderings the British Government received him with a great respect, his prestige grew in London, and he was appointed for an Advisor of the British Government. The great record of Vámbéry, it was the description of his trip to Central Asia, Khiva and Bokhara. (His two-volumes book: “Travel in Middle Asia” in German: Vámbéry, 1865, 2nd ed. 1873) He studied culture and history of Bokhara in person, and his book about them was published in German then English, too, in two volumes, introduced the Western, and also Turkish public of those times into the history and culture of that unknown yet country. (Vámbéry, 1872; 1873) - Now in this paper we deal with those two works by Vámbéry, which introduced the "Great Game" between the Tsarist Russia and the British Empire. These were: "Russlands Machtstellung in Asien" (Leipzig, 1871) [Russia's Power Position in Asia] and "Zentralasien und die Englisch-Russische Grenzfrage" (ib. 1873) [Central Asia and the English-Russian Border Question]. It is of great significance, how saw Vámbéry from Central Asia this "Great game" and how he criticized the defeat of Russia in this competition. Although the Central Asian peoples did not want nor Russia neither The British, but the latter had more chance to win, because -among several causes. the Turkish peoples of Central Asia heard about the Russian policy and approach to the subordinated vassals, thus they were not likely to became such; and because the highest socio-cultural development of the British Empire, which made it promising.