현대 우즈베키스탄의 18-19세기에 대한 역사 관점과 민족 정체성 확립

Abstract

Since its independence in 1991, the Republic of Uzbekistan has maintained the program of building its own national identity, in which writing histories on the Uzbek land and people has played a crucial role. There have been a number of historical works produced by Uzbek scholars, several of whom were directly commissioned or sponsored by the government. Through the analysis of those works, some tendencies of viewpoints in Uzbekistan’s official or semi-official historical writings have been revealed, such as the upholding of prominent historical figures as national heroes and the vilifying of the Soviet past. Nevertheless, the legacy from the Soviet historiography remains influential particularly in the negative judgment of the period of the Uzbek dynasties in the 18th-19th centuries.BR This paper illustrates how Uzbekistan’s scholars have made efforts to overcome the biases derived from the Soviet historical ideology and methodology that described the rulers of the Uzbek dynasties as “oriental despots” and portrayed the period as that of decline before the Russian expansion into Central Asia. Partly inspired by the Western scholars’ call for research on new historical sources, the recent Uzbek scholarship agree to the necessity of reevaluating the historical developments in 18th-19th century Central Asia. Surprisingly, the reverence of Amir Timur as the greatest Uzbek hero, which the present Uzbekistan government is committed to promote, in effect originated from the political transformation in that period. The pursuit of non-Chinggisid authority by the so-called “tribal dynasties” of Bukhara, Khiva, and Khoqand along with Central Asian people’s aspiration for social stability created the idealization of Amir Timur, which was firmly established during the 19th century. Therefore, the study of the Uzbek society in the 18th-19th centuries, which has thus far been ignored, is of great relevance for understanding the legitimization of the present leadership of the Republic of Uzbekistan.