РУССКИЕ В ТУРКЕСТАНЕ: АДАПТАЦИЯ К МЕСТНОЙ КУЛЬТУРЕ ИЛИ СЛУЖБА ВО ИМЯ СТРОИТЕЛЬСТВА ИМПЕРИИ?

Abstract

The article considers the cultural adaptation of two generations of the Russian population in Turkestan. The biographies of the “first Turkestanians” — the diplomat (N. Petrovsky), military man and scientist (V. P. Nalivkin), missionary (N. P. Ostroumov), military man and administrator (N. S. Lykoshin) — are presented as examples of cultural adaptation to local realities. The biographies of these people catch a pattern: they were born in European Russia, came to Turkestan when they were young to make a career, taught and knew local languages and culture well. The main motivation for their actions can be describe as desire to serve faithfully and honestly to the interests of the Russian Empire in the East. Conditionally, we call them the first generation of Turkestan Russians who worked for the benefit and strengthening of the empire. The author also drew upon personal cards of bank employees of the “second generation of Turkestanians” who were actively involved in the socio-economic life of Russian Turkestan. The author believes that the views of the first generation of Russians on local culture were orientalist and Messianic. The first generation of “Turkestanians” dreamed of merging cultures and integrating the local economy into the general imperial one. The second generation of Russians, who were born in Turkestan, radically differed from the first generation, and was less orientalist, and they had almost no elements of exclusivity and Messianism. Russians born in Turkestan learned languages faster, adapted to the local culture, received education in Tashkent and Kokand, worked in local government and financial structures. When writing the article, the author used unpublished archival materials of the Russian Federation and Uzbekistan, memoirs, as well as personal correspondence of diplomats and military personnel.