Russian Colonial Society in Tashkent, 1865–1923 by Jeff Sahadeo (review)

Abstract

reviews 757 thisconflict and ofthedeeplyproblematic roleplayedbytheUnitedNations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). Whilstdetailsofthepoliticaland military developments oftheconflict are provided,Donia once again interprets the essenceof thisperiodof Sarajevo's history as a battlebetweenthosewho fought to protect thecity'scommonlifeand those,liketheformer Bosnian Serbleaderand ICTY indictee Radovan Karadzic,whowantedtodestroy it. Whilst Sarajevo'stradition ofdiversity survived theshockoftheSecondWorld War, it seemsuncertain thatitwillsurvive thewar of 1992-95.'The city's commonlifehangsin thebalance' notesDonia (p. 352),and scholarsand analysts ofpost-war Bosniaare indeeduncertain thatthestatewillsurvive in itspresent form, or ifitspolitical boundaries willneedtobe re-drawn. Donia's knowledge of the history, politicsand cultureof Bosnia and of Sarajevothroughout theagesis evident throughout thisbook,he is equallyat ease describing thepositionofnon-Muslim SarajevansunderOttomanrule as he isdescribing theatmosphere inthecity whilst ithostedthe1984Winter Olympiad. Perhapsthere isa tendency inthebooktowards eulogization whilst describing thepassing ofmulticulturalism inSarajevo.Donia occasionally slips intothetragic mode,callingthesiegeofSarajevo(1992-96)an 'epic struggle to preserve a cherished way oflife'(p. 287),and thenagain latercanepic struggle ofwills'(p. 317).One suspects he is occasionally caughtup inthepity ofthething; butthenso manypeoplehavelookedatBosnia'shistory through the prismof war and seen nothingbut interminable hostility. Sarajevo: A Biography is a persuasive riposteto thisapproach,it provesempirically that therehas been and can be a commonlifein thecity. SchoolofHistory andArchives University College Dublin JohnPaul Newman Sahadeo, Jeff.Russian ColonialSociety in Tashkent, 1865ig2j . Indiana University Press, Bloomington andIndianapolis, 2007.xi+ 316pp.Maps. Illustrations. Notes.Bibliography. Index.$45.00. JeffSahadeo has made an immensely valuablecontribution tobothcolonial and urbanhistory withhisnewstudy ofRussiansettlers in Tashkentwhich, unusually, bridges the1917dividetocarry thestory from theRussianconquest in 1865through theRevolution and theearliest yearsofSovietRule to 1923. Sahadeo has done extensive research in archives and libraries in Uzbekistan, but perhapsthe moststriking aspect of his book is the use he makes of the historiography of the Britishand FrenchEmpires,and in particular the richliterature of postcolonialstudies.To some extentthen thisis a comparative study, situating RussianTashkentfirmly in thewidercontext of nineteenth-century Europeanimperialism. Sahadeo describesa city with multiplepersonalities, some of which pre-dated itscapture byGeneralCherniaevin 1865(pp. 12-21).Tashkent was atonetimea majorstaging-post on theEastWesttrading routeloosely known 758 SEER, 88, 4, OCTOBER 2OIO as theSilkRoad, buthad maintained itsprosperity throughout thesupposedlystagnant seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as thestarting and terminal pointfortheNorth-South caravanswhichcrossedtheKazakh Steppeto Russia. Tashkentmarkedthe frontier betweenthe steppesand the oasis regions totheSouth,and as suchithad a chequeredpolitical history, at times falling undertheauthority oftheKazakh Khans,at others disputed between theEmirofBukharaand theKhan ofKokand,and fora timein thelate eighteenth and earlynineteenth centuries it was an independent city-state undertheruleofYunus Khoja. In 1865,however, Tashkentwas partofthe Kokand Khanate,and it was Kokand's mostfamousmilitary commander, Alimqul,who was slain beforethe citywalls priorto Cherniaev'sfinal, successful, assault.Tashkent's careeras a colonialcapitalhad begun,and this wouldsee thecityprofoundly transformed. As withthecantonments ofBritish India or theNouvelles Villes ofFrench NorthAfrica,the racial, religiousand culturaldividebetweencolonizers and colonizedwas reflected in urbanplanning.The Russiansbuilta new 'European' townnextto the old 'native'city,and dividedfromit by the Anharcanal. Here theregulargridpattern ofthetree-lined boulevards, the neatwhitebungalows, churches and latergrander, brick-built official edifices weresupposedtoprojectan imageofsuperior rationalEuropeanmodernity, in contrast to theteeming, dirty alleyways oftheold city(pp. 32-46). However ,as Sahadeo skilfully shows,reality rarely conformed to thisimage.The earliest buildings ofRussianTashkent werelittle morethanwoodenand mud huts,and it was over tenyearsbeforethe citybegan to acquire any real feeling ofpermanence. The fledgling settler community found itself dependent on the 'Sarts'ofthenativecityforfoodand othercommodities, whilst the canal whichsuppliedtheir wateralso flowed first through 'Asiatic'Tashkent. The imageofthecannyMuslim'speculator' and trader exploiting thesettler population was one thatwouldrecurrepeatedly throughout thecolonialand earlySovietperiods, leadingtoriots(often led byRussianwomen)at timesof highprices(pp.89-90, 170-76). Mosthumiliatingly ofall,Russiansettlers were deficient in knowledge, whether ofthelocal languages, irrigation techniques, methods offarming or treatments forunfamiliar diseases.Local intermediaries , such as SattarKhan Abdulghafarov and MuhiddinKhoja Ishan,both Qazis(Muslim judges)playedan important roleinthecolonialadministration (pp. 83-84). Whilstretaining whatoften seemeda fragile military superiority overthe 'natives'of Turkestan, in otherrespects the Russiansfeltdisturbinglyvulnerable .Various tacticswere used to combat these feelingsof impermanenceand insecurity: the welcomingof the Governor-General ofTurkestan to his capitaland thecommemoration ofthefallofTashkent rapidly evolvedintoelaboraterituals (pp.47-56).The smallcircleofRussian intellectuals in Tashkent, mostofthemfrom a military background, felt their isolationveryacutely,and respondedby establishing learnedsocietiesand publishing learnedarticleson the history, ethnography and agriculture of Turkestanin the pages of Turkestanskiia Vedomosti, the official newspaper. Konstantin Petrovich vonKaufman, thefirst Governor-General ofTurkestan, encouraged'scientific' pursuitsamongstofficers servingin Turkestanand personally recruited manyexperts, suchas theorientalists Alexander Kun and reviews 759 NikolaiOstroumov, to servein the...