Central Asians Research Articles

Ethnolinguistic Nominations of Mythological Figures (demonologems) in the Kalmyk Language

Demonology ideas that date from the oldest and most stable folklore and mythological traditions are emphasized in multiple ethnic cultures. An early form of religion directly coupled with mythology is represented by the black faith of the Mongolian and, more broadly, Central Asians, which evolved from many different beliefs bequeathed by ancestors (belief in the forces of space and nature, in the souls of dead ancestors, totemic ancestors, etc.). It made people perceive the world around as a set of elements dynamically influencing their lives where each element has its own origin, its own spirit somewhat independent, which they worship and appease by means of sacrifice, incantation and primordial magic. Mythologization as a certain tendency of consciousness was preserved throughout all historical stages shaping the ethnic Mongolian society, including the Kalmyks. The paper discusses the naming of mythological characters (demonologems or demonims), defines the groups of nominations for „lower mythology‟ characters with a surreal denotation that does not exist in real life. The study aims to feature the ethnolinguistic functioning of demonology glossary in the Kalmyk language and to identify its significance in modern linguistic consciousness. The glossary is basically denoted through ethnocultural stereotypical ideas about demonology born in the minds of native speakers. The most productive are the nominative groups of mythical creatures determined by their habitat, by deleterious effects that malevolent entities can have, etc. Evaluative nominations are based on demonologemes that have a negative connotation fixed in the language.

«Помогите мне в моем великом горе». О хлопотах Ахматовой по освобождению сына (новые детали) Статья первая

This paper is about Anna Akhmatova’s attempts to free her son after his arrest in 1949. There has been a lot of literature on the subject, especially by the literary scholar, Emma Gerstein, who took a dedicated part in Akhmatova’s efforts. This paper makes a number of unpublished material from 1954–1956 from Gerstein’s archive at the Russian State Library (fond 641). First of all, these are letters of petition from Akhmatova to writers, prominent literary and party functionaries Mikhail Sholokhov (two: an authorized typewritten draft and Akhmatova’s autograph) and Aleksandr Fadeev (one: a typewritten draft with amendments by Gerstein). There is also a handwritten letter of acknowledgement from Akhmatova to Gerstein and a text called by Emma Grigorievna “Explanations by E.G. Gerstein to A.A. Akhmatova’s letters addressed to M.A. Sholokhov and A.A. Fadeev and to some other documents on the case of her son”. “Some other documents” are the petitions for Gumilev mentioned by Gerstein in the press but not published by her, written by major scholars: two by the orientalist, Vasily Struve, one each by archaeologists Aleksei Okladnikov and Mikhail Artamonov. Three petitions have been published, one has not yet been published and will be published here for the first time, together with other unknown materials. Among the new materials there is also a letter from Akhmatova to the poet and venerable literary functionary figure Aleksei Surkov, not from the Gerstein archive, although thematically related to the rest of them. The paper consists of two parts (articles). The first part includes Akhmatova’s letters to Sholokhov and petitions from scholars, typewritten copies of which are appended to the second letter. The petitions are descriptions of Lev Gumilev, “a very valuable specialist” and “an honest Soviet man” (Struve), and contain requests for an expedited review of his case and to return “the outstanding researcher of Central and Middle Asian peoples’ history” “to a real life in science” (Okladnikov). The second article, which will appear in the next issue, includes Akhmatova’s letters to Fadeev and Surkov. The publication of the letters is accompanied by Gerstein’s “Explanations” and an extensive commentary.

Динамика численности среднеазиатских этносов в Томской области (конец XIX – первые десятилетия XXI в.)

The dynamics of the number of Central Asian migrants in the Tomsk region in the late nineteenth century to the first decades of the 21st century is considered. Based on the population censuses of the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Russian Federation, the author comes to the conclusion that immigrants from the Central Asian regions of the country in a small number (about 110 people) were registered in Tomsk and Tomsk County already in the 19th century. In Soviet times, the number of immigrants from Central Asia and Kazakhstan had a constant tendency to increase, their number it amounted to 7.7 thousand people in 1989. In the post-Soviet period, the number of representatives of titular ethnic groups of the Central Asian republics fluctuated: in 2002 – 4015, in 2010 – 8211, in 2020 – 6877 people, not all of them belonged to the titular ethnic group. Thus, the share of representatives of Central Asian peoples in the population of the region did not exceed 0.8 %.

The US liberal political and academic establishment on national-territorial transformation of Russia in 1917–1922

The paper examines the evolution of approaches and assessments of the US political and academic establishment regarding the national-territorial transformation of Russia at the final stage of the First World War, during the Revolution and the Civil War. During that period the US diplomacy was focused on developing and implementing its own ambitious program for the liberal-democratic reorganization of the post-war world with particular focus on issues of national self-determination. As a result, Wilson’s administration could not remain indifferent to the dramatic changes on the territory of the former Russian Empire. However, as the author notes, for European politicians its responses appeared rather unusual and often puzzling. The latter was due to a very specific interpretation of the principle of national self-determination adopted by W. Wilson and his associates as the right of the civil society to self-government rather than the right to ethnic separation. At the same time, the right to independently determine their own destiny was reserved, in a spirit of social-Darwinism, only for peoples who had reached a certain maturity. And moreover, each particular case was additionally assessed in terms of both political rationality and developments of political situation in Russia in general. For instance, the US liberal political and academic establishment consistently supported the independence of Poland and Finland while most other national minorities (the peoples of the Baltic region, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, the peoples of Central Asia, etc.) were usually encouraged to defend their autonomy within a united and democratic Russia. The author notes, that the US policy towards Russia became particularly controversial after the Bolsheviks came to power: the consistent rejection of the Bolshevik reforms was accompanied by the reluctance to incite separatism on the national outskirts out of fear of Russia’s uncontrolled disintegration and its subsequent transformation into a site of endless ethnic conflicts. As a result, the United States did not recognize most of the national entities that declared their independence in 1917–1922. At the same time, the author concludes that the growing ideological and political confrontation with Soviet Russia in the following years did not allow the US leaders to adequately assess the national-territorial transformations that were brought about by the creation of the USSR.

А Cognitive Study of “Вaburname”’S Translations and Principle of Compiling a Textual Dictionary

Zahiriddin Muhammad Babur's memoir “Baburname” is well known and well thought-out as a rare source by the world scholars which provide gorgeous information about the history of Central Asian people. His work written in an autobiographical way that contains a vast data about the way of life of people in Central Asia, as abroad scholars called Transoxiana political and social activities of that time, the way of national and cultural life and wonderful customs and traditions. At the same time the literary translation of “Baburname” is also serving as a model of both diachronic and synchronic study from a linguistic translation point of view. The paremiological and phraseological units used in work “Baburname” also served to describe the character of historical figures. This article is devoted to the study of comparative – conceptual analysis of Russian-English translations and suggest the possibility of creating a textual dictionary based on its’ translations and the development of principles of creating dictionary as the work that undergone the history of translation. The English translations made by J. Leyden-W. Erskine (1826), A.S. Beveridge (1921) and W. Thackston (1996) are compared in this article. The tables of phraseological expressions worked out in “Baburname”’s translations, aimed at revealing the cognitive interpretation of the author's point of view.

The Animal-Riding Lute Player: a Lens on Gender and Ethnicity in Art and Texts

Abstract This paper explores the theme of the horse- and camel-riding lute player appearing in Chinese art and texts as early as the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). Such works reflect the expansion of trade with Central Asian peoples in late Han, when texts first mention the introduction of lutes by steppe peoples who themselves played them on horseback. Many subsequent texts, poems, and works of art, particularly during the Tang dynasty (618-907), expand on this idea, highlighting not only the instrument’s steppe origins and association with non-Han men but also elite Han women, particularly those sent to the border regions as diplomatic brides. Drawing primarily on Tang writings and works of art, this paper examines issues of gender, social status, ethnicity and the complex meanings of the lute-playing, camel-riding theme and its depiction in art.

HISTORICAL AND RELIGIOUS LITHOGRAPHIC BOOKS ON THE LITERARY HERITAGE OF UZBEKISTAN

Although books on the history of Central Asian petroglyphs have been widely published, no scientific research has been carried out in this regard to date. Of course, there are specific reasons for this situation, first of all, the rise of ideas that the people of Central Asia were backward and illiterate in the period before the October coup d'état of 1917, attempts to falsify knowledge about historical periods that educate the population in the spirit of patriotism and freedom, the study of lithographic books about history hindered in a way. Also, the focus on handwritten books in the coverage of historical processes has led to the exclusion of historical lithographic books. However, lithographic books were important not only from a source point of view, but also from a social point of view. It should be noted that the wider spread of manuscript books, as well as the social factor of lithographic books, allowed for the wide distribution of important historical sources among the population. Taking into account the fact that the work “History of Mullozoda” was published several times in lithographs, it is possible to know how widespread it was among the population [1].

The Genetic Echo of the Tarim Mummies in Modern Central Asians.

The diversity of Central Asians has been shaped by multiple migrations and cultural diffusion. Although ancient DNA studies have revealed the demographic changes of the Central Asian since the Bronze Age, the contribution of the ancient populations to the modern Central Asian remains opaque. Herein, we performed high-coverage sequencing of 131 whole genomes of Indo-European-speaking Tajik and Turkic-speaking Kyrgyz populations to explore their genomic diversity and admixture history. By integrating the ancient DNA data, we revealed more details of the origins and admixture history of Central Asians. We found that the major ancestry of present-day Tajik populations can be traced back to the admixture of the Bronze Age Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex and Andronovo-related populations. Highland Tajik populations further received additional gene flow from the Tarim mummies, an isolated ancient North Eurasian–related population. The West Eurasian ancestry of Kyrgyz is mainly derived from Historical Era populations in Xinjiang of China. Furthermore, the recent admixture signals detected in both Tajik and Kyrgyz are ascribed to the expansions of Eastern Steppe nomadic pastoralists during the Historical Era.

Introduction

Abstract Gender-based violence, (geo)politics, and Islam continue to dominate the production of knowledge about Central Asia. While using a gender lens, this Special Issue offers a different perspective on the region. The authors link historical analyses of imperial and Soviet gendered modernities to contemporary Central Asians’ daily lives and local nationalisms to shed light on often overlooked areas in the literature, such as a systematic screening out of historical and contemporary gender diversity, sex work, virginity tests, in-bodiment (as in corporeality, not just the performance of social norms,) queer activism, and the use and abuse of discourse on traditions. As a platform for a conversation about negotiating gender in Central Asia and indigenizing gender theory from within other than Euro-American contexts, this Issue is an example of knowledge production by and with Central Asians. This Issue is also an invitation to continue using a gender lens, as there are still several research areas that remain unexplored and would, we believe, benefit from such an approach.

Chinese Written Sources about the Relations of the Central Asia’s People and China in Vi-X Cent

The article examines information about the relations between the peoples of Central Asia and China in the VII-X centuries on Chinese written sources. The works of the Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and the Wu-dai era are mainly taken, but in addition to them, information from other chronicles that were created later is also given. When working on the article, was used the chronological method of compiling a list of sources. It is also possible to change the order in cases where the sources of the type of information complement each other. Each essay begins with the title and its translation from the Chinese language. Next, information about the author, the time of compilation and other data is given. Information about the relations between the peoples of Central Asia and China is transmitted in chronological order. One of the fundamental concepts of historical science is the "historical source". In the literal sense, the word "source" means a spring, a key, in the figurative sense-that which gives rise to something, serves as the basis for something. Indeed, every study of topics and problems of the distant or recent past begins with the identification, study and use of historical sources and is based on them.

The Early Development of the Western Regions

During this period, superstition and sorcery were also accompanied in the process of curing diseases. This is also the medical activity of the farming and nomadic peoples in Central Asia’s hinterland before the opening of the silk road.

EVENTS IN THE SECOND BATTLE OF GEOK TEPE AND RUSSIAN GENERAL MIKHAIL DMITRIEVICH SKOBELEV

Mihail Dmitrieviç Skobelev 1843-1882 arasında yaşamış Rusya ve Orta Asya tarihinde iz bırakan bir Rus Generalidir. Rusların Orta Asya ve Teke Türkmenlerine karşı savaşlarında büyük başarı elde eden ve Türkmen tarihine iz bırakan önemli komutandır. 19. yüzyıl Çarlık Rusya’sı için büyük savaşların yüzyılı olmuştur. Bu yüzyılda Ruslar kendi sınırlarını genişletmek ve yeni toprakları ele geçirmek arayışına giriştiği dönem olmuştur. Rusların ilk hedefi Osmanlı topraklarına giriş yapıp Akdeniz’de söz sahibi olmaktı. Fakat Ruslar 1856’da Osmanlı ile giriştiği Kırım savaşını Avrupa devletlerinin de dahil olduğu bu mücadeleyi kaybetmişlerdi. Bu kayıp Rusların siyasi politikasına büyük darbe vurmuştur. Fakat Ruslar pes etmeyerek yönlerini Orta Asya’ya çevirmişlerdir. Rusların Orta Asya topraklarında en çok sahip olmak istedikleri bölge Hazar ötesinde yer alan Türkmen topraklarıydı. Kafkaslar ve Orta Asya ticaretini stratejik yolla bağlayan topraklara sahip olan Türkmenlerin işgali zaruriydi. Türkmenlere karşı yapılacak işgal için Petersburg’da Türkmenlere karşı uzun stratejik hazırlık sonrası Rus ordusu bu seferin başına geçecek olan komutanın kimin olacağına dair görüşmeler uzmanlar tarafından tartışılmıştır. Komutanlar tarafından alınan kararda bu seferin komutanı olarak daha önce Türkistan seferlerinde büyük başarılar elde eden D. M. Skobelev’i uygun görülmüştür. Türkmenlerin işgali için sefer öncesi 10 Ocak 1879 tarihinde Çar II. Aleksandır, Skobelev’i ile görüşmek için Petersbug’a çağırır. Çar II. Aleksandır, Ahal-Teke seferine Skobelev’in başa gelmesi ile onun yetkilerini de genişletmiştir. Skobelev, sefer için gerekli olan yardım ve desteği Türkistan ve Orenburg’dan istediği kadar elde edebilecekti. Rusların Türkmenlere karşı daha önce verdikleri kayıp nedeniyle Skobelev daha dikkatli ve temkinli davranmayı tercih etmiştir. Çünkü Orta Asya coğrafyası Rusların yaşadıkları topraklara göre çok daha farklıydı. Ayrıca Türkmenleri işgal etmek diğer Orta Asya hanlıklarına nazaran kolay olmamıştır. Bu çalışmada Çarlık Rusya’sının Türkmen karşı ilk savaşta başarısız olmaları ardından ikinci defa savaş açmaları ve 12 Ocak 1881 tarihinde Göktepe savaşında Ruslar ve Teke Türkmenleri arasında yaşananlar ve Türkmenlerin yenilgisi gibi bilgilere yer verilmişti.

Сочинение Цишии «Сиюй вэньцзяньлу»: сведения по истории народов Центральной Азии второй половины XVIII в.

Introduction. The article examines the Chinese written source Xiyu wenjian lu 西域闻见录 (‘Record of Things Seen and Heard in the Western Regions’) by the Manchu official Qishiyi (Chunyuan) and its data on the history and ethnography of Central Asian peoples in the mid-to-late 18th century. Goals. The work seeks to introduce new data on the history of Central Asia contained in Xiyu wenjian lu, analyze various copies and versions of the written source, and provide new information about the author of the composition. Materials and methods. The study explores the Japanese woodblock print edition of 1801 and one modern Chinese edition of 2016, translates some extracts. The work considers various works by Russian and foreign authors regarding the written source, employs the generalizing and comparative research methods, while historical/chronological analysis proves instrumental in investigating certain interesting facts from Xiyu wenjian lu. Results. The paper introduces into scientific circulation new translations of extracts from Qishiyi’s work that significantly supplement and expand data presented in the famous work of N. Ya. Bichurin (Hyacinth) titled ‘Description of Dzungaria and East Turkestan in Ancient and Present Times’. The article contains the most famous copies and versions of Xiyu wenjian lu. The biography of the author is supplemented with new facts of his life that have remained little-known to Russian-speaking researchers. Conclusions. The revealed factual materials from Xiyu wenjian lu show that the work of Manchu official Qishiyi contains original data on historical geography, socioeconomic life of Central Asian peoples, and political situation in the region. Despite its fame, Xiyu wenjian lu is to be thoroughly explored since lots of historical accounts from this source remain unexplored.

Whole-Genome Sequencing and Genomic Variant Analysis of Kazakh Individuals.

Kazakhstan, the ninth-largest country in the world, is located along the Great Silk Road and connects Europe with Asia. Historically, its territory has been inhabited by nomadic tribes, and modern-day Kazakhstan is a multiethnic country with a dominant Kazakh population. We sequenced and analyzed the genomes of five ethnic Kazakhs at high coverage using the Illumina HiSeq2000 next-generation sequencing platform. The five Kazakhs yielded a total number of base pairs ranging from 87,308,581,400 to 107,526,741,301. On average, 99.06% were properly mapped. Based on the Het/Hom and Ti/Tv ratios, the quality of the genomic data ranged from 1.35 to 1.49 and from 2.07 to 2.08, respectively. Genetic variants were identified and annotated. Functional analysis of the genetic variants identified several variants that were associated with higher risks of metabolic and neurogenerative diseases. The present study showed high levels of genetic admixture of Kazakhs that were comparable to those of other Central Asians. These whole-genome sequence data of healthy Kazakhs could contribute significantly to biomedical studies of common diseases as their findings could allow better insight into the genotype–phenotype relations at the population level.

The communication and acceptance of chinese films and TV series in Kazakhstan in the context of overseas promotion of chinese

Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia, and its cooperation with China in economic and cultural aspects is increasingly close. Studying the communication and acceptance of Chinese film and TV series in Kazakhstan can better understand the acceptance and cognition of Chinese culture by the Central Asian people. Based on data analysis and literature research methods, this paper reviews the history of communication and current situation of Chinese films and TV series in Kazakhstan, uses questionnaires to explore the ways and effects of communication of Chinese film and TV series in Kazakhstan, and analyzes the perception of different types of Chinese film and TV series by Kazakhstan audience. It also pointed out a series of problems existing in the communication and promotion of Chinese films and TV series in Kazakhstan: the cultural differences between China and Kazakhstan, the low quality of subtitle translation of film and TV series, and the lack of adequate publicity. Some suggestions are proposed to promote the promotion of Chinese film and TV series in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, so as to promote the in-depth exchange and cooperation of film and television culture in countries along the Belt and Road.

On an Enigmatic Deity with a Dragon on a Chorasmian Silver Bowl from Dagestan

At least five specimens constituting the small group of Chorasmian silver vessels present an image of the Mesopotamian goddess Nana who was very popular in pre-Islamic Central Asia. One silver bowl found in Dagestan at present kept in the State Hermitage Museum is embellished with the image of a deity sitting on a dragon whose identity is not clear. Scholars considered this deity to be a woman because of her clean-shaven face, long hair and garments. However, Kushan rulers had been representing on their coins one Zoroastrian god as a woman since the 2nd century A.D. He was Tir, the god of the planet Mercury who had connections to the Avestan rain god Tishtrya. Despite the problematic associations between Tir and Tishtrya, Central Asian peoples had superimposed this Zoroastrian god to Mesopotamian Nabu who was the patron of scribes and the original “husband” of Nana. Nabu’s symbolic animal was a dragon that is very similar to the one on the Chorasmian bowl from Dagestan. Most likely, Chorasmian artists kept reproducing on their metalwork iconographic elements that originated in Mesopotamia after adapting them to their own religious and cultural sphere.

“The Fate of the Nation”: Population Politics in a Changing Soviet Union (1964–1991)

AbstractThis article shows how the Soviet government perceived higher birth rates in Central Asia as a threat to national identity and the stability of the USSR. The issue of demographic change was complex, and concerns about differential fertility between republics were not informed solely by prejudice. Rather, prejudice and racism mingled with practical concerns about labor surpluses and shortages. The Central Asian Republics had low labor mobility because people were unwilling to leave their cultural community, had a low level of Russian, and tended to not to be trained in the kind of heavy industries that required workers elsewhere in the Soviet Union. I argue that rather than aiming to change these factors, the government misdiagnosed economic problems as demographic ones. They placed primary emphasis on changing patterns of reproduction to remedy the situation by changing the population itself, portraying Slavs and Central Asians as distinct groups who had a predetermined role and place in life. In doing so, Moscow elites failed to address the structural and operational issues of Soviet socialism and inflamed tensions with local leaders who saw demographic campaigns as an attack on their culture.

Medieval communal - religious architecture of the city of Shakhrisabz

The architecture of the Kashkadarya region, like other regions of Uzbekistan, has a thousand-year history. This can be learned from the monuments found as a result of archaeological excavations carried out in the region. On the territory of Kashkadarya there are vast fields, irrigated and suitable for growing lalmi, steppes and pastures, favorable for the development of animal husbandry. This situation had a direct impact on the nature of local art. It also contains the traditions of the culture of nomadic and settled tribes. We can say that urban planning in the oasis is developed at a high level. A large number of settlements arose on the territory of the region, which developed uniformly in the traditions of urban culture. The cities of the Kashkadarya oasis served as transit points on important trade routes in Central Asia.Shakhrisabz is a historical city of Uzbekistan with unique monuments achieved by the peoples of Central Asia in the field of architecture and urban planning. Famous architectural monuments of the XIV century and those built in the first half of the XV century have been preserved here. They were built on the initiative of Amir Temur and Mirzo Ulugbek.The communal-religious zone of Shakhrisabz - large sanctuaries were built in the southeastern part of the city in the XIV-XV centuries. The most famous of them are "Dar us-siyadat" and "Dar ut-tilovat" - a complex of mosques, madrasahs and tombs that Amir Temur built for himself and his descendants. Historian Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi writes about the events of 1394 in his book "Zafarname" (Book of Victory) "Construct a special building in Shakhrisabz (Amir Temur pointed out), that his son Amirzade Jahangir and other sons and officials should be placed in it. [one].Dar us siyadat is a huge building, the height of which reaches about 70 m to 50 m. The entrance leads to the room of God, from which the tomb of Amir Timur was planned, in the middle of which there is an underground reservoir. In the second half of the 16th century, during one of the attacks of Abdullakhan II, the complex was destroyed. The tomb of Jahongir was the basis for the existence of the Darus Siyadat complex. During the construction of the mausoleum of Jahongir, the structure of the first appearance of the tahmon and the dome was determined from the inside by a richly decorated “muqarnas” (eight star - author's editorial) with a trench, the remains of which are still preserved.

KARAKALPAK PEOPLE'S LYRO "EPICAL FRIEND, GENESIS, EVOLUTION AND HISTORICAL ROOTS" GARIB OSHIK "

"Strange lover" is a lyrical-epic epic of the Karakalpak people, which studies the origin of the epic, the period of its formation and historical roots, as well as its genesis. In the peoples of Central Asia and the Balkans, he asks about the origins of the epic "The Stranger in Love", its distribution, and how the people wrote, published and studied it.

THE ROLE OF MULTILATERAL CULTURAL AND HUMANITARIAN RELATIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL COOPERATION

Historically, Central Asian countries have always considered themselves to belong to a single region. The indigenous peoples of Central Asia had a common history, similar cultures, customs, and even believed in one religion. Countries in the region, especially in their border areas, are home to many ethnic groups from neighboring countries, which in turn helps to strengthen kinship ties between a large number of people, particularly in Central Asia.