Historical ethnology

The article examines the ethnonymy and folklore data preserved by modern Siberian and Altai Turks, which implies fairly active ethnic ties between the Altai and West Siberian regions. The great migration of peoples, founding Turkic state formations, then the empire Genghis Khan and the Mongol expansion, and at the last phase – the annexation of Western Siberia to the Moscow State became the key stages in the turkification process of the Western Siberia territory. The ethnonyms and toponyms preserved in the territory inhabited by the Siberian Tatars, such as Yerlan, saryestek, taz, etc., indicate a fairly early penetration of the Turkic/Kipchak ethnic component into Western Siberia. In the folklore of the Altaians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Nogais, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, and Kyrgyz, there are epic tales Alyp Manash(s), Kozy Korpesh and Bayan-Sulu, Marat-biy, and Ak Kubek that are common to these peoples. The ethnocultural ties of the Siberian-Altai area during the Middle Ages are reflected in the common Turkic folklore heritage. The author draws attention to the fact that, despite the fact that a stable tradition has developed in the Siberian literature to consider Altai as the ancestral homeland of the Siberian Turks from where various Turkic tribes came and spread further west, this issue is far from unambiguous. According to the author, the processes of interaction between Siberian Tatars and Altaians had a multi-vector character at different historical stages. Moreover, in the period after Moscow conquered the Siberian Khanate, there was an active movement in the eastern direction, which was reflected in the appearance of new Turkic groups in the Altai.

The article examines participation of Tatar-Bashkir and Turkish military specialists in the formation of the national army in the Turkestan region. The participation and role of Tatar and Turkish soldiers involved in the formation of the national armed forces during the existence of the Turkestan Autonomous Government, and later for the formed People’s Soviet Republics with capitals in Bukhara and Khorezm are analyzed. The purpose of attracting soldiers is pointed out. It consisted of their involvement in the creation of military schools and a national army. Special attention is drawn to the attitude of the Soviet government to these processes and the history of diplomatic relations between the Turkestan Autonomous Government and the headquarters of the “Ittihad i Terrakki” (“Unity and Progress”) Party, created in Istanbul to form a national army. The author reveals the activities of military specialists of Tatar-Bashkir and Turkish origin, which became possible thanks to the efforts of progressive Jadids. Their participation in the formation of the national army and the creation of national military schools have been highlighted. It is presented that all that happened despite the pressure and repressions from the Soviet government. The article is based on archival documents and sources.

The article focuses on studying the influence of employment policy of the Soviet regime in Central Asia on the formation of the ethnic composition of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). Based on archival sources, stratistical data and fundamental works, the author concludes that the delimitation process was carried out on the basis of a narrow approach, while very little attention was paid to the historical, geographical, socio-economic characteristics of the peoples of the region. The paper outlines differing interpretations of migration processes in the Uzbek SSR: discourse of the Soviet Union government had been formed driven by the optics of the need to carry out forced industrialization of the region, which required saturating the local labor market with personnel for the industry. Integration of the Uzbek SSR into the all-Union political space was carried out based on the idea of overcoming the heavy colonial legacy and implementing the course of “eliminating actual inequality”, including in the Uzbek SSR.

The article examines the condition and activities of the state institution for conducting work among the Tatar national minority of Leningrad – the Tatar House of Education (domprosvet, DPR) with a Bashkir section. National houses of education were established in the 1920s and early 1930s in large cities in accordance with the policy of korenization for ideological, political, cultural and educational work among non-Russian ethnic groups in their native language, with the purpose of educating a convinced Soviet person, eliminating cultural backwardness, and developing national culture on the common socialistic basis. Despite the academic significance of the topic, it remains poorly studied at present.

The Tatar DPR was formed in connection with a considerable increase in the number of temporary workers – Tatars and Bashkirs employed at numerous construction sites in Leningrad and the region. Domprosvet conducted a lot of political and general public work on its premises, as well as directly at enterprises and institutions in the form of reports, lectures, conversations, evenings of questions and answers, concerts, children’s matinees, and technical propaganda. Special attention was paid to the elimination of illiteracy and poor literacy of Leningrad’s new population; educational courses and a comprehensive evening school for adults were provided. Various clubs (over 10), amateur talent groups worked in the house of education. Domprosvet served as a base for the professional Tatar Theater. The DPR had a library and a reading room with literature and the press in the Tatar, Bashkir and Russian languages. In 1932, celebration of the Tatar Sabantuy holiday was resumed in Leningrad.

The change of the Soviet national policy vector in the mid–1930s – from korenization to unification – led to the elimination of the entire system of state institutions for national minorities. The Tatar DPR, along with other national education houses, was liquidated by the decision of the Leningrad City Committee of the CPSU (b) in October 1937. The tradition of organized secular cultural life of the Leningrad Tatars and Bashkirs had been paused for a long time.

The article is based on archival materials, most of which are being introduced into academic circulation for the first time.

The article describes the famous Tatar educator Shakir Mukhtarov’s work in organizing new-method schools in Turkestan. His speeches in the Muslim press of Turkestan and Central Russia, participation in the development of the national press and printing houses have been analyzed. Special attention is drawn to the role of Shakir Mukhtarov in progressive political processes in the Turkestan region. It has been concluded that the Tatar scholar Shakir Mukhtаrov was one of the founders of new-method schools in Turkestan. He studied the work of new methodological schools, which had been opened in the region, and was engaged in the coverage of their activities in the newspapers of that time. Mukhtarov’s commitment to national education was recognized in the Turkish-Muslim press. Mukhtarov played a major role in the publication of the newspapers Tarakiy, Shukhrat, and Osiyo when he lived in Kokand. It turned out that the enlightened Tatars living in this city formed a political association, the Young Party, which contributed to the spread of the Jadidism movement. The article reveals the essence of Sh. Mukhtarov’s articles based on progressive ideas disseminated in the Shuro magazine, which was published in Orenburg. The work reveals the extensive educational activities of Sh. Mukhtarov in the Turkestan Jadidist movement.

The article examines such a specific phenomenon of the modern Russian social landscape as Orthodox activism, as well as considers approaches to its interpretation in secular and ecclesiastical discourses, trends and practical experience in a specific territorial and administrative locality. The conclusion is drawn about the obvious absence of a generally accepted understanding of this phenomenon in the Russian Orthodox Church, which determines its internal heterogeneity and multivariance in the field of practical implementation. It is reasonable to consider Orthodox activism in our country as a relatively young phenomenon, directly caused by socio-political transformations and the formation of civil society. In a broad sense, it is aimed at fighting for the religious interests of the church. Initially, Orthodox activism gained an acute social orientation, which it retains to one degree or another to this day. At the same time, the actualization of this phenomenon is observed primarily in the capital cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, which have a dynamic cultural environment, representation of federal authorities, public, religious and political associations, as well as the media. Other regional centers do not yet have a set of similar conditions, and the nature of Orthodox activism in them is determined by local traditions and rules. Thus, in the Republic of Tatarstan, it is not only ideologically homogeneous, but it is also clearly structured and constructive, which stems from the specifics of the socio-political and ethnocultural development of the region in recent decades.