Background Books: Central Asia

Source: The Wilson Quarterly (1976-), Vol. 16, No. 3 (Summer, 1992), pp. 59-61
Published by: Wilson Quarterly
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 BACKGROUND BOOKS

CENTRAL ASIA

problem in the study of Central"and Asia is

the subsequent repudiation of some of his
defining the region's geographical limits.
methods and policies had less fundamental ef-
A narrow but precise definition limits
fect inthe re-Asia than elsewhere. There may
Central
gion to the five former Soviet republics that
have been lietemporary decline in the Great
some
to the east of the Ural Mountains and the Cas- Russian chauvinism fostered from the mid-30s
pian Sea and to the west of China. But the defi- onward, but there was no reduction in the mea-
nition can be expanded to include some or all sure of central control exercised through the
of the following: Chinese Turkestan, (Xinjiang medium of the Communist Party."
Province), Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, A classic study of the Muslims of the Rus-
Mongolia, Tibet, Azerbaijan, and the entire Eur- sian Empire and the Soviet Union through the
asian steppe. The Soviets, by contrast, nar- mid-20th century is Islam in the Soviet Union
rowed the five-republic definition by excluding (Praeger, 1967), by the late Alexandre
Kazakhstan. Bennigsen, a leading figure since the 1960s in
The people of the region are little known in the Western study of Muslims in the Soviet
the West, but three reference books provide Union, and his frequent co-author, Chantai
helpful basic information about the main indig- Lemercier-Quelquejay. One of the book's many
enous groups. (None of the books, however, is strengths is its depiction of the diversity of opin-
devoted solely to Central Asia.) The most con- ion among the Muslim peoples during a period
cise is The Peoples of the USSR (Macmillan, of great upheaval. The history and politics of
1984), by Ronald Wixman. A geographer at the one particular Central Asian nationality is the
University of Oregon, Wixman covers such sub- subject of a meticulous study, The Kazakhs
jects as ethnic definitions, languages, and status (Hoover Inst. Press, 1987), by Colgate political
within the former Union. Both Islamic Peoples scientist Martha Brill Olcott. Discussing the po-
of the Soviet Union (2nd éd., KPI, 1986), by litical and social organization of the Khazakhs,
Shirin Akiner, of the University of London, and Olcott corrects a common error: "Although
Muslim Peoples (2nd éd., two volumes, Green- used by Western and Soviet scholars alike, the
wood, 1984), edited by University of Houston term horde is probably a misnomer, the Ka-
anthropologist Richard Weekes, have longer zakhs referred to these three groups as the Ulu
descriptive articles on each nationality. Zhuz, Orta Zhuz, and Kichi Zhuz, literally the
A reliable introduction to Central Asia in the Great Hundred, Middle Hundred, and Small
19th and 20th centuries is Central Asia: A Cen- Hundred. This distinction between horde and
tury of Russian Rule (Columbia, 1967), as well hundred is important, since the former implies
as its revised version, Central Asia: 120 Years consanguinity and common ancestry, whereas
of Russian Rule (Duke Univ., 1989), edited by the latter does not. The Kazakh hordes . . . were
Columbia University historian Edward simply an extension of the temporary military
Allworth, one of the foremost scholars of Cen- unions formed by both Turkish and Mongol
tral Asia in the United States. Both offer a clear tribes . . . largely for military purposes - to
narrative of the course of political and military make the Kazakh lands more secure in the ab-
events as well as chapters on specific issues, all sence of any stronger central authority."
written by specialists in the field. Several 19th-century travelers recorded
Much the same subject matter, but with their observations of Central Asia before or
more background and detail on the Soviet pe- soon after Russia enforced its dominance dur-
riod, is covered in Modern History of Soviet ing the 1860s and 70s. Such books contain
Central Asia (Praeger, 1967), by the late Geof- much useful information and are often evoca-
frey Wheeler of London's Central Asia Re- tive of a vanished world, even though they re-
search Centre. A former officer in the British flect the ethnic prejudices of their authors and
Army, Colonel Wheeler was not hesitant to pass the political motives that underlay most of their
judgment: "The death of Stalin," he wrote, journeys. "According to Central Asiatic ideas,"

WQ SUMMER 1992

59

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CENTRAL ASIA

wrote American diplomat Eugene d'Encausse,

Schuyler director
in of Soviet Studies at the
his Turkistan, (two vols., Schribner, Arm-
Institut d'études politiques, examines the way
Central
strong, 1876), "a city, to be really such,Asian advocates of modernization grap-
must
have a Jumma [Friday] mosque, pledthat will
with the hold
pressure of Westernizing reform,
pride inand
all the inhabitants at Friday prayers, theirmust
heritage, and communism. Large
sections of
possess all of the 32 guilds or trades Harvard historian Richard Pipes's
(Kasaba)
Thewhole
which are thought to comprise the Formation of the Soviet Union (rev. éd.,
world
of commerce." Accounts by otherHarvard Univ.,men
military 1970) look at the military and
and diplomats include Alexander Burnes's
political battles through which the largely Rus-
Travels into Bukhara (J. Murray,sian or Russified
1834), Arthur Communist Party took control
Conolly's Journey to the North of
ofCentral
India, Asia. The most unusual approach to
(two
vols., Richard Bentley, 1830), Joseph
this period Pierre
is Gregory Massell's The Surrogate
Ferrier's Caravan Journeys and Proletariat: Moslem Women and Revolution-
Wanderings
in Persia, Afghanistan, Turkistan, and
ary Strategies in Soviet Central Asia, 1919-
Beloochistan (J. Murray, 1856),
1929Arminius
(Princeton Univ., 1974). The Hunter Col-
Vambery's Sketches of Central Asia (W. H.scientist
lege political Al- argues that in a region
len, 1868) and Travels in Centralwithout
Asia (J. Mur-
a large, indigenous working class, the
new communist
ray, 1864), and Joseph Wolffs Narrative of aregime used a campaign to
Mission to Bukhara (J. W. Parker, 1845).
change the status of a different disadvantaged
social group - women - to undermine the au-
earlier periods, the late René Grousset's
thority of the traditional, male elite.
1939 classic, Empire of the Comparatively
Steppes few works focus on Central
(Rutgers Univ., 1970), deals withAsia
a broad geo-after the consolidation of So-
in the period
graphic area that partially overlaps
viet Central
power in theAsia
1920s and before the mount-
and concentrates on the Turkic ingand Mongol
problems of the 1980s. The late Elizabeth
Bacon's Central
peoples from antiquity to early modern Asians under Russian Rule
times.
(Cornell
Grousset wrote a lyrical prose, full Univ., 1966) offers an extremely per-
of crystalliz-
ing observations, as in this description of the
ceptive anthropologist's insights into the social
rhythms of nomadic conquest: transformation
"The periodic the communists produced in
descents by the hordes of the steppes,
the region.
whose
Russia and Nationalism in Central
khans ascended the thrones of Asia (Johns Hopkins,
Changan, Lo- 1970), by Teresa
yang, Kaifeng or Peking, Samarkand, Ispahan
Rakowska-Harmstone of Carleton University, is
or Tabriz (Tauris), Konya or Constantinople, a study by a specialist
be- on Soviet politics that
came one of the geographic laws of useshistory.
one particular
But republic, Tajikistan, as a
there was another, opposingcase law,
study which
of how people in Moscow and in the
brought about the slow absorption ofmanipulated
region the no- nationality politics. Russia
mad invaders by ancient civilizedinlands. Central The Si-
Asia (Collier, 1963), by historian Mi-
nicized or Iranized barbarian was the first to chael Rywkin of the City University of New
stand guard over civilization against fresh on- York, gives a clear, concise picture of the im-
slaughts from barbarian lands." Bukhara thepact of Soviet rule on Central Asia.
Medieval Achievement (Univ. of Okla., 1965), The last dozen years of Soviet rule over Cen-
by Richard Frye, a professor of Iranian studies tral Asia are covered in a large number of
at Harvard University, uses its focus on one of books and articles of widely varying quality.
Central Asia's great cities to discuss the cultural One of the best works to treat a broad range of
life as well as political history of the region in issues - including language policy, nationality
the early centuries of the Islamic era. politics, and the status of women - is Soviet
The era of the Russian Revolution and the Central Asia: The Failed Transformation
consolidation of Soviet rule in the region is (Westview, 1991), edited by William Fierman, a
covered from different perspectives in fourpolitical scientist at Indiana University.
noteworthy books. Islam and the Russian Em- The role of Islam in Central Asia in the late
pire: Reform and Revolution in Central AsiaSoviet period is one of the more contentious
(Univ. of Calif., 1988), by Hélène Carrèretopics in the study of this region. Since the late

WQ SUMMER 1992

60

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 CENTRAL ASIA

1970s, a spurt of publications reflected the un-

way farther west to Anatolia and much of it is
set there;
fortunate influence of trends in Western however it preserves information
politi-
cal thinking: the tendency to viewabout
all Muslims
the culture and way of life of Turks in
as alike (most often as "fundamentalist"
Central revolu-
Asia. It is available in two English trans-
lations,
tionaries) combined with the hope that both
theentitled The Book of Dede
growing population of Muslims in the (one
Korkut Soviet
version was translated and edited
Union would unite under the banner of Islam by Faruk Sumer, Ahmet E. Uysal, and Warren S.
to overthrow the Soviet regime. The demise ofWalker [Univ. of Texas, 1972]; the other was
the Soviet Union in 1991 without an Islamic translated by Geoffrey Lewis [Penguin, 1974]).
revolution has demonstrated the degree to
The greatest version of the Shah-nameh was
which that approach contained an overly gen-
written by Abu '1-Qasem Ferdousi in the late
erous helping of wishful thinking. Represen-10th and early 11th centuries. This mythic his-
tory of ancient Iran from its origins to the
tative of a variety of different but more temper-
downfall of the last pre-Islamic dynasty in-
ate interpretations of the Islamic question are
University of Southern California professor cludes as one of its major themes the prolonged
Ay§e Rorlich's chapter in the Fierman volume conflict between sedentary Persian-speakers
and Turkic nomads from the northeast. A trans-
and two essays by Martha Olcott, "Moscow's
Troublesome Muslim Minority/' in Washington lation by Reuben Levy, revised by Amin
Quarterly (9 [1986]: 73-83) and "Soviet Islam
Banani, is entitled The Epic of Kings (revised
edition, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973);
and World Revolution," in World Politics (34
though parts of the text are omitted and sum-
[1982]: 487-504). My own opinions on the sub-
ject may be found in The Subtlest Battle: Is-
marized briefly, it is a useful introduction to the
work. Babur (1483-1530), one of the last de-
lam in Soviet Tajikistan (Foreign Policy Re-
search Inst., 1989). scendants of Tamerlane to rule a part of Central
Another critical issue for contemporary Asia, was driven from there by the Uzbek con-
Central Asia is the disastrous consequences ofquest of much of the region and went on to
misguided Soviet economic and environmental found the Mughal Empire in India. He wrote
his autobiography, the Babur-nameh, in
policies. The most important treatments of the
economic aspects are Harvard Russian Re-Ohaghatai Turkish; there is an English transla-
search Center scholar Boris Rumer's Soviet tion, The Babur-Nâma (two vols., Luzac, 1922
Central Asia: A Tragic Experiment (Unwynand AMS Press, 1971) by Annette S. Beverage.
Hyman, 1989) and Carnegie-Mellon political One of the most important literary works
scientist Nancy Lubin's Labor and Nationality from contemporary Central Asia is a novel by
in Soviet Central Asia (Princeton Univ., 1984). the Kyrgyz author Chingiz Aitmatov, A Day
The catastrophic environmental damage in the Lasts More than a Hundred Years (Indiana
former Soviet Union receives authoritative Univ., 1983). It combines several themes, in-
treatment in Ecocide in the USSR (Basic, cluding the impact of modern Soviet technol-
1992) by Murray Feshbach, a demographer at ogy and the importance of preserving a peo-
Georgetown University, and Alfred Friendly, Jr.,ple's traditional ways and values. It also blends
Newsweek's former Moscow bureau chief. elements of science fiction and evocative de-
Central Asia has a rich literary tradition,scriptions of the natural world of the steppe,
both oral and written. Little of it is available inonce so important to the nomadic way of life.
English. Two medieval epics strongly influ-The novel has popularized among educated
enced by elements of Central Asian life but notCentral Asians of various nationalities the word
centered there are the Turkish Dede Korkut mankurt, which refers to a person who has
stories (the name refers to their presumed 14th- been enslaved and denied knowledge of his
century author) and the Persian Shah-nameh own heritage.
(Book of Kings). The Dede Korkut epic has
come down to us from Turks who made their - Muriel Atkin

Muriel Atkin is associate professor of history at The George Washington University.

WQ SUMMER 1992

61

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