ISSN: 0898-6827
A A C A R B U L L E T I N
of the Association for the Advancement of Central Asian Research, Inc.
Editor: H. B. PAKSOY Vol. III No. 2, Fall 1990
EDITORIAL ADDRESS: BOX 1011 Rocky Hill, CT 06067
BOOKS FOR REVIEW, CONTRIBUTIONS, NEWS ITEMS AND COMMUNICATIONS
SHOULD BE SENT TO THE EDITOR.
INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS: THE CENTRAL ASIAN FOUNDATION, Wisconsin;
Mir Ali Shir Navai Seminar for Central Asian Languages and
Cultures, UCLA; Program for Turkish Studies, UCLA; Program on
Nationality and Siberian Studies, W. Averell Harriman Institute
for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union, COLUMBIA U; School of
Arts and Sciences, CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE U; Committee on
Inner Asian and Altaic Studies, HARVARD U; Research Institute
for Inner Asian Studies, INDIANA U; Department of History, U of
MASSACHUSETTS-Amherst; Department of Russian and East European
Studies, U of MINNESOTA; Middle East Studies Center, OHIO STATE
U; The Middle East Center, U of PENNSYLVANIA.
IN THIS ISSUE
-- James Critchlow CENTRAL ASIAN MANUSCRIPTS IMPERILED
-- Ayaz Malikov THE QUESTION OF THE TURK: THE WAY OUT
OF THE CRISIS
-- Two Supplements to This Issue
-- News of the Profession
-- Bibliographies, Edited and Translated Volumes, Book Reviews
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2 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
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CENTRAL ASIAN MANUSCRIPTS IMPERILED
Jim Critchlow [Fellow of Russian Research Center, Harvard
University]
An Uzbek scholar has warned that valuable historical
manuscripts now held in Uzbekistan are being endangered by wear
and neglect. The manuscripts, which survived the mass
destruction of documents which took place during the 1920s and
30s, include "incomparable" literary works, historical
chronicles and reminiscences, and works of philology.
Writing in Yash Leninchi*, which in the perestroika
period has become a vehicle for expression of "Uzbek national
interests," the scholar, Candidate of Philological Sciences
Qaium Karimov, says that all but a few of the manuscripts, most
of which belong to "ancient times," have never been reproduced
or analyzed by specialists, native or foreign.
The writer notes that one reason for inattention to the
manuscript collection is the fact that there is now a dearth of
scholars who can read the Arabic script. He also criticizes
the Uzbek scientific establishment for failures of
organization.
His article is not specific about the extent, titles,
and exact locations of the holdings. He also gives no
indication of whether foreign scholars could obtain access.
3 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
Very old documents are known to have existed in the
past in Bukhara and other ancient cities of Soviet Central
Asia. A manuscript of the Koran, one of only six copies of the
Koran authorized by Caliph Othman in the seventh century, was
recently transferred from a secular museum to the Muslim
Religious Board in Tashkent.
-------
*Issue of Feb. 21, 1990. YASH LENINCHI is the newspaper of the
Uzbek Komsomol.
THE QUESTION OF THE TURK: THE WAY OUT OF THE CRISIS
Ayaz Malikov [Candidate of Physics and Mathematical Sciences
and, Member of the Administration of the Tatar Society Center]
[This essay is abridged from the newspaper AZERBAIJAN, 24
March 1990. (Edited by Sabir Rustemhanli. Editorial Board: Ziya
Buniatov, Bahtiyar Vahabzade, Bayram Bayramov, Kasim Kasimzade,
Ahmet Elbrus (Assistant Editor), Aliyar Seferli, Ismail Shihli,
Yasar Aliev, Nadir Jabbarov, Rustem Behrudi, Jumsut Nuriyev,
Feride Memedova, Firudin Jelilov, Firudin Abbasov, Elmira
Akhundova, Sherif Kerimli.) Tiraj 200,000. Published since
October 1989. The bold face statements are as in the original.
The author, Ayaz Malikov, is suggesting that promises made
to the nationalities since 1917 be kept and fulfilled by the
Soviet state. If not, then the nationalities ought not be
barred from pursuing their realization. As in the past, some
have been quick to see in this cultural demand a political
menace, the old bogeyman 'Pan-Turkism.' As it is well known by
now, 'Pan-Turkism' or 'Pan-Turanianism' was created not in the
Turk domains, but in Europe, by Europeans, to aid the European
Balance of Power Struggles of the 19th and 20th centuries. The
literature on this issue is nascent but documented, including
works and motives of the 'creator' of the notion, and its
propagation methods into the Turk lands.
"The entire English-speaking world," said one Azerbaijan
Turk scholar, "forms a cultural whole and is not regarded as a
threat to the rest of the world merely on the basis of that
cultural unity. When Turks in Azerbaijan look to Dede Korkut or
the Orkhon stelae, this is not any different than Americans
reading Shakespeare."
As a final reminder, in no Turk dialect is there a
distinction between "Turkic" and "Turkish." This was introduced
for purely political reasons into Russian and the Western
languages.]
We all, of the more than 30 Turk nationalities of the
country, at this critical juncture of our history, must look
into the past and the present in order to find a path to our
future. We must of course, understand, that no one will do this
4 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
for us. Or if they do, it will only produce, as we have seen in
the past, the results which we now reap.
We, Turks, have past through a long historical path, from
the states of the ancient Khans of the Ordos, of the Altai and
Sayan and to the present time. Behind us is more than 2000
years of political history, full of attainments, loss and
tragedy. More than once along this path, we have faced the
threat of disappearance, but our forbears always found the
strength and the confidence in themselves and the hope to
return again with new strength to the world arena as active
members of the world community of nations. With its own face,
and with its own goals. We must realize that we stand at one
such critical moment in our history.
In the recent historical past, at the beginning of the
20th century, Tatars freely read books, journals and newspapers
published in Azerbaijan; and Tatar newspapers and books
proliferated throughout Central Asia, Caucasia and Siberia. And
now, when the French speaking peoples launch a satellite to
guarantee TV programs for France, the French of Canada and the
rest of the world, when in 1992 the Turkish Republic plans to
launch a satellite for telecommunications in its native
language for three million Turks abroad, we inexorably remain
behind the rest of the world.
Designating our path to development, we must proceed from
the reality of the existing world and of our position. The
total number of members of Turk groups and nationalities of the
country is now close to 50 million, that is, equal to the
population of France, and every Turk nation has an average of
2.5 million people. The smallest groups, such as the Khakass,
the Nogai, the Balkar number about 70 thousand, and the largest
-the Kazakhs, the Azerbaijanis and the Tatars- number seven to
nine million each. The Uzbeks are close to 20 million. The
remaining Turks live in China, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Iran,
Turkish Republic, Syria, Iraq.
We must work out own strategy of development. Our first
step should be the publication in our languages of all the
basic world classics. But some nations, especially those few in
number who do not have the status of a Union Republic, do not
have the means to resolve this issue, and it is necessary to
recognize this. What can be done? It is necessary, in my view,
to create a single bank of translation of world literature in
Turk languages. All translations from any language of the world
in one of the Turk languages would be placed in this bank and
then it would be easy to make the shift to any other Turk
dialect. Besides this, it is necessary as quickly as possible
to publish all ancient Turk literature in Runic and in Brahmin
and in all other alphabets used at any time by all ancient
Turks. Our children do not even know that before the Arabic
alphabet we had our own system of writing. All the ancient Turk
legacy of our peoples must be published as quickly as possible.
The cultural organization for coordinating such activity could
be the Oriental Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the
5 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
Azerbaijan SSR. It could unite all the forces of our peoples,
[and] intellectuals in the fastest resolution of this issue.
Publication could be cooperative. This guarantees the ability
to cooperate, and reduces bureaucratic red-tape. The
publication of the ancient Turk heritage for the small Turk
peoples could be undertaken by the larger ones: the
Azerbaijanis have the power to guarantee a material basis for
publications in Balkar and Karachay; the Kazakhs could publish
in Altaian and Khakass; the Tatars, in Nogay. The other peoples
have the means themselves to publish this literature.
Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan could help the Gagauz, since the
language of the Gagauz is Oghuz.
Our peoples do not know their own history. The history of
the Russians is taught in schools beginning with ancient Slavs,
the history of the Germans, from the ancient Germans, the
history of the French, from the ancient Celts and the Gauls. In
the same way, our children must begin their studies with the
history of the ancient Turks. The existing TEXTBOOK OF THE
HISTORY OF THE USSR is a variation on the History of Russia,
while the history of the other peoples serves only as
background decoration on which the history of Russia is played
out.
The publication of a textbook THE HISTORY OF THE TURKS
should also be undertaken by the Oriental Institute in Baku.
This calls for the mobilization of all the intellectual forces
of the country in the field of Turcology. This textbook must be
published immediately and included in the curriculum of all the
school of all Turk regions of the country.
The journal SOVETSKAIA TIURKOLOGIIA must realize that it
is the sole journal in the country dedicated to the study of
the Turk people and has a responsibility before all the Turk
peoples. At present this journal is especially for
academicians. Sometimes the impression is created that if our
language were to become dead, it would be better for this
journal-- it would not be distracted from "pure art" by waves
of the human life. The journal SOVETSKAIA TIURKOLOGIIA must
address problems not only of a purely academic nature, but also
concerning the teaching of our languages in the various regions
of the country. It should publish statistical data about our
children who do not know their own language and analyze the
reasons for this. The journal SOVETSKAIA TIURKOLOGIIA must
recognize the difference between itself and the journal
SHUMEROLOGIIA or ASSIROLOGIIA. It has the business of dealing
with living languages of living peoples with their own
problems.
Unification of the alphabet is necessary and should be
undertaken immediately. It must be introduced in such a way so
that differences in spelling of the same word in various Turk
languages is completely liquidated and in other cases, kept to
a minimum. It would be even better, if we all proceed to
Latinization. This is especially important considering that
many Turks live abroad. Our goal must be the achievement of
6 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
understanding by Tatars and other Turk readers of books and
newspapers published in Baku, Tashkent or Kazan as it was
before the [1917] revolution. Is it not strange? At the
beginning of the century the intelligentsia of our peoples
actively tried to see into the life of another Turkic people
and into its literature, by reading its literature in the
original. Nowadays you cannot find one such representative of
the intelligentsia. The tradition of Alimjan Ibrahimov, Uzeyir
Hajibeyov, Boraganskii and Sakin Seyfullin, Sheyhzade Babich
are completely gone.
It is necessary to expose once for all the false thesis
that the knowledge of any Turk language is just the knowledge
of one local language. Any Turk language opens the door to the
other Turk languages, that is, every Turk language is
simultaneously a local language and the language of
international communication between close Turk peoples and this
should be taught correctly. It is necessary to have the
knowledge of this fact among our society in order to liquidate
the traces of a policy of weakening and destrution that has
been pursued for decades. As a result of the pressure [of this
past official policy] we do not have sufficient numbers of
Turcologists from our own people. There is not one Tatar or
Baskurt Turcologist from the younger generation. There are
Turcologist from other nationalities, but not from among the
Tatars or the Baskurt. The young have been inoculated with
disrespect for their own language.
It is necessary to introduce a single coordinated cultural
policy and it is necessary not to be afraid of the accusation
of "Pan-Turkism!" By that accusation, we will discern those
heirs who are guilty in our current deplorable condition.
When you begin to read literature in one or another Turk
literature, you will be amazed at the lack of coordination in
the terminology. It is necessary to create a terminological
commission with the goal of creating new terminology in all
spheres of activity. All films issued by Turk language studios
should be dubbed promptly to guarantee their distribution in
the republic. Goods in the field of culture are also goods and
it is necessary that the terms of their sale guarantee the
profitability of their production. On the one hand there is a
market of seven million Azerbaijanis for the "Azerbaijanfilm"
studios and on the other, there are in all 50 million Turks in
the country. It is the same for books whether artistic or in
other fields of activity. Every successful book should
immediately be offered for sale in all the Turkish areas of the
country. Why do the books of Chinggis Aytmatov and Chinggis
Huseyinov not immediately come out in our languages at the same
time they come out in Russian?
Of the 50 million Turk population of the country, 12
million live in republics and oblasts which have "autonomous"
status. Obviously, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan and Kirghizistan must use their authority and
influence in the higher organs of power in the country in the
7 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
defense of the interests of the other Turk peoples. Within the
limits of the law, the constitution of the country, customs and
morals, we must demonstrate support for each other.
We must proceed from the idea, that the Turk peoples of
the country have the same rights in all areas of life as other
peoples, and that the depravation or limitation of these rights
is illegal and immoral and contrary to nature. In the final
analysis, we must be represented also in the United Nations
organization, but this is a problem for the distant future,
when we have greater integration and when our stature in the
world have grown. The main issue is to escape from
provincialism in the perception of the world and its
activities. It is necessary to understand, finally, that in the
world there are no divinely ordained centers and damned
provinces, that all this is the work of human hands. To retain
a feeling of provincialism is one of the means of braking the
development of one or another nation, that is a method of war
against it.
According to the newspaper AIF, Soviet internal propaganda
is conducted in eighty languages for 2257 hours per week or 322
hours per day. At the same time, the Turk people of our country
are deprived of radio stations and transmission on short-wave
which are given to them according to international and the
intra-union electronic communications agreements. These radio
stations and hours are allotted for propaganda abroad. Many
Turk peoples are disbursed throughout the country but the radio
stations of their republics on medium and long waves hardly
reach the whole territory in the republic itself. Is this not
derision? This is wasting the means of our peoples and
impairing their rights. With our resources and our time they
built radio stations and broadcast abroad in Swahili, Greek
and other languages, and we Turks suffer from the national and
cultural underdevelopment. It follows, obviously, that to
decide the question of the removal of the radio stations and
broadcast hours for propaganda abroad and to transfer them to
the Turk people, who have been deprived of the means of
communication throughout the whole country is a necessary
minimum. As for Tatars and Azerbaijanis or Bashkurts and others
who have gone out to the oil fields of Siberia and other
places, it is necessary to protect their right to hear radio in
the native language and not just Voice of America, Radio
Liberty and BBC.
This is a narrow but very important question. It is
necessary also to create an all-union system of television in
all the basic languages of the country for the whole territory
of the USSR. This includes, of course, Turkish. This is
necessary for the guarantee of development of the culture of
our nation. But right now, this is guaranteed only to the
Russian nation.
It is necessary to adopt an all-union law on the extra-
territorial cultural autonomy of nations. Let us look at an
example. Suppose tomorrow in Kazakhstan, Siberia or Uzbekistan
8 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
a huge construction project begins, for which thousands of
workers arrive from Russia --Russians-- but also thousands of
Azerbaijanis and thousands of Uzbeks. Will there be comparable
guarantees of the education of the children for the members of
these nations in their native language in Kazakhstan? The
answer is simple! Only Russian schools will be built, but not
Azerbaijani or Uzbek schools. Perhaps there will be Kazakh
schools, if the project is in Kazakhstan. Where is the equality
of nations called for in the constitution and in our
propaganda? From this, emerges the necessity of adopting an
all-union law guaranteeing to children of all nationalities of
the country education in the native language independent of the
place of residence on the territory of the country. Failing
this the government should return to the parents the money
which was designated by the budget for the education of their
children.
The number of Russians in Naberezhnye Chelny and the
number of Tatars in Moscow is approximately equal, but could
you compare the number of schools in Tatar language in Moscow
to the number of Russian language schools in Chelny? Fifteen
percent of the native population of the Cheliabinsk oblast
constitute more than half million Tatars and Bashkurts deprived
of all possibility of national development. There is not one
school, not one child care center, not one professional
instructional institution in the native language. The people
are deprived of radio, television and press in the native
language. There is no national theater. But just over a hundred
years ago, Cheliabinsk was a large commercial Tatar-Bashkurt
aul [city]. The question is not that Russian children have
excessive rights. They have natural rights, and these rights
must be further developed and realized. But the children of
other nationalities must have exactly the same rights.
Up to the present time, the entire experience of the
Tatars and Bashkurt to realize their own rights has encountered
opposition and accusations of nationalism --an experience from
the 1930s when that was necessary to excuse the terror (in this
case spiritual) toward other nations. It is necessary to adopt
an all-union law on national communities and their rights, and
the rights of the Russian community on the territory of the
country can be the standard, being close to international norms
and the decisions of Helsinki and Vienna. In striving towards
all these goals we should be guided by the rights of nations,
strengthened by all-union and international legal acts, the
declarations of rights of the peoples of Russia, Acts on
Decolonization and other documents having force on the
territory of the USSR.
Everyone who suffers for his people and its future will
inevitably be interested in its history in order to understand
why his nation departed from the rest of the peoples of the
world. Why are the rights of the Tatars Azerbaijanis or Uzbeks
not the same as those of the Swedes, the Czechs and Turks [of
the Turkish Republic]? Why does his people remain "second
9 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
class," remain dependent subject in international life and is
not included among the other peoples of the planet? Then he
comes to see the same reason applied to all the other Turk
peoples! That the Turk peoples in the USSR and China and
Afghanistan, and Iran have similar problems. Finding a
designated path out of the crisis requires first of all the
consciousness of the crisis. It is impossible to cure a disease
without realizing that it exists. If we unite, than there is no
doubt we will find a way out of the position which has been
created. We need unity and confidence.
We must be aware that no one but ourselves will solve this
problem for us. But it requires energy and effort, reliance on
confidence and success. And this we must find in the more than
two thousand years of history of the Turks. Our ancestors also
fell into crisis and found a way out!
Harekette Bereket! [Activity is fruitful.]
TWO SUPPLEMENTS TO THIS ISSUE AVAILABLE
Three separate readers of the AACAR BULLETIN kindly supplied us
with copies of a questionnaire circulated by the CENTER ON
STUDY OF ETHNIC RELATIONS, ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE USSR. It
is entitled "Contemporary Interethnic Relations in the USSR and
the First Congress of the People's Deputies of the USSR." We
are photomechanically duplicating the entire package,
consisting of seventeen pages, plus cover letter, for our
readers.
As one reads the questions it contains, one is impressed
by their nature. It appears that the format and vocabulary
employed in the questions are specifically suited for
portraying the recent events in the USSR according to the
meticulously cultivated image of the USSR in the Western media
and public.
KAZAKHSTANSKAIA PRAVDA and SOTSIALISTIK QAZAQSTAN, in their 4
April 1990 issues contain a strongly worded protest from the
head of the republican veterans' council about the content of
an eight page newspaper (17 X 10 in.) named TURKESTAN. Compiled
by one Almaz Estekov, TURKESTAN was printed in Estonia during
January 1990 (in Russian) and sold in Alma-Ata, reportedly for
at least one ruble per copy (USSR newspapers usually sell for
5-15 kopeks). It contains articles, with accompanying
photographs, on: the Red Army's bloody occupation of Baku in
January 1990; Red Army units in the Baltic Republics; Ferghana
incidents; Tajikistan conflicts; a contribution by the Crimean
Tatar Mustafa Jemilev; a chronology of activities by the
Nevada-Semipalatinsk environmentalist group headed by
celebrated Kazakh author Oljay Suleymanov.
It appears that the main grievance of the republican
veterans' council is connected with Estekov's contribution
pertaining to the 1986 Alma-Ata incidents. He is criticized for
10 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
portraying the 1986 events as "the organized destruction by the
state, Party and the brazenly chauvinistic part of the
indigenous population." These include stories of attacks on
demonstrators by troops armed with shovels, victims being
dumped in the steppe. The letter from the veterans' council
also attacks Estekov's statement that at least 185 were killed
in the disturbances. This, of course goes against the official
claim that there were only three dead. The said letter demands
that legal action be taken against Estekov.
Due to the costs involved, we were able to
photomechanically reproduce only a limited quantity of
TURKESTAN. Members of AACAR who paid their 1990 dues will
automatically receive a copy. Other readers who wish to receive
one are asked to send $10 (tax deductible) to AACAR (Prof.
Audrey L. Altstadt, address on page one) accompanied by a
minimum 9X12 sized, self addressed envelope bearing 85c worth
of stamps for US mail. First come, first served. We regret the
inconvenience.
NEWS OF THE PROFESSION
AACAR extends warm collegial welcome to two new Institutional
Members: Department of History, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS-
AMHERST; Middle East Studies Center, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.
Center for Middle Eastern Studies, HARVARD UNIVERSITY held a
workshop on "Middle East Labor and Working Class History:
Concepts and Approaches" 12-13 April 1990. Participants
included: Donald QUATAERT; Sherry VATTER; Zachary LOKMAN; Assef
BAYAT; Ellis GOLDBERG; Feroz AHMAD; Salim NASR; Eric DAVIS;
Marsha POSUSNEY; Joel BEININ; Edmund BURKE, III; Dipesh
CHAKRABARTY.
Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, in collaboration
with the School of Continuing Studies of INDIANA UNIVERSITY,
organized a conference on "Aral Sea Crisis: Environmental
Issues in Central Asia," July 14-19 1990, with the attendance
of Soviet and US participants.
The Middle East Documentation Center of the UNIVERSITY OF
CHICAGO has issued a new 44 page catalogue, representing their
expanding holdings of both the Ottoman Microforms Project and
the Chicago Persian Microforms Project. For further details,
contact: Laurie ABBOTT, 5828 S. University Avenue, 210 Pick
Hall, Chicago, IL 60637. 312/702-8425.
A Center for Translations of Uzbek Literature has been
established at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and
Civilizations, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON-SEATTLE. The Department
also arranged a Summer Course in Uzbek, 18 June-17 August 1990,
taught by Prof. Ilse CIRTAUTAS, aided by native speakers of
11 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
Uzbek, exchange students from Tashkent. The Department of Near
Eastern Languages and Civilizations maintains exchange programs
with the Tashkent State University as well as with the People's
Republic of China. There are also two student organizations
active at the University: The Uzbek Circle, and the Student
Association for Inner Asian Studies. The celebrated Uzbek poet,
Erkin VAHIDOV, read and discussed his poetry in related
functions. Contact: 229-B Denny Hall, DH-20, University of
Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
THE SARMATION REVIEW, edited by Ewa M. THOMPSON (RICE
UNIVERSITY), is a publication of the Houston Circle of the
Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA). It
deals with Polish and Eastern European affairs and their
implications for the United States, published three times a
year. Contact: P. O. Box 79119, Houston, TX 77279-9119. *
The Middle East & South Asia FOLKLORE NEWSLETTER, edited by
Sabra J. WEBBER and Frank C. SPAULDING is published at the
Center for Comparative Studies in the Humanities, OHIO STATE
UNIVERSITY. Contact: 306 Dulles Hall, 230 West 17th Avenue,
Columbus, OH 43210-1311 * Volume 24 of the JOURNAL OF
ASIAN HISTORY, edited by Denis SINOR, has been published.
Contact: Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. * ARIT (The
American Research Institute in Turkey) NEWSLETTER, edited by
Prof. Linda DARLING, is available. Contact: ARIT, c/o
University Museum, 33rd and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, PA
19104-6324. Tel: 215/898-3474. * The inaugural issue of
the JOURNAL OF SOVIET NATIONALITIES, edited by Jerry F. HOUGH,
has been published. The journal is funded by the Carnegie
Corporation of New York. Contact: Center on East-West Trade,
Investment, and Communications, 2114 Campus Dr., Duke
University, Durham, NC 27706. * CAHIERS D'ETUDES SUR LA
MEDITERRANEE ORIENTALE ET LE MONDE TURCO-IRANIEN, edited by
Semih VANER, published at the Centre d' tudes et de recherches
internationales des Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques
et du Centre National des Lettres, No. 10, 1990 is available.
Contact: CEMOTI/CERI, 4 rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris. *
Center of Near and Middle Eastern Studies, SOAS (School of
Oriental and African Studies, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON) Newsletter
(including news and activities of the Modern Turkish Studies
Programme and the Central Asian Studies Association) is
available. Contact: the editors, Thornhaugh Street, Russell
Sq., London, WC1H OXG. * NATIONALITIES PAPERS, edited
by Henry R. HUTTENBACH, is continuing its new publication
schedule. Contact: Department of History, CCNY, 138th &
Convent, NY NY 10031. * THE SOCIETY FOR CENTRAL ASIAN
STUDIES is continuing to publish CENTRAL ASIA AND CAUCASUS
CHRONICLE (formerly Central Asian Newsletter), edited by Marie
BROXUP, Simon CRISP and Caroline GRAY, and the CENTRAL ASIAN
SURVEY, edited by Marie BROXUP. Contact: 92 Lots Road, Unit 8,
London SW10 4BQ. * Issue No. 3 (July 1990) of BUG NK
12 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
T RKISTAN (TURKISTAN TODAY), a bi-lingual newsletter edited by
Dr. Timur KOCAOGLU, is available. Contact: Editor, H rwath Str.
37, 8 M nchen 40 West Germany. * CRIMEAN REVIEW, edited
by M. Batu ALTAN, Vol. V, No. 1 (1990) is issued. Contact: P O
Box 307, Essex Station, Boston, MA 02112.
PUBLICATIONS: Devin DeWEESE, "The Eclipse of the Kubraviyah in
Central Asia" in IRANIAN STUDIES, Vol. XXI, No. 1-2, 1988. *
Hakan KIRIMLI, "Soviet Educational and Cultural Policies
Toward the Crimean Tatars in Exile (1944-1987), CENTRAL ASIAN
SURVEY, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1989 * Hisao KOMATSU, THE EVOLUTION
OF GROUP IDENTITY AMONG BUKHARAN INTELLECTUALS IN 1911-1928: AN
OVERVIEW (Tokyo: The Toyo Bunko, 1989) * Paul HENZE "Son
Imparatorluk" in YENI FORUM, Haziran 1990. * Philip
LOZINSKI, "The transfer of Nithraic iconography from Central
Asia to Rome" WORLD ART: THEMES OF UNITY IN DIVERSITY, Irving
LANVIN, Ed. (University Park, PA. 1989). Copies are available
from Dr. LOZINSKI, who is interested in communicating with
those working on the problems of Siberia, and can be reached
at: P O Box 3097, Westport, MA 02790. * ASPECTS OF
ALTAIC CIVILIZATION III: Proceedings of the Thirtieth Meeting
of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference (1987),
Denis SINOR, Ed. (Bloomington: Research Institute for Inner
Asian Studies, 1990) Indiana University Uralic and Altaic
Series, Volume 145.
ORIENTAL RESEARCH PARTNERS [Box 158, Newtonville, MA 02160] has
issued Catalogues 38 and 39. ORP also published several new
books since our previous issue. * ISIS Books Ltd.
[Semsibey Sokak 10/2, Beylerbeyi-Istanbul 81210, Turkey.
Telephones (90-1) 321 38 51 & 321 66 00] issued catalogues
1989/4 and 1990/1. * BEYOGLU KITAP ILIK LTD. [Galip Dede
Caddesi 141/5, T nel-Istanbul 80020, Turkey. Telephones: (90-1)
145 49 98 & 149 06 72] issued a new catalogue, "Periodicals &
Series" prepared by Ayhan AKTAR and Necdet ISLI. * OXUS
ORIENTAL BOOKS [121 Astonville Street, London SW18 5AQ; Fax:
081-877 1173] issued: The Communist Empires (Catalogue
Thirteen); Asian Travel, History Memoirs (Catalogue Fourteen).
For copies, Contact J. M. S. SLATER Esq., the proprietor.
Please also note the new dialing code. * YAK and YETI
BOOKS [P. O Box 5736, Rockville, MD 20855] issued Catalogue 20:
"The Himalayan Region, Central Asia and Tibet." * ASIAN
RARE BOOKS [234 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10001; Telephone:
718/259-3732], specializing in rare and old Asian and Middle
Eastern titles, issues regular catalogues. Stephen FELDMAN,
Proprietor, maintains a warehouse in Manhattan, and services
customers by appointment only. * MIDDLE EAST BIBLIOGRAPHIC
SERVICES [2272 Colorado Boulevard - Suite 1183, Los Angeles, CA
90041] has issued Special Sales List 40. Please also note the
new address. * CAMEL BOOK Company, specializing in used,
13 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
rare & out-of-print books, issued catalog No. 7, IRAN, TURKEY
AND AFGHANISTAN. Contact: P O Box 1936, Cathedral Station, NY
NY 10025. * WORLDWIDE ANTIQUARIAN specializing in books
on travel concerning Middle East, Africa and Asia has recently
issued several new catalogs. Contact: P O Box 391, Cambridge,
MA 02141.
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL ASIAN STUDIES IN JAPAN (1879 - March
1987) (Tokyo: The Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, 1988)
Second Printing 1989. 717 Pp. + xv.
This Bibliography covers 15067 items published by Japanese
scholars during the indicated period, contains a Foreword by
KITAMURA HaJime, Director of the Centre for East Asian Cultural
Studies; and Preface by UMEMURA Hiroshi, Project Leader, both
in English. It is indicated that "This volume concentrates
mainly on the regions included in the vicinities of Eastern and
Western Turkistan and Mongolia." (p.xi). "Scholarly books and
journal articles, along with book reviews and Japanese
translations of foreign books and articles, dominate the titles
included." (p.xii). In the Explanatory Notes, it is stated
that, the volume also covers ..."materials published directly
by Japanese scholars overseas. While focusing principally on
Eastern and Western Turkistan and Mongolia, this volume also
includes titles on the area lying between Siberia to the north,
north and west China, Tibet, the Himalayas, northwest India,
and Afghanistan to the south, Northeastern Asia to the east,
and the southern Russian steppe to the west. There are research
themes which do reach beyond the boundaries of Central Asia
proper, due to migrations of ethnic groups and important
changes in the course of Eurasian continental history." (p.xv).
The volume is arranged by "the names of authors, editors,
and translators, or institutions responsible for the
writing...in Japanese phonetic order..." though English
translations to the Japanese originals, including author and
title, are also given.
Copies may be ordered from: The Toyo Bunko, Honkomagome 2-
chome, 28-21, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL ASIAN STUDIES IN JAPAN (1879 - March
1987) INDEX AND ERRATA (Tokyo: The Centre for East Asian
Cultural Studies, 1989) 259 Pp. + xvii.
"This volume is divided into index and errata sections.
The index section is comprised of the following three parts:
(1) five main indexes, (2) four cross-reference indexes and (3)
a Chinese character author index." (p.viii).
The Contents page list the five main indexes as follows:
"1. Bibliographies: Japanese phonetic order 2. Chinese
14 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
Dynastic Names: Chronological order 3. Personal Names:
Alphabetical order 4. Geographical Names 5. General: Japanese
phonetic order." The Cross Reference Indexes are: "1. Romanized
Cross Reference 2. Japanese Cross Reference 3. Sub-entry
Cross Reference Index: Japanese phonetic order 4. Sub-entry
Cross Reference Index: Roman Alphabetical order." (p.xvii). The
purpose of this volume is indicated as "...to search for books,
journal articles and other materials compiled in the original
bibliography by means of a set of keywords." (p. xii).
Copies may be ordered from the above address.
ASIAN STUDIES IN JAPAN, 1973-1983 (The Centre for East Asian
Cultural Studies, Tokyo): Part II-6 JAPANESE STUDIES ON
LINGUISTICS OF ASIAN LANGUAGES (1973-1983) by UMEDA Hiroyuki
(1987) 60 Pp.; Part II-16 JAPANESE STUDIES ON INNER ASIAN
HISTORY (1973-1983) by UMEMURA Hiroshi (1987) 22 Pp.; Part II-
17 JAPANESE STUDIES ON MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY INNER ASIA
(1973-1983) by NAKAMI Tatsuo (1988) 18 Pp.; Part II-26 JAPANESE
STUDIES ON WEST ASIAN AND NORTH AFRICAN HISTORY (PRE-OTTOMAN
PERIOD) 1973-1983) by HANADA Nariaki (1987) 21 Pp.; Part II-27
JAPANESE STUDIES ON WEST ASIAN AND NORTH AFRICAN HISTORY
(OTTOMAN PERIOD) (1973-1983) by KOYAMA Koichiro (1985) 13 Pp.;
Part II-28 JAPANESE STUDIES ON MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY WEST
ASIAN AND NORTH AFRICAN HISTORY (1973-1983) by HACHIOSHI Makoto
(1987) 16 Pp.
(From the inside front cover of each booklet): "Note to
Readers: ASIAN STUDIES IN JAPAN, 1973-1983 is published by the
Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, in forty-nine booklets,
for the purpose of reporting Japanese scholarship on Asian
studies during the period 1973-1983. This is a continuation of
ORIENTAL STUDIES IN JAPAN: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT, 1963-1972
which the Centre published in forty-six booklets during the
last decade.
"In each booklet, the author describes research trends in
Japan during 1973-1983 in a summarized fashion, and the text is
appended with a select bibliography which lists representative
research works appearing in book from or in scholarly journals
in Japan during the period. The list does not intend to be
comprehensive but aims to cover important works published by
Japanese scholars both in and outside Japan and also research
published by non-Japanese scholars in the Japanese language."
In the US, copies may be ordered from: Kinokuniya
Bookstores of America, West Building of Japanese Cultural and
Trade Center, 1581, Webster Street, San Francisco, CA 94115.
Other enquiries may be directed at: The Centre for East
Asian Cultural Studies, c/o The Toyo Bunko, Honkomagome 2-
chome, 28-21, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113.
15 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
L'ASIE CENTRALE PR ISLAMIQUE: Bibliographie critique 1977-
1 9 8 6 ,
Franz Grenet et collaborateurs (T h ran-Paris: Institut
Fran ais de Recherche en Iran, 1988) Abstracta Iranica, volume
hors s rie 3. 140 Pp. + 3 indexes.
Published in collaboration with the Direction G n rale des
Relations Culturelles Scientifiques et Techniques, this volume
begins with a preface by Bernard Hourcade, Directeur des
ABSTARCTA IRANICA, and Introduction by Franz Grenet, both in
French. The same material is also repeated in Russian.
The main body of the work, in addition to the List of
Abbreviations and Collaborators, is organized according to the
alphabetical order of authors per issue of ABSTRACTA IRANICA
between the indicated dates. A short, one to two paragraph (in
French), description of each contribution accompanies the
entries.
First index is devoted to authors, editors and
translators. Second index contains proper names, and the third,
topics.
Copies may be ordered from: Editions PEETERS, B. P. 41 - B
3000 Leuven, Belgium.
EDITED AND TRANSLATED VOLUMES
Shir Muhammad Mirab Munis and Muhammad Riza Mirab Agahi FIRDAWS
AL-IQBAL: HISTORY OF KHOREZM, Yuri Bregel, Ed. (Leiden: E. J.
Brill, 1988). 1201 Pp., in the original Chaghatay (in the
Arabic script) + Index in the original language and script.
English Introduction by Yuri Bregel.
The following is extracted from Yuri Bregel's 58 Pp.
INTRODUCTION (without the footnotes)
....The first known historical work written in Khorezm in
Chaghatay was TARIKH-I DOST SULTAN composed in 1550 by temish
Haji. The only complete manuscript of the work has been
preserved in the library of the late Zeki Velidi Togan. It
seems that the TARIKH-I DOST SULTAN had no circulation in
Khorezm: Abu'l-Ghazi Khan, who wrote a century later, knew
nothing about his predecessor. Furthermore, temish Haji's work
apparently contains only the history of the Ulus of Jochi and
does not concern the later history of Khorezm. Thus, the
historiography of Khiva proper begins with Abu'l-Ghazi's
SHAJARA-I TURK (completed after the death of the author by
another person in 1076/1665). This work is too well-known to
need any discussion here, though a new edition of the text
published in 1871 by Baron J. P. Desmaisons and especially a
new European translation of it would be desirable.
....The prime importance of Agahi (as well as of Munis)
for modern scholarship lies in his original historical
16 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
writings. The first of them was the continuation of the FIRDAWS
AL-IQBAL which had remained unfinished since the interruption
of the work by Munis in 1234/1819. Agahi received an order from
Allah-Quli Khan to complete this work in 1255/1839-40. He
finished it apparently shortly after this, because later the
same khan ordered him to write a history of his own reign; this
order could have been given not later than 1258/1842 (the year
of Allah-Quli Khan's death). The history of Allah-Quli Khan
(including also the first two years of the reign of his
successor Rahim-Quli Khan) entitled RIYAZ AL-DAWLA was finished
in 1260/1844. After this he wrote, in consecutive order: the
history of Rahim-Quli Khan (1258-1262/1843-1846) entitled
ZUBDAT AL-TAVARIKH, the history of Muhammad Amin Khan (1262-
1271/1846-1855), 'Abdallah Khan (1271/1855) and Qutlugh Murad
Khan (1271-1272/1855-1856) entitled JAMI AL-VAQI'AT-I SULTAI,
the history of Sayid Muhammad Khan (1271-1281/1856-1864)
entitled GULSHAN-I DAWLAT, and the history of the first eight
years of the reign of Said Muhammad Rahim Khan II (1281-
1289/1864-1872) entitled SHAHID-I IQBAL. Altogether these works
constitute an uninterrupted chronicle of the Khanate of Khiva
under the Qongrat dynasty till the Russian conquest. FIRDAWS
AL-IQBAL was at the beginning of this chain of histories; it is
the largest of all of them, and it undoubtedly determined the
character of the subsequent writing.
....After the death of Munis his work remain untouched
until 1255/1839-40, when Muhammad Rahim's son and successor
Allah-Quli Khan ordered Agahi to resume and finish the work of
his uncle; in carrying out this task he enjoyed the special
encouragement of Rahim-Quli T re, and son and heir of Allah-
Quli Khan.It is not quite clear what was the state of Munis'
manuscript when Agahi resumed the work after an interval of
twenty years.
....The structure of the FIRDAWS AL-IQBAL is that of a
dynastic history (or rather a combination of regional and
dynastic history), and it bears some typical features of this
branch of Persian historiography with which Munis was well
acquainted. No individual work, however, can be pointed out as
a sole model for the FIRDAWS AL-IQBAL, though the author was
probably influenced most of all by the SHAJARA-I TURK of Abu'l
Ghazi and perhaps by the RAWZAT AL-SAFA of Mir Khand.
....The readers of the work were not expected to be
numerous. Munis and Agahi speak about "the nobles (akabir) who
will read this compendium. This can probably be taken as a
conventional flattery intended for the reader, but in any case
there is no doubt that the number of educated people who could
read this work in the Khanate of Khiva was very limited. There
is a striking difference between the proclaimed approach of to
their respective works stated by Munis and his predecessor
Abu'l-Ghazi. The latter wanted to write "so that all the
people, nobles and commoners, understand"; and his Turkish, as
he claimed, was so plain that even a five year old child could
understand it. Munis, on the contrary, received a royal order
17 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
to adorn his work with all possible stylistic embellishments,
poetical and prosaic, so as to stir excitement at the literary
gatherings of the sultans. The difference in style was due
partly to the difference in the position of the two authors:
one was a king writing his own history, while the other was an
official and a poet writing a history of his royal patron.
....The first Western scholar who learned about the
existence of these works was a Russian orientalist A. L. Kuhn,
who accompanied, together with several other Russian scholars,
the Russian military expedition against Khiva in 1873 which
resulted in the capturing of Khiva and establishing of the
Russian protectorate over the Khanate. In the Khan's palace the
Russians found a great number of archival documents and about
300 manuscripts; they were all confiscated....Some of the
publications confiscated in Khiva by the Russians in 1873 were
transferred in 1874 to the Imperial Public Library in
Petersburg, but others were kept by Kuhn in his private
possession; these included the manuscripts of the works by
Munis and Agahi....
[From P. 54, Note 304 of the Introduction] The MS C is
slightly damaged by water from which several marginal notes at
the beginning of the MS especially suffered. Many pages of E
are also damaged by water, but it does not appreciably affect
the legibility of the text. The cause of this damage is
probably to be explained by a story told by Palvan (Pahlavan)
Mirza-bashi, the secretary of the khan of Khiva, to a Russian
official and orientalist N. P. Ostroumov in 1891. According to
this secretary, "Kun [Kuhn] took away from Khiva about fifteen
hundred different manuscripts, but when he transported them
across [the Amu-Darya] in a boat, most of the manuscripts got
wet, and he requested about 150 mullas from a madrasa to dry
the wet copies." (Cited from Oustroumov's diary in Lunin,
SREDNYAYA AZIYA, 345, n. 523).
Ugo Marazzi MADAY QARA: AN ALTAY EPIC POEM. Translation from
the Altay, Introduction and Notes. (Naples: Istituto
Universitario Orientale Dipartimento di Studi Asiatici, 1986).
146 Pp. + Bibliography, Appendix.
The following is extracted from Ugo Marazzi's INTRODUCTION
(without the footnotes)
In the rich epic literature of oral tradition of the
Turkic South-Siberian area, the Altay epic holds a considerable
position in all respects. The Altay epic tradition is
outstanding for its archaic and shamanic character, which is
shared on the Mongolian side with the Buriat epic. Mongolian
influence, which was nonetheless exerted on the Altay epic at
the time of the domination of South Siberia by the Oyrats, has
not altered the essence of its character. Of the different
components singled out as constituting the Altay epic (and
18 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
Turkic South-Siberian in general), the original one appears to
be by far the most prevalent.
Exemplary of such an archaic character of the Altay epic
tradition is the poem MADAY QARA, the longest and the most
interesting of those known so far from the whole Turkic South-
Siberian area. In it the heroic plot, having several common
features with the different Turkic and Mongolian epics,
develops according to a structural conception borrowed from the
shamanic initiation experience. The mythical background of the
poem is constituted by the cosmogonic theme of the "heavenly
hunt," it serves to explain from an aetiological point of view
the origin of two of the most important constellations (Orion
and the Great Bear), as well as the origin of the alternation
between day and night while confirming the role that the
bear/double of man and first shaman plays in the primordial
organization of time and the establishing of a periodic order
as well as in the introduction of a vital rhythm into the
original chaos.
The myth of the heavenly hunt, in the Tungus variant,
which appears to be the clearest, tells of how Mangi, first
shaman as well as forger and simple hunter besides being bear,
chases after Xoglen, the reindeer/elk that has taken away the
daylight and condemned the world to darkness. Mangi's skis
leave a wide white trail in the heavenly vault; the Milky Way.
He catches the thief and lands him a blow that puts an end to
his running; he takes possession of the day and brings it back
to earth. From then on every evening Xoglen steals the day and
Mangi gets it back and brings it back to the earth.
....In Turkic South-Siberian epic literature the
prevailing figure is that of the solitary hero who is destined
as a rule to avenge his father who has been offended or taken
prisoner or killed. After facing numerous trials, which clearly
reflect the initiation experience, and after fighting his
enemies from this world and the underworld, in the end thanks
to his magical skills the hero has the upper hand and affirms
the superiority of the cultural order over the disruptive
powers of the underworld. The magical skills of the hero are
concretely expressed in the help ensured to him by his
horse/winged double, by his companions/helping spirits.
Substantially the hero's deeds are none other than the
transposition on an epic level of the shaman's exploits.
The story of the hero K g day Margan develops precisely
according to such an epic model, though enriched with archaic
motifs, elements and original myths....
BOOK REVIEWS
Marion Debout, Denise Eeckaute-Bardery, Vincent Fourniau, Eds.,
ROUTES D'ASIE, MARCHANDS ET VOYAGEURS XVE-XVIII SI CLE, Actes
du Colloque organis par la Biblioth que Interuniversitaire des
This volume contains the papers presented at the colloquim
accompanying an exhibit at the Biblioth que des Langues
Orientales showing travel books about the Orient, and artifacts
connected with trade and travel, many from the library's
holdings. The content of the contributions collected here
reflects this; most are based on European travel accounts,
which range from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century, with
the emphasis on the seventeenth and eighteenth.
The volume opens with a brief description of the library's
holdings, followed by a short introductory essay on Asian trade
routes. The papers are organized into three sections, each one
introduced by a few pages of general description. The first,
"The Western Approaches," deals with the northwestern regions;
the western portion of the Mongol empire and its successor
states. Here we find a discussion of the Mongol empire and its
legacy -- a description of the role of interpreters in Mongol
relations with the west by C. Kappler, the "jam," by L. Bazin.
Two other papers deal with a later period: that by C. Poujol on
Russian travellers to Central Asia in the 18th century, and one
by V. Fourniau on the routes utilized in the Uzbek conquest of
Central Asia. The second section of the book is entitled "The
Oriental Frontiers," and contains three articles, one by L.
Boulnois decribing routes and traffic in the Himalayas --
religious, military and trade-- one by J. Legrand about the
mission to China led by Ivan Petlin in 1618-19, and one by L.
Bernot which describes exchanges in agriculture and technology
between China and Southeast Asia. The final section, "The
Chinese Routes" contains an article by F. Blanchon, on routes
and legends concerning travel in Sichuan, and two descriptions
of western travel accounts, one by J. Meyer on the mission of
Van Braam from Canton to Peking in 1794-5, and one by M.
Caillet, on the Chinese voyages of the surgeon Jean-Baptiste
Bernard in 1751-5, dealing largeley with the region of Canton.
At the end of the volume we find a brief resume of the
discussion about the papers, a catalogue of the exhibit, and as
an appendix, an article by S. Nguyen Dac on the impact of
Chinese civilization on Vietnam.
The articles in this collection range from the very
general, based largely on secondary literature, to detailed and
focused discussions of one particular source. Most deal
primarily with European merchants or travellers, and are based
on western travel accounts. Russian literature is well
represented, both in primary and in secondary sources, but with
the exception of Blanchon's article on Sechuan, primary sources
in Middle Eastern or East Asian languages are very little
cited. Another common trait of these papers is their
concentration on the concrete; we learn many deyails about
routes, objects of trade and diplomatic exchanges, some minor
and fascinating, others important. There is however very little
20 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
discussion of the social or economic results of these
exchanges, or of the dynamics of the system from which they
sprang. The statement by Blanchon in her discussion of Sechuan
legends, that she intends not to provide an exhaustive analysis
of the material, but to present a selection of significant
pieces, could serve to describe the collection as a whole.
For those who are looking for new insights into methods
and significance of Asian travel and trade in the pre-modern
world, this collection will be a disappointment. Its main value
lies in other directions. One is in its use of some less well
known western travel accounts, and in bringing before the
public some of the holdings of the Biblioth que des Langues
Orientales. Another is in the evocation of details --we learn
about the routes through the Himalayas, and the methods of
transport associated with them, about the survival of Mongol
postal terminology in Russian, Ottoman and Persian, about the
construction of canals and bridges in China. Taken together
these do not provide an overview of Asian trade and commerce,
but they do remind us vividly of the importance of trade and
travel in the pre-modern period, its breadth, its dangers, and
its rewards.
Beatrice Forbes Manz
Tufts University
Leo de Hartog GENGHIS KHAN: CONQUEROR OF THE WORLD. (New York:
St. Martins Press, 1989) ix, 230 pp.
This volume, an English translation of the Dutch original
published in 1979, is directed at a general readership. Judging
by the bibliography, the present edition has been revised and
updated in light of the scholarship of the last decade.
De Hartog opens his study with a survey of the geography
and ethnography of the eastern steppe and then turns to a
chronological account of the life and times of the Mongolian
ruler. He concludes with several chapters on Chinggis Khan's
immediate successors, g dei and Guy g, at which point the book
ends rather abruptly. There seems to be no clear rationale for
the add-on chapters except perhaps that it allows the author to
describe the Mongolian invasion of Central Europe, 1237-42, a
subject of particular interest to the original edition's
intended audience.
Based on secondary scholarship in West European languages
and sources available in translation, de Hartog's narrative is
a clearly organized and generally accurate portrayal of the
emergence and expansion of the Mongolian Empire. He takes care,
as well, to provide sufficient background information on the
Mongols' major opponents --the Chin and Sung, Khwarazmshahs,
and the Russian principalities-- so that the uninitiated will
be able to place the actions of the conquerors in a
comprehensible and meaningful context.
21 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
With regard to accuracy, the problem is not what is
included but what is sometimes left unsaid. For instance, his
discussion of the imperial ideology (p. 35) is incomplete and
somewhat misleading. While the importance of a heavenly mandate
is duly noted, the equally critical concept of dynastic good
fortune or charisma is alluded to only in oblique fashion.
Moreover, it would have been useful and appropriate to point
out at this juncture that the political notions advanced by the
Mongols have unmistakable antecedents in the ideological
prescriptions of the Turk khaghanate and are in fact part of a
long tradition among steppe peoples. As it stands, the text
seems to imply that this ideological system was the creation of
Chinggis Khan and associates. A similar criticism can be made
of his treatment of Mongolian attitudes tlward religion. While
his assertion that the Mongols were remarkably tolerant is of
course true, the practical, political consequences of this
policy deserve elucidation. The Mongols regularly honored alien
gods and their earthly representatives not only for the
spiritual power they might control but because religious elites
possessed effective communications networks and wielded
influence over public opinion. Once coopted with tax immunities
and official recognition, these elites facilitated the Mongols'
efforts to consolidate their hold on conquered territory.
In this general interpretation of Mongolian society, de
Hartog follows the view, first elaborated by Vladimirtsov, that
feudal relationships were the central organizing principle.
This is a long debated issue and in the final analysis always
turns on one's definition of feudalism. In sustaining this
thesis, however, I don't think it accurate to assert, in this
case on Bartold's authority, that "all members of [Chinggis
Khan's] guard had to be of aristocratic birth" (p. 44). In
fact, individuals were recruited into the guard for a variety
of reasons: Some as hostages, others because of particular
talents, and some because of family connections. Their
backgrounds were diverse and the criterion for acceptance was
more a matter of loyalty and utility than of birth.
While registering my disagreements with the author in the
spirit of friendly debate and exchange, I do not want to leave
the wrong impression. His handling of the data in many cases
reveals insight and interpretive skill. He argues, quite
correctly, that the imperial guard was not simply a security
force but a training ground for military and governmental
leaders. And his discussion of the political implications of
the "official" version of Tolui's demise is most perceptive.
According to the SECRET HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS, when g dei
became ill in 1232 his younger brother Tolui, with the approval
of Eternal Heaven willingly traded his own life for that of the
ailing khaghan and so departed the earth. This episode, de
Hartog observes, was certainly concocted by the toluids, once
they gained the imperial throne in 1259, as a device to
dramatize their founder's great service to the empire.
22 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
Overall, this volume achieves what it set out to do -
-
provide a readable and informative introduction to early
Mongolian history for the general public.
Thomas T. Allsen
Trenton State College
Carney E. S. Gavin and the Harvard Semitic Museum, editors.
IMPERIAL SELF PORTRAIT: THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AS REVEALED IN THE
SULTAN ABDUL HAMID II's PHOTOGRAPHIC ALBUMS. (Journal of
Turkish Studies, Vol. 12, 1988). xi, 269 pp. Numerous
illustrations, appendices, index. Softcover.
The photographic albums presented by Sultan Abdul Hamid II
to the governments of Great Britain and the United States are a
critically important source for both the history of the Ottoman
empire in the late nineteenth century and the history of
photography in the same period. Now housed in the British
library and the Library of Congress, these albums provide
evidence of how the Ottoman government wished itself to be
perceived by the foreign powers, as well as a visual record of
what at least parts of the empire actually looked like. The
albums in the Library of Congress have been studied since
1940's, although their contents have not been extensively
published, but the British library albums have remained
uncatalogued and virtually unknown until the last decade or so.
This new publication concerning the albums, edited by Carney
Gavin and his colleagues at the Harvard Semitic Museum, thus
serves to bring these valuable photographs to the attention of
a wide audience.
The book begins with a brief foreword by Prof. Dr. Nurhan
Atasoy which describes the project currently underway to
catalogue and publish the 33,000 photographs in the Yildiz
Albums, also from the period of Abdul Hamid II, and now in the
collection of Istanbul University. The photographs in the
Yildiz Albums, intended to provide information about the empire
to Sultan Abdul Hamid, contain a different range of images than
the gift albums in Washington and London and form an
interesting comparison with them.
The balance of the book is divided into four sections: an
historical introduction, information about the album
collections, the photographs, and appendices. Each section is
further divided, and each separate article or appendix is
identified by a Roman numeral, twelve in all. Although the
organization of the book is confusing at first, with a great
deal of information presented in short articles or lists, the
book is actually easy to use, once the reader is familiar with
it.
The first section of the book, 'Historical Introduction:
Abdul-Hamid's Gift Albums as an Imperial Self-Portrait,' was
23 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
written by Carney Gavin. Divided into two separate
essays,Gavin's text is the longest in the book (23 pp.). In the
'Overview,' Gavin describes the albums themselves, as well as
their publication here. He also includes a chronological list
of recent research and publications concerning the albums. His
second essay, 'The Sultan's Gift in Perspective.' discusses the
albums in the light of several anniversaries which Gavin
considers important: the printing of the TABLEAU GENERAL DE
L'EMPIRE OTTOMAN by I. M. d'Ohsson, beginning in 1787; the
150th anniversary of the invention of photography in 1839; the
100th anniversary of the founding of the Harvard Semitic Museum
in 1889; and the 10th anniversary of the first international
F.O.C.U.S. Conference, held in 1978. Structuring his essay
around these four anniversaries allows Gavin to touch on a wide
range of subjects, from pre-photographic representations of the
Ottoman empire, to a summary of recent international efforts in
the preservation of historical photographs.
In the second section of the book, 'Collections,' the
albums and their history are discussed in four short essays.
George Hobart, Curator of Photography at the Library of
Congress, and Muhammad Isa Waley, Curator of Turkish and
Persian collections in the British Library, have each provided
a brief (two page) summary of the history of the albums in
their collections. The third piece in this section, 'Analysis
of Abdul-Hamid's Gift Albums,' by William Allen, is a revised
version of an article published in 1984 in the journal HISTORY
OF PHOTOGRAPHY. Until the publication of this book, Allen's
article was the most comprehensive publication available about
the albums, and it is still the only detailed analysis of the
contents of the albums. Allen summarizes the subject matter of
the photographs, as well as presenting information about the
photographers responsible for the images in the albums. It is a
very useful article; one only regrets that it is not longer.
The final part of this section of the book is entitled 'Album
Descriptions,' and contains brief descriptions of each of the
51 albums, arranged in numerical sequence according to their
Library of Congress numbers. The short descriptions each
include an identification of the photographer (and information
as to how the identification was made), the number of
photographs in the album, and a one or two sentence description
of their subject matter.
Part Three, 'A Pictorial Selection,' begins with a
detailed title list (including the L.C. album number,
photograph number within the album, and negative number) for
the 166 images from the albums which are reproduced in the
book. The photographs are divided into the four subject
categories which researchers have established: Views,
Buildings, Monuments, and antiquities; Military, Naval,
Rescue...Industrial Establishments; Educational Institutions;
and Horses, Imperial Stables and Yatchs. The quality of
reproduction is high, the selection of images is representative
of the contents of the albums, and the fact that the entire
24 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
page, with the image, original mount and captions is included
in the reproduction, makes this section of the book extremely
useful.
Also useful are the four appendices included in Part Four.
The first appendix is a table of correspondence, which matches
the Library of Congress, British Library, and microfiche
numbers of the albums, as well as listing the discrepancies
between the L.C and B.L. sets of albums. In the second
appendix, every photograph in every album is listed
individually, arranged by album according to L.C. numbers.
Appendix Three, 'Thematic Classifications,' sorts the albums by
subject matter, according to the subjects listed above. The
fourth appendix is an index to the photographs which lists a
variety of places, people, and institution which appear in the
albums.
As should be clear by now, this book contains a wealth of
information about the Abdul Hamid albums. The editors have made
a great contribution to scholarship in the various fields for
which these photographs are important by bringing the albums to
the attention of a diverse audience. Furthermore, the detailed
information and extensive reproductions will allow much wider
access to this unique archive of Ottoman photographic history
than has ever been possible before.
This issue of the JOURNAL OF TURKISH STUDIES concludes
with a series of brief book reviews. The first review article,
by Carney Gavin, discusses seven recent books of historical
photographs from the Middle East, with much space devoted to
Engin izgen's 1987 work, PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE:
1839-1919. Secondly, Sinasi Tekin, the editor of the JOURNAL OF
TURKISH STUDIES has reviewed, in Turkish, two recent German
publications on Turkish manuscripts, published in the
Verzeichnis der Orientalishchen Handschriften (VOHD) series.
Nancy Micklewright
University of Victoria
THE NATIONALITIES FACTOR IN SOVIET POLITICS AND SOCIETY.
Lubomyr Hajda and Mark Beissinger, Eds. (Boulder: Westview
Press, 1990) vii + 331 pp.
The emergence of the nationalities factor as a core
element of the Soviet politics under Gorbachev will doubtless
inspire many hastily assembled volumes. All of us in the field
of Soviet studies should be grateful that the present work,
probably the first of this new wave, is extraordinarily good.
Precisely, however, because the book may set the standards for
subsequent efforts its minor flaws as well as its great
strengths should be scrutinized.
Any treatment of Soviet nationalities should, of course,
be factually reliable. It should be comprehensive in its
coverage of influential nationality elements and sufficiently
25 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
detailed to be a reliable guide for those --including,
unfortunately, numerous Sovietologists-- still unfamiliar with
many nationalities. The book should be reasonably uniform in
approach, for omissions in discussions of specific
nationalities or topics covered will perplex readers seeking a
comparative perspective. The work itself should provide an
analytic overview informed by relevant social science theory.
On the whole, the Hajda-Beissinger volume meets these criteria
admirably. Firm editorial decisions secured an able group of
contributors. A few words on the background of each (many are
not widely known even in Sovietological circles) might have
assured reader confidence; but this reviewer is convinced that,
since personal commitments no doubt precluded collaboration by
some top specialists, it would have been practically impossible
to assemble a better team.
The editors' decision to avoid a routine assembly of
chapters devoted to specific nationalities is commendable. Just
five chapters on particular nationalities are preceded by seven
theme chapters transcending individual nations or even groups
of nationalities. This approach does omit a few interesting
ethnic groups and occasionally over-emphasizes certain smaller
Union Republics. On the whole, though, the combination of
individual nationality coverage and theme analysis is so
superior that one may hope it becomes the standard for future
volumes of this type.
There is one additional requirement for a nationalities
survey intended to meet current needs: it must be up-to-date.
Because the most exciting Soviet developments have occurred
during the past two years, this requirement is onerous. Every
book author knows how excruciatingly difficult it is to keep a
manuscript up-to-date as it passes through the long publishing
process; a collaborative volume is most difficult of all. Both
the editors and Westview Press are to be commended, therefore,
for producing a work, published very early in 1990, which so
closely approaches the ideal of timeliness.
One way, evidently, by which the editors sought
contemporary relevance was to have each nationality chapter
close with a survey of current opposition to the regime. Ronald
Suny (on "Transcaucasia") and Romauld J. Misiunas, on the
Baltic Republics, meet this requirement very well by providing
cogent analyses in a comparative framework of events as late as
October 1989. Save for one or two footnotes, Roman Solchanyk's
treatment stops with 1988. This is hardly surprising,
considering his awkward assignment --perhaps a lapse of
editorial judgement-- to cover Moldavians and Belorussians as
well as the immense topic of Ukrainian nationality.
Fortunately, Bohdan Bociurkiw, in "Soviet Religious Policies"
and Roman Szporluk in "The Imperial Legacy" provide depth
coverage of many Ukrainian topics, often quite up-to-date.
These two theme chapters also expand on Dina Spechler's brief
treatment of "Russian Nationalism" by analyzing the substance
of traditional Russian imperialism, which she contrasts to
26 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
"anomic nationalism," regarded as a dangerous response to
tensions of modernization.
Many readers will find Martha Olcott's equally abbreviated
discussion of "Central Asia" inadequate for exploring the
reverbations of traditional forces. Her reference to the
potential clash between "secularized intellectuals" and
"Islamic fringe groups that are springing up in rural areas"
seems to me obscure the possibility (advanced by H l ne Carr re
d'Encausse and the late Alexandre Bennigsen, whom Olcott does
not cite) that "fringe groups" are contemporary manifestations
of 'sufi' networks with deep roots in the Soviet Moslem milieu.
Szporluk and Bociurkiw do not supplement treatment of Moslem
issues as they did the Slavic, Suny does cover some Moslem
issues in his balanced treatment of Azerbaijan; but the editors
might well have commissioned an additional chapter on RSFSR
Moslems, notably Tatars, whose role is indispensable for
understanding the Islamic tradition.
Happily, statistical treatment of current trends vital for
the future of the Moslem nations is admirable. Barbara Anderson
and Brian Silver, noted for their numerous sophisticated
analyses of Soviet statistics, not only provide a comprehensive
analysis of demographic trends and linguistic identification,
but also coordinated demographic discussions in individual
nationality chapters. Gertrude Schroeder, in "The Soviet
Economy," covers demographic topics like manpower as well as
relative productivity, investment, and consumption.
Stephen Burg's theme chapter on "Nationality Elites,"
although exceptionally well grounded theoretically, is
surprisingly slight in statistical evidence. Paul A, Goble's
discussion of literary politics does not, of course, lend
itself to quantitative techniques, but is outstanding in its
comparative examination of the unavowed --and perhaps
unconscious-- influence of Soviet categories even on dissident
writers in Central Asia. An unusual theme is Teresa Rakowska-
Harmstone's "Nationalities and the Soviet Military." The author
misses an opportunity to bring together highly relevant
evidence on Wold War II experience, and exaggerates the
significance of Turkic and Caucasian manpower: even after large
initial losses, Soviet military manpower was not drawn
"ethnically largely" from these groups, which comprised less
than thirty per cent of the population remaining under Soviet
rule. In this novel, exploratory chapter, such minor lapses are
hardly available, though. The same qualification applies to
general criticism of contributions to this volume. In a wide-
ranging contemporary survey, omissions and infrequent errors
are hardly avoidable. The wonder is that, at such an early
stage, editors and contributors achieved the remarkable
accuracy and balance which can serve as a model for subsequent
analysis of Soviet nationalities.
John A. Armstrong
St. Augustine, Florida
27 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Cristopher Beckwith, THE TIBETAN EMPIRE IN CENTRAL ASIA: A
HISTORY OF THE STRUGGLE FOR GREAT POWER AMONG TIBETANS, TURKS,
ARABS, AND CHINESE DURING THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1987) xxii + 269 pp. Bibliography.
Index.
Interest in Tibet in the West has centered over the
centuries on its topography and its religion. Little attention
has been paid to the history of Tibet except as it occasionally
pertained to the imperial history of China. The increasing body
of scholarship on Tibetan Buddhism will typically mention the
introduction of Buddhism to the Tibetan court via the marriage
of King Srong-btsan-sgam-po to the Chinese princess Wen-ch'eng
around 642, then skip to the founding of the first Buddhist
monastery in Tibet at bSam-yas around 775, will mention the
suppression of Buddhism under the evil king gLang-dar-ma (who
was assassinated in 842), and then will begin anything
approaching a sustained chronology only with the second
introduction of Buddhism into Tibet in the eleventh century
(marked commonly by the arrival of the Bengali monk Atisa in
Western Tibet in 1042). Thus, long eras of Tibetan history go
overlooked, most importantly the reigns of the Tibetan kings
from circa 600-866. This period of the "Tibetan Empire" is the
subject of Christopher Beckwith's important new study.
The book is the first detailed narrative history of the
Tibetan Empire in Central Asia written in any language.
Beckwith brings a prodigious skill in languages to his task,
employing original sources in Chinese, Old Tibetan, Arabic, and
Old Turkic and secondary sources in French, Russian, German,
and Japanese. The volume is a straightforward chronology of the
political events of the period, detailing military campaigns,
treaties, and diplomatic missions. A prologue that discusses
the first historical references to the Tibetan people is
followed by an account of Tibetan conquests in eastern Central
Asia in the late seventh century. Subsequent Tibetan successes
to the West, in the countries of the Tarim Basin, were short-
lived due to political intrigues within Tibet. In the beginning
of the eighth century, the Arabs joined the Chinese and
Tibetans as the major players in the game for control of
Central Asia, with treaties and alliances among the three being
made and broken. Tibetan incursions into T'ang China reached a
high-water mark in 763 with the capture of Ch'ang-an. But by
the middle of the ninth century, what was once the vast Tibetan
colonial empire had been lost to other powers, notably the
Arabs and the Uyghurs.
Beckwith presents this story in a fast-paced narrative
accompanied by extensive annotation. The volume concludes with
an epilogue that attempts a synchronic cultural comparison of
the Franks and Tibetans (and sometimes the Arabs, Turks, and
28 AACAR BULLETIN VOL. 3, NO. 2 FALL 1990
Chinese) from the seventh through the ninth century. Although
overly brief to be of any real use and somewhat out of place
given the rest of the volume, Beckwith's motivation is correct:
to show that Tibet was one of the great world powers of this
age. The preceding chapters of the book had already made that
point quite clear. The volume concludes with five appendices; a
comparative table of Frankish, Byzantine, Arab, Tibetan,
Eastern Turkic, and Chinese rulers; a glossary of Chinese
terms; a bibliographical essay; and a useful bibliography and
index.
