Jadidism, Islam and Russification: The Role of Jadidism in Cultural Change of Central Asia (1880-1930)

Last years of 19th century witnessed to rise of an intellectual movement in the Muslim-settled lands of Russian empire. This movement was called Jadidism due to its main cause that was modernizing educational system of RussianMuslimsocieties.ItsoriginalbasewasCrimeaandIsmail Gasprinskii, its founder, was a Tatar intellectual whose main concern was to introduce a new method of education for Muslim societies of Russian Muslims as a way to modernize this societies. To actualize his ideas, Gasprinskii constituted a newspaper under the Persian title of Tercuman and wrote some popular treatises which contained his modern thoughts. During 1880’s Gasprinskii’s ideas were propagated throughout the Russian empire and welcomed by a group of central Asian intellectuals as well. This cultural movement led to formation of a modernizing discourse which for nearly four decades prevailed intellectual sphere of Russian empire. The present paper addressed one rather neglected feather of this movement and aims to investigate its role in cultural passing of central Asia from Islamic era to soviet Russia. It also attempts to give an explanation of Jadidism and its theoretical and historical formation in connection with Russification programs of Russian government toward its Muslim societies. The results show that Jadidism as a cultural movement has had some clear connections with Russification policies.