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
IN THIS ISSUEJames 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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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 alimited 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
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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
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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, 175 W. 93 Street (16-D), New York NY 10025 www.erols.com/arbs * 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.
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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
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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.
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L'ASIE CENTRALE PR ISLAMIQUE: Bibliographie critique 1977-1986, 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
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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
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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
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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
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Langues Orientales, Paris, 11-12 d cembre 1986. (Edition ISIS, Istanbul; Paris, 1988).
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
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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 UniversityLeo 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.
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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.
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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 CollegeCarney 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
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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
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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 VictoriaTHE 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
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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
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"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.
Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
University of Michigan