Panel: Printing Knowledge, Circulating Ideas:Making Modernities in Early 20th-Century Newspapers from Central Asia

Beschreibung

Abstract:
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Russian conquest of Central Asia and the creation of the general-governate of Russian Turkestan accelerated the technological, political and economic transformation processes. Printed newspapers in a local language of Central Asia and Arabic script first appeared in 1870 with a monthly supplement to the Russian language Turkestanskie Vedomosti (Turkestan News) published by the general-governorship of Russian Turkestan. Private vernacular newspapers established by Central Asian intellectuals surfaced around 1906. Small in print run and short-lived, they nevertheless heavily influenced intellectual thought and debates of the “reading classes” of their time, each issue attracting many more readers than buyers. They were virtual discussion rooms for probing into possible futures and critical topics of Central Asia like identity and (multiple) modernities under colonial rule, language and cultural heritage. At the same time, they acted as reverberation chambers for thoughts and debates originating elsewhere, be it in the Ottoman, Russian or British Empires, Europe or beyond. Among the writers of these print media were pivotal figures of the Central Asian reform movement. By opening up new spaces for public debate that went beyond face-to-face circles, especially by introducing letters to the editors as a venue for expression of opinion, the newspapers had a decisive role in shaping intellectual thought about societal and political reforms, (national) identity, culture, modernity, the state of religion, and many other contentious topics of their time. On the basis of a close reading of these newspapers, this panel asks whether there was a shared sense of what modernity, progress, identity and cultural heritage were? How were the newspapers, their editors and authors connected within and beyond Central Asia? Who reads and cites whom? How do their attitudes towards the colonial power compare?

Zeitraum	13 Sept. 2022
Veranstaltungstyp	Sonstiges
Ort	BerlinAuf Karte anzeigen
Bekanntheitsgrad	International