The essence of Jadidism in Turkestan. In search of anti-colonialism and liberation in the Jadid literature

Abstract

Jadidism and the Jadid literature have been subject to various interpretations by the western and nativist scholars. The Jadid literature is often perceived as anti-colonial resistance literature that aimed at liberating Turkestan from the Russian domination. This thesis would argue that overstating the Jadids’ role and contribution, crediting Jadid literature as anti-colonial resistance/liberation literature should not invent a ‘liberation movement’ which was not there. Instead, the thesis proposes to deconstruct Jadidism by analyzing the literary works of Makhmudkhoja Behbudi (1875-1919), Abdulla Avloni (1878-1934), Hamza Hakimzoda Niyozi (1889-1929), Abdurauf Fitrat (1886-1938), Abdulla Qodiri (1894-1938) and Abdulhamid Sulaymon og’li Cho’lpon (1897-1938) on individual basis. The author analyzed and summarized the mainstream literature and the publication works of the six Jadid thinkers in search of anticolonial resistance, liberation narratives. The analysis showed that only Fitrat and Cho’lpon’s certain literary and publication works manifested anti-colonial, liberation narratives. This has been achieved through thematic groupings of the Jadid works about Islam, different social issues, and the class and gender struggle. The content-based analysis has been chosen together with simplistic, minimalist interpretation to avoid generalization and exaggeration concerning the Jadid literature and Jadidism. The author chose to work with text in the domain of classical history to provide freedom to a reader to decide on the essence of Jadidism in Turkestan.