Russian Colonial Society in Tashkent, 1865--1923

1. Ceremonies, Construction, and Commemoration

1. Ceremonies, Construction, and Commemoration Residents of the new “Russian section” of Tashkent anxiously awaited the arrival of Konstantin Petrovich fon Kaufman, the first governorgeneral of the province of Turkestan, on November 7, 1867. Tashkent was to become the administrative center of the newly conquered lands of Central Asia. For its first residents, Kaufman’s arrival signified the beginning of the transformation of Russian Tashkent from a dusty military settlement to a permanent and vital capital city. To commemorate the arrival of the governor-general, Russian merchants erected a “magnificent ” arch at the eastern edge of the Russian section at the cost of one thousand rubles.1 The arch was decorated with flaxes that surrounded a shield with the monogram of the tsar. On the appointed day, residents gathered on rooftops to watch the entrance. Anticipation turned to surprise as messengers sent word thatKaufman had chosen to enter Tashkent not through the arch, but by way of the larger Asian city. Swords bared, a Cossack honor guard escorted the governor-general and his entourage through its winding streets and bazaars . The Russian welcoming delegation, in “bewilderment” according to a newspaper account, quickly moved to the western gate that divided their settlement from Asian Tashkent.2 They arrived in time to present the new governor-general with the traditional offering of bread and salt. Kaufman responded with a short speech on the value of the community to Russia’s mission in Central Asia. The city was illuminated that night, heralding a bright future for Russia in Tashkent. Governor-General Kaufman and the officials and settlers who awaited him both sought to exploit the occasion of his arrival. Kaufman’s Ceremonies, Construction, and Commemoration 23 decision to march through Asian Tashkent with only a small honor guard projected his might and fearlessness before a population that only two years earlier had fiercely resisted tsarist troops. His decision upset the fledgling Russian community, which hoped to impress upon the governor-general the importance of developing the “Russian section ” as a center of power and European civilization before the large and rich Asian city. Both depictions sought to harness the ritual power of representation, utilizing a public event to construct a vision of imperial power and society. Public representations of power emerged as critical elements of authority and identity in Russian Tashkent. Imperial leaders, as in central Russia, shaped ceremonial displays and public space to signal the potency and character of their rule. Privileged differentiation of selected characteristics in representation, according to Catherine Bell, can structure reality, generating hierarchical schemes within an apparent communal and historical unity.3 Ceremonial gatherings in Tashkent infused meaning into the colonial enterprise. Governor-General Kaufman developed an urban plan and civic symbols to underline the Russian city’s powerful and “civilizing” character against its Asian neighbor. I argue, however, that public ceremonies and spaces become sites of contestation as well as community. Imperial leaders and elites lacked full control over their, to use Richard Wortman’s term, “scenarios.”4 Constituencies from Russian merchants and veterans to Central Asian notables sought to influence ceremonies in order to assert their own status in colonial society. Changes in the form and content of ritual public gatherings and civic symbols and spaces at once reflected and generated shifting balances of power within this new imperial city. Welcoming the Governor-General Russians in Tashkent hoped that Kaufman’s arrival would ease their sense of insecurity. The first two years of Russian presence following the conquest had been difficult, as the status of Tashkent had remained undetermined. General M. G. Cherniaev had left only a simple military encampment in the city following his victory, as he shifted his attention to the neighboring emirate of Bukhara in a bid for further military glory. Only in the late fall did Cherniaev return to Tashkent and consider it a potential center for Russian rule in the region. The general purchased lands from wealthy Central Asian landowners beside the citadel built by the khanate of Kokand.5 He offered small family plots to officers and soldiers who had summoned their wives and children for the winter. Two-room clay houses rose between the citadel and the foundations for Russian Colonial Society in Tashkent 24 a new fortress that Cherniaev had begun to construct. The foundations of a permanent colonial settlement were laid by D. I. Romanovskii, appointed in 1866 as Cherniaev’s successor to administer the...