Russian language in the education system of Turkestan in the late 19th – early 20th centuries
Abstract
Scientific discussions about the spread of the Russian language in Central Asia in the pre-revolutionary period have acquired a noticeable politicized character in the last three decades. The “pendulum effect” in the assessment of the historical past, expressed in the transition from Soviet idealization to national criticism during the period of independent states, does not allow us to show the objective role of the Russian language in the political, economic and social life of Turkestan in the late 19 th – early 20 th centuries. A one-sided analysis creates difficulties in the implementation of a language strategy in modern Uzbekistan, where, in accordance with the Law “On the State Language”, all peoples of the republic have equal rights and opportunities. The purpose of this article is an objective and comprehensive analysis of the process of integration of the Russian language into all spheres of life of Uzbek society at the turn of the 19 th and 20 th centuries, which laid the foundation for large-scale processes in Soviet times. The contextualization method allows us to comprehensively reveal the historical, social and economic conditions for the development of language processes in a specific chronological period associated with the political tasks of the Russian state to develop the Turkestan region, which included the territory of modern Uzbekistan. On this basis, a number of discussion questions have been formulated related to the extent to which historical experience can be in demand at the present stage.