SUMMARY:

In this article Bakhtiyar Babajanov discusses the reaction of Russian experts and politicians, especially those working in Turkestan at the time, to the Andizhan uprising of 1898 which stirred a new round of discussions on the “Muslim question.” This issue is discussed in its relationship to historiographic and methodological debates on Russian Orientalism and the status of “Russian experts” of Turkestan. The article also presents a brief analysis of local voices reflecting “a view from the South (‘the East’)”. The main emphasis is given to the views of traditionalist-conservatives (among which, it could be argued, was Dukchi Ishan, the leader of the Andizhan uprising of 1898) who viewed the idea of mixing with Russians/unbelievers extremely negatively. The article examines the positions of both sides of the process of colonization, their understandings of forms of mutual interaction, and peculiarities in mutual perception. Finally, the author offers his own view on the phenomenon of cultural assimilation in Russian Turkestan.