Image of an Official in a Cosmos of Tatars at the Cusp between 19th – 20th Centuries

Abstract

On the basis of folklore, archival and memoir sources, the author analyzes the day-to-day perception of officials within in the Tatar society in late 19th – early 20th centuries. The paper reveals information about the number of officials from the Tatars, the specifics of the Tatar nobility formation in different regions of the Russian Empire. Moreover, the article examines the visual appearance of Tatar clerical workers, and the nature of interaction between officials and Tatar merchants. Tatar folklore has an interesting image, which is called “kushtan,” a special social and psychological type, a person who is close to the circle of officials. A relationship of such informal manner between officials and ordinary people was common in the early 20th century, when the political police persecuted Tatar clergy pan-Islamists. The practice of denunciation created a myth about the pan-Islamic threat. According to the author’s opinion, the Muslim Tatars’ views on Tatar officials changed considerably during the 19th century passed through different stages. It is indicated that officials were not divided into “insiders” and “outsiders”; the society assessed moral qualities of a public authority representative, despite his ethnic or religious affiliation. The topic has been chosen due to the fact that the given problem is utterly unexplored in research so far.

Keywords

• tatar society
• muslims
• tatar nobles
• officials
• mullah
• daily routine
• folklore