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Soviet Cultural Legacy in Tajikistan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Farhad Atai
Farhad Atai*
Affiliation:
University of Tehran
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Abstract

This paper is a report on the Soviet cultural legacy in Tajikistan. It takes an in-depth look at the institutions that were created to manage artistic and cultural activities, budgeting, training and promotion under the Soviets. The paper suggests that, except for art and culture related to religion, other genres were enhanced, albeit with an emphasis on ideology. However, independence in 1992, along with the civil war that erupted immediately afterwards, had a devastating effect on art and culture in Tajikistan and on the lives of the artistic community. The paper is part of a comprehensive study of post-Soviet art and culture in Central Asia in the critical years immediately after the Soviet collapse. For this study, over one hundred interviews were conducted with officials, musicians, dancers, writers and singers, as well as visits to centers of art and culture in those republics.

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 81 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2012

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References

1 See Bosworth, C. E. and Asimov, M. S., History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. 4, Part 2 (Delhi, 2003), 28–30, 61–90.Google Scholar Also see James Thrower, The Religious History of Central Asia from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (Lewiston, Queenstown and Lampeter, 2004).

2 See Lapidus, Ira M., A History of Islamic Societies (Cambridge, 1989), 414–37.Google Scholar

3 On Bolshovization of culture see Clark, Katerina, Dobrenko, Evgenii Aleksandrovich, Artizov, Andrei and Nuamov, Oleg V., Soviet Culture and Power: a History in Documents, 1917–1953 (New Haven, CT, 2007), 3–7.Google Scholar On organization of proletarian art see ibid., 50–76.

4 While the Uzbek government claims the size of the Tajik population to be around 5 percent of the total population of Uzbekistan, the real figure is closer to 25–30 percent. A study in 1996 at Samarkand State University placed the figure at 6–7 million. That is double the Tajik population in Tajikistan. See Everett-Heath, Tom, “Instability and Identity in A Post-Soviet World,” Central Asia; Aspects of Transition, ed. Everett-Heath, Tom (London, 2003), 191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Today, of the 27.7 million population of Uzbekistan, around 7.5 million are believed to be Tajik.

5 A. K. Mirbabaev, “The Islamic Lands and their Culture,” in Bosworth and Asimov (eds), History of Civilizations of Central Asia, 31–43.

6 See Frye, Richard N., The Heritage of Central Asia from Antiquity to the Turkish Expansion (Princeton, NJ, 2001).Google Scholar

7 Dani, Ahmad Hasan, Adle, Chahryar, Habib, Irfan and Baipakov, Karl M., History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in Contrast: From the Sixteenth to the Mid-nineteenth Century (Turin, 2003), 33–71.Google Scholar

8 Dani et al., History of Civilizations of Central Asia, 33–53.

9 Dani et al., History of Civilizations of Central Asia, 71–82.

10 For more on the development of socialist norms during this period see Hoffmann, David Lloyd, Stalinist Values; Cultural Norms of Soviet Modernity 1917–1941 (New York, 2003), 15–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11 Mohammad Jon Shakouri, member of Soviet/Tajikistan Academy, personal interview, Dushanbe, 4 November 1993.

12 Hoffmann, Stalinist Values, 3–15.

13 Askar Hakim, head of the Writers Union of Tajikistan, personal interview, Dushanbe, 8 November 1993.

14 M. Alpiev, Deputy Minister of Culture of Kazakhstan, personal interview, Almaty, 8 June 1994; Osman Aqan Ibrahimov, Deputy Minister of Culture of Kyrghyzstan, personal interview, Bishkek, 12 June 1994.

15 Leyla Beketova, Head of the State Radio and Television in the Republic of Kazakhstan, personal interview, Almaty, 8 June 1994.

16 M. Zalleqbek, director of the House of Culture in Tukmuk, Kyrghyzstan, personal interview, Bishkek, 11 June 1994.

17 Sadriddin Ayni (1878–1954) is regarded as Tajikistan's national poet and one of the most important writers of the country's history.

18 Abul Qasem Lahuti (1887–1957) was an Iranian poet and writer who fled to Tajikistan in the 1920s and became a close associate of Stalin.

19 Rawshan Rahman, member of Folklore department at the University of Tajikistan and editor of Mardom Giyah, personal interview, Dushanbe, 5 November 1993.

20 A. Toleb, deputy minister of culture of Tajikistan, personal interview, Dushanbe, 8 November 1993.

21 Azizmorad Rajabov, head of the center for peoples' productions, personal interview, Dushanbe, 3 November 1993.

22 Ebrohim Osmanov, first deputy director of state radio and television of Tajikistan, personal interview, Dushanbe, 5 November 1993.

23 Osmanov, interview.

24 Shirinmah Naholova, artistic director of Ziba dance group, personal interview, Dushanbe, 5 November 1993.

25 Sherofat Rashid, artistic director of Jahanara dance group, personal interview, Dushanbe, 5 November 1993.

26 Askar Ali Rajabzodeh, member of Tajikistan State Filarmoni, personal interview, Dushanbe, 4 November 1993; Zafar Nozem, director of Ganjina Folk Group, personal interview, Dushanbe, 5 November 1993.

29 He was an accomplished opera singer, and played the leading role in the first Tajik opera Kava-i Ahangar.

30 They were Uzbek.

27 Based on the life story of the Persian mythical hero Kava-i Ahangar.

28 Rajabzodeh, interview.

31 Rajabzodeh, interview.

32 A. Hamzeh, director of Cultural Foundation of Tajikistan, personal interview, Dushanbe, 8 June 1994.

33 Farrokh Qosem, founder and director of Aharoun Theater Group, personal interview, Dushanbe, 5 and 10 November 1993, and Tehran 12 November 1996.

34 Abu Abdullah Jafar ibn Mohammad Rudaki of Samarkand (858–ca. 941), is regarded as the first great literary genius of Persian language.

35 Ardeshir Karimov and Rouzi Amidov, professors of Pahlavi languages and folklore studies at the University of Tajikistan, personal interview, Dushanbe, 10 November 1993.