The History and Ideology of Bukharian Jadidism in the Context of the Views and Personality of Fayzulla Khodjaev

Abstract. Disputes and discussions about the early Soviet Central Asian intelligentsia are an extremely politicized topic in the works of historians and political scholars of Uzbekistan and English-speaking authors. This article attempts to comprehend the image of the prominent political figure of the Uzbek SSR and intellectual Fayzulla Khodjaev from the standpoint of the theory and concept of “mimicry” and “hybridization” of the personality (H. Bhabha) in the early Soviet era. The article discusses the views and ideas of F. Khodzhayev, which provides an opportunity to characterize his mimicry under Soviet power and provides the key to understanding the “Sovietization” of Bukhara Jadidism. I believe that Khojaev’s mimicry was more conscious and voluntary than imposed from outside. That is, Khodjaev has made the most of his “mimicry”, or rather I would call this phenomenon “positive mimicry”. Аny mimicry in the colonial situation is ambivalent, contradictory, multifaceted, and at the same time extremely stable in the constant repetition of the same relations of colonial power. The mimicry of F. Khodjaev was based on such mutually exclusive concepts as “exclusivity” and “involvement” which required peculiar equality from the colonial system – political identity and ideological autonomy within the framework of the Soviet system.

Keywords: mimicry, Faizulla Khodzhaev, Jadidism, hybridism, Central Asia, Soviets.