As the Russian state evolves from a post-Mongol steppe empire into a European power with absolutist ideals in the 18th century, tsarist agents attempt to assert authority over Bashkirs on a more permanent basis by reducing the nomadic tribes' autonomy and range of mobility through the construction of a line of forts.
He analyzes the Great Reforms era with a focus on the zemstvo experience and hence frames his argument around the trope of "participation." This seems accurate on the face of it, as we follow Bashkir notables taking seats in zemstvo governments in Ufa guberniia and ordinary Bashkirs being transferred from military to civil administration, electing their elders, becoming subject to regular conscription, petitioning the government to protect their lands, and even taking paid jobs in cities and the region's mines.
The best wrestling in the region is similar in rules and form:
Bashkirs and Tatars call it Keryash, Kyrgyz call it Koresh, Uzbeks call it Ika, and Kazakhs call it Guresh.
It derived its name from its native people the
Bashkirs.
Wayne Dowler's book examines the late imperial debate about Russification as it centered on the problem of primary education for non-Russian easterners, in particular the Mar, Mordvins, Chuvash, Udmurts, Tatars,
Bashkirs, Kalmyks, and K azakhs of the Kazan school district, one of the largest and most ethnically diverse of the Russian "East." Dowler's findings about the relationship between "classroom and empire" are not startlingly new, but his work does provide a helpful overview of the complexities involved and offers a useful perspective on why the late empire's road to "modernization" was so fraught with trouble.
Islamic Historiography and "Bulghar" Identity among the Tatars and
Bashkirs of Russia.