CRRC, American Councils and ARISC are pleased to announce the First talk of the Fall 2024 Tbilisi Works-in-Progress series!
This week’s talk will be VIRTUAL ONLY.
“The Caucasus and Transcaspia under Russian rule: Orientalism, Customary Law and the Production of Knowledge, 1870-1890”
Roman Osharov, Oxford University
This project examines how Orientalist preconceptions about Muslims in the Caucasus were applied by the Russians in Central Asia. It focuses on Transcaspia, which was administered from the Caucasus between the 1870s and the 1890s, first from Petrovsk and then from Tiflis. One of the first steps taken by Russian administrators from Dagestan once Transcaspia was transferred to them from Orenbrug was to collect and codify customary law, known as ‘adat, of the Qazaqs and Tukmens. This demonstrates the importance attached to customary law in the Caucasus, where it was promoted against the Shari’a. But after having collected and codified ‘adat for Transcaspia, the Russians concluded that the Qazaqs and Turkmens were less religious than the Muslims in the Caucasus, and subsequently rejected the idea of incorporating them into the Muslim spiritual structures in the Caucasus. The paper draws on an unpublished compilation of ‘adat for Mangishlaq from Sakartvelos Saistorio Tsentraluri Sakhelmtsipo Arkivi within the National Archives of Georgia.
Roman Osharov is a PhD (DPhil) student at the University of Oxford’s Faculty of History.
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Works-in-Progress is an ongoing academic discussion series based in Tbilisi, Georgia, that takes place at the CRRC office at Chavchavadze Ave. 5 and online. It is co-organized by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), the American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, and the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC). All of the talks are free and open to the public.
In observation of the spirit of the Chatham House Rule, the talks will not be recorded, and we courteously request that the other participants refrain from recording and/or distributing recordings as well. The opinions expressed in WiP talks are those of the speakers alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of CRRC, ARISC or of American Councils.
