Changing Identities

Abstract

The Tsarist conquest initiated a period of massive change in Central Asia. Most of it took place in the Soviet period, but the Tsarist period brought important changes as well (albeit not necessarily those intended). In this chapter, I will discuss the extent to which the Tsarist period involved changes that foreshadowed the establishment in the 1920s of nationality-based territorial political entities in Central Asia. On the basis of recent re-evaluation of Central Asian social and cultural life in this period, I will argue that the national delimitation represents a certain degree of continuity, and certainly more than that allowed for in the traditional divide and rule perspective.