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3.
The Russian oriental studies reached to an academic level following
the commercial, religious, military and diplomatic oriental studies of
studying the other cultures and societies.
4.
Earlier studies of orientalism developed to an academic level with the
expansion of Russia’s political power towards its own orient. This was
in close connection to the process of modernization and the
centralization of the state during Peter the Great. During the
modernization period in the 18
th
century, the Russian state started to
distinguish itself from other societies. In the process of the definition
of the self of the Russian state, the other was especially the social and
political formations in the Russian orient. The process of modernity
through the centralization of the political, administratrive, economic,
educational institutions caused also the centralization of oriental
studies at the institutional level.
As discussed previously, Russia’s commercial and cultural relations with
the East existed from the very beginning of Russian history. These relations
have brought Russia into contact with different cultures and religions.
However, it is hard to say that there existed major cultural differences in the
early period since the distinct Russian culture was not present at the time.
What started orientalism in Russia was the need to gather information on
the societies Russia fought or traded with, the products of the East and
Islam, which were perceived as opposed to Christianity. That is why
orientalism attracted interest from the spheres of military, commerce and
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religion. In the period from the beginning of Russian history until the 18
th
century, relations established due to geographical proximity, the Hojdenyas
to the holy lands, and the books depicting the lives of churchmen became
the starting point of Russian’s learning process of the East in a practical
way. After the end of the Mongolian rule and the Russian conquests of
Kazan and Astrahan changed the balance of power in the region to the
advantage of the Russians. The belief that Moscow was “the third Rome”,
put forth in the 15
th
century, had been an important step in realizing a
Russian identity and also played a crucial role in Church’s undertaking an
influential role in the state apparatus. With the conquest of Siberia, relations
with Japan and China had started and more diverse populations were added
to the non-Russian population of Kazan and Astrahan. These developments
brought the necessity for translation issues. The church wanted to promote
conversion into Christianity, merchants to flourish their trade and the
military to have better information about new lands. These needs were
largely met by means of baptized Tatars, which indirectly put Tatars in a
favourable position when it came to relations with the East.
The geographical expansion made cartography a necessity in terms of
both military and commercial purposes. That is why the 17
th
century
coincides to a period when the geographical terms are better defined. In this
century, numerous envoys were sent to Central Asia to gather Russian
captives and to India to explore trade routes. After Peter the Great became
Tsar and then Emperor, the Westernization process in Russia took pace,
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western style education institutions were established and foreign scholars
were invited from abroad. Manuscripts, documents, valuables collected
through military activities in the East also added to the material resources of
Russian oriental studies. The 19
th
century was a time when the oriental
studies in Russia reached its maturity and Orientalist faculties were
established at the universities of Kazan, St. Petersburg and Moscow. In
addition to these faculties, the military and the foreign ministry had opened
schools within their institutions to train the necessary personnel. The
requirement for such qualified personnel was so high that the Russian
Foreign Ministry assigned Lazarev Institute as a school for training civil
servants for the ministry. As a result of academic studies conducted at these
universities, orientalism in Russia trained distinctly qualified people and gave
birth to invaluable works in the field.
So, when we look at the 19
th
century, it can be seen that there is not a
single type of orientalist. Different interest areas and motivations had also
an impact on the nature of the orientalists, which as a result created
“commercial orientalist”, “diplomat orientalist”, “military orientalist” and
“academic orientalist”. While the contribution of academic orientalists is not
comparable to that of the others, it should be noted that all the other types
of oriental studies paved the way to academic orientalism.
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