Identification of the Bukharans in Siberia (17th–21st Century)

This article addresses the problem of identifying the descendants from the Central Asian states in Siberia – the Bukharans – from the 17th to the 21st centuries, focusing on transition and transitional process, where the dynamics and statics are foundational. The main sources included scholarly works of the 18th and 19th centuries, archival data, and evidence from ethnographic expeditions from the last quarter of the 20th century to the early 21st century in the areas of compact settlement of the Bukharans’ descendants. Identification is discussed through the integration into the structure of Russian society and onomastics: Bukharans, Sarts, Bukharans and Tashkentis, Siberian Bukharans, Tatar-Bukharans, Bukharan Tatars, Tatars. Periodization of the emergence, development, and transformation of the identity of this population group in Western Siberia has been established with the following key milestones and four periods: 1) late 16th – late 17th century; 2) late 17th – 1810s; 3) 1820s – 1910s, and 4) 1920s to the present day. The periods of dynamics (first period – the emergence of the Bukharans as a group, their identification both internally and externally; fourth period – transformation of identity towards the Tatars) and statics (second period – the inclusion of the Bukharans into the fiscal and administrative systems of the Russian State with account of their foreign origin, consolidation in defending their privileges; third period – further consolidation and identification of the Siberian Bukharans as subjects of the Empire equal to others) have been identified. Although currently the descendants of the Bukharans consider themselves Tatars, they maintain the memory of their origins. The evidence from the expeditions includes both designations – “Bukharan” and “Bukharan Tatar.”