Image of Kayum Nasyri in the Tatar Periodical Press of the 1920s

Abstract

The article examines the formation of the “canonical” image of Kayum Nasyri in the Tatar periodical press of the 1920s. The source base consists of materials from the newspapers Tatarstan, Kyzyl Tatarstan, and Eshche, the journal Bezneng Yul, as well as the Tatar Calendars of the early 1920s. It is shown that the early Soviet press relied on pre-revolutionary memoir plots published in the journal Shura in 1912–1913; however, it intensified the conflict in Nasyri’s biography by contrasting the “old order” with the “new world”, as well as through the enlightener’s opposition to the Muslim clergy and merchant class, which brought his ideas closer to the tasks of Soviet cultural construction. The main thematic and semantic accents of the publications are identified: in 1922–1925, the figure of Nasyri was first associated with the ideas of “renewal” of Tatar society, and by the middle of the decade, it was increasingly interpreted within the framework of a class approach. Key elements of the image are determined (“Kayum Babay”, “Servant of the People”, “Fighter for Light and Knowledge”, “Uyatuchy”, i.e., “The Awakener”), and the role of the periodical press and the jubilee campaigns of 1922 and 1925 in consolidating his symbolic status is shown.

For citation: Gabdrafikova L.R., Sadriev F.R. Image of Kayum Nasyri in the Tatar Periodical Press of the 1920s. From History and Culture of Peoples of the Middle Volga Region. 2026, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 94–107. https://doi.org/10.22378/2410-0765.2026-16-1.94-107 (In Russian)