Date of Award

Summer 2006

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Committee Director

Austin Jersild

Committee Member

Maura Hametz

Committee Member

Michael Carhart

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.H47 S783 2006

Abstract

Before the Revolution of 1917, the Uzbek population had a traditional system of religious education, but the literacy level of the Uzbek people was very low. After the Soviets seized power in Uzbekistan, they promoted the development of Uzbek language and culture. In 1937 the Soviet government subjected the entire Uzbek nation to political and ideological instructions. The Russian language became the primary language that dominated many aspects of Uzbek life: party apparatus, science, technologies, state administration, and higher education.

Throughout the Soviet period the majority of children in the rural areas of Uzbekistan attended native schools, while an increasing number of Uzbek children in large towns and cities attended Russian schools. The poor quality of the Russian language teacher programs, the insufficient supply of native schools, and the absence of the Russian language textbooks for Uzbek schools aggravated the Russification process in the Uzbek Soviet republic. Russification was a one-sided policy. The native population of Uzbekistan was forced to learn and speak the Russian language. Russian officials and teachers, on the other hand, considered the study of Uzbek useless.

Russification had both positive and negative aspects. Indigenous population of Uzbekistan was forced to assimilate into the Soviet society. In order to become new citizens of the Soviet Uzbek republic natives had to give up their culture, religion and traditions. On the other hand, the Soviets created modern Uzbekistan, the Uzbek language, and the Uzbek nation. The liquidation of illiteracy, the introduction of universal seven- year education, and the emancipation of Uzbek women were huge achievements of the Soviet communists. The Russification policy brought radical changes into the life of Uzbek people. Most importantly Soviet educational policies benefited Uzbek women. Many women were liberated and emancipated from the feudal ways of life. The Soviet government gave enormous opportunities to Uzbek women to study and work for the benefit of the new Uzbek Soviet society.

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DOI

10.25777/e6he-gm38

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