Golbeck, Matthias Russland in Zentralasien

Autobiografische Texte der Eroberung und Erschließung Turkestans (1860-1917)

This study operates at the intersection of autobiography studies and empire studies. It examines the cohesive impact of discourses regarding imperial self-representation, analyzing memoirs and accounts of participation and travel related to the Russian expansion into southern Central Asia after 1860. The authors of these textsmilitary officers, officials, and scholarsplayed a role in the conquest and exploration of the territory that would become the Governor-Generalship of Turkestan. To address the diversity of the source material, the study employs the concept of "autobiographical practices," viewing them as tools for shaping a specific self-conception. The analysis reveals how Russian actors in Turkestan developed distinctive forms of autobiographical storytelling by creatively adapting existing narrative modes. Over the course of six decades, they closely intertwined their personal tales of heroism with the empire, thereby contributing to its narrative of success in Turkestan and helping to stabilize it discursively.