EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY IN RUSSIA’S CENTRAL ASIA: INTEGRATING TURKESTAN PEOPLE INTO THE EMPIRE

Abstract

This article is about human interaction in photography, the public and private expressions of the image within the conventions of the early ethnographic photography. It also explores the complex and integral role of photography in Central Asia and ways of opportunities to display and promote Russian Turkestan «for the greatest possible representation of their region» [11, 1.39] both to the Russians and to the Western world. Drawing on the variety of photographic sources, this article aims to demonstrate how close readings of photography reveal not only Russian agendas, but also many layers of differing historical and cross-cultural experiences.