THE POLITICAL AND ENLIGHTENMENT ACTIVITY OF JADIDISM IN THE KHIVA KHANATE: THE CASE OF POLVONNIYOZ HOJI YUSUPOV

Abstract

This article analyzes the political and enlightenment-oriented dimensions of the Jadid movement in the Khiva Khanate at the beginning of the twentieth century through the activities of Polvonniyoz Hoji Yusupov. The study interprets Khivan Jadidism not merely as a phenomenon of school reform or spiritual awakening, but as a comprehensive modernization movement aimed at regulating state administration on a constitutional basis, introducing representative institutions, bringing the financial and communication systems under public control, and renewing society through new-method schools. Yusupov’s activity as an intelligent merchant-intellectual, a multilingual communicator, a Jadid with international experience, one of the leaders of the political wing of the “Young Khivans,” and the first head of the government of the Khorezm People’s Soviet Republic demonstrates the transition of Jadidism from enlightenment to politics. The article uses statistical indicators such as the 1917 manifesto, the thirty-member Majlis, the arrest of seventeen Young Khivans, the twelve-article program of 1920, and the 644-page manuscript of Yusupov’s memoirs as source-based evidence. The results show that Khivan Jadidism took shape in a complex field where modernization, national interests, and external political pressures intersected, and that Yusupov was one of the most multifaceted political and enlightenment figures of this process.