Construction of the Image of a Muslim Woman on the Pages of the Newspaper "Terjiman" (1883–1890)

Research аrticle

Abstract

The article examines the problem of the lack of a holistic analysis of the image of a Muslim woman in the journalism of Ismail Gasprinsky, who published the newspaper “Terjiman” in Bakhchisarai since 1883. Despite the large number of works devoted to his educational, publishing and reform activities, the "women's issue" did not become the topic of a separate study, and no systematic study of articles from 1883-1890 was conducted. The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that a significant body of I. Gasprinsky's journalistic legacy from 1887-1890 was introduced into scientific circulation in Russian only in 2019, which gives his analysis special importance for understanding the gender policy of Jadidism and opens new opportunities for studying the women's issue within the framework of Jadid discourse. The key concept of the analysis is the construction of the image, that is, how a new model of female subjectivity was built using articles, notes, and feuilletons in the newspaper “Terjiman”, which differed from both traditional stereotypes and Western models of women's liberation. The purpose of this article is to recreate the holistic image of a Muslim woman that I. Gasprinsky deliberately created on the pages of the newspaper “Terjiman” in 1883-1890. The methodological basis of the research is a set of methods: discourse analysis, content analysis and the gender approach of Nira Yuval-Davis, as well as a comparative method that allows comparing I. Gasprinsky's journalism with the materials of the Kazakh newspaper “Dala Ualayaty”. Discourse analysis allows us to identify key semantic contrasts, such as the juxtaposition of "tradition and seclusion" and "independent education," as well as the ways in which I. Gasprinsky used Sharia to justify women's rights. Content analysis allows us to divide the articles into three main categories: religious and legal, socio-demographic, and based on real-life examples. In the framework of Nira Yuval-Davis's gender theory, the image of a woman is understood as a symbol of collective identity. The main result of the study is a reinterpretation of how I. Gasprinsky constructed the image of a Muslim woman. It is important to recognize that he did not copy Western models of women's liberation but rather created his own image based on Islamic tradition, the practical benefits of women for society, and real-life stories. This approach allows us to break away from the stereotype of the "passive Eastern woman" and present her as an active participant in public life. The article fills a gap in the study of gender aspects in Jadid periodicals and shows how periodicals became a tool for reshaping social roles in traditional societies.