ABSTRACT

The formation of the Tatar nation has attracted the attention of scholars since the mid-19th century, and remains a topic of contemporary scholarship. Marxist interpretations of the Tatar nation focusing on socio-economic development dominated during the Soviet period (Khasanov 1977, Kuzeev 1992). In the postSoviet period, scholars began devoting more attention to the role of culture in the Tatar nation-building process (Iskhakov 1997). In this interpretation, "high culture" (education, art, music) creates the nation. But if we take into account both socio-economic and cultural, ideological, and socio-political trends, we can date the first stage in the emergence of the Tatar nation from the second half of the 19th century, when a bourgeois class emerged in the Kazan region and the Tatar enlightenment began. During this era, reformer and theologian Shigabutdin Marjani entered the political arena and in large part defined the developmental path for the Tatar nation and modern Tatar society. The second stage of nation-building stretches from the 1917 Russian Revolution until the present day. But before we can understand this Tatar nation-building process, we must briefly explore the prehistory of the Tatar nation.