Jadidism

   A Muslim educational reform movement of the late-nineteenth and earlytwentieth centuries. The term derives from the word for the new method of teaching the Arabic alphabet. This movement was started by Ismail Bey Gaspirali (or Gasprinskii) during the 1880s in the Crimea. Gaspirali first articulated the reform ideas of Jadidism in his newpaper Tercüman. Jadidism drew a particularly large following among the populations of the Crimea and the Volga-Urals, as well as the intellectual populations of Turkestan.

   Jadidism took on many forms among Muslim peoples of Central Eurasia, but the general contours of the movement were similar: reformed education that combined Islamic principles with modern techniques and curricula; creation of a pan-Turkic unity both culturally and politically; and the creation of a common Turkic literary language. Jadidism can be seen historically as a reaction to Russian imperialism and modernization. The movement strived to reconcile elements of the past while adapting to the present and future of Muslim peoples living under Russian imperial rule.

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   FURTHER READING:

    Khalid, Adeeb. The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jadidism in Central Asia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.

   SCOTT C. BAILEY