Everyday Life and Sanitary Culture of the Peoples of Xinjiang as Perceived by Soviet Medical Professionals (1920–1940)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19487966 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Vsevolod Yu Bashkuev (0000-0003-4300-9403, Institute of Mongolian Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 89-105 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-16 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Quaestio Rossica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2311-911X • E-ISSN: 2313-6871 |
| Publisher | Ural Federal University (PUBLISHER • RU) |
| DOI | 10.15826/qr.2026.1.1046 |
| OpenAlex | W7150803228 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 7 |
This article provides an analysis of medical and ethnographic descriptions of the peoples and cultures of Xinjiang created by Soviet doctors in the interwar period. The USSR’s medical and sanitary assistance was intended to achieve several political objectives. One of these objectives was to strengthen the authority of Soviet medicine in the province by providing the population with medical care. Interacting with the traditional cultures of multinational Xinjiang in the context of interethnic tension, doctors reflected their impressions of its residents in reports to the People’s Commissariat of Health. These sources have only recently attracted the attention of historians of medicine, and the relevance of their study increases in the context of the expanding cultural dialogue between Russia and China. Focusing on the methodology of discourse analysis, the author examines the images of the Hans, Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Russian emigrants through the prism of medical perception of traditional everyday life. Identifying the most characteristic stylistic devices and tropes, the author compares them with medical descriptions of other peoples of Asia in the same and earlier periods. It is concluded that Xinjiang presented a complex environment for Soviet doctors, in which they had to not only adapt to different cultural types but also navigate between professional duty and political imperatives, using their medical expertise as a tool of influence
Context (archaeology) · Duty · Ethnography · Everyday life · Multinational corporation · Politics · Population · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Linguistics and Cultural Studies
| Highly cited | No |
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