Чеканя суверенитет: скрытые проекты нациестроительства в Черкесии XIX века

Öz

Настоящая статья рассматривает неопубликованные османские и британские архивные источники, которые проливают новый свет на политические устремления черкесов в первые годы после Крымской войны (1856–1857). Эти документы раскрывают скоординированные инициативы черкесских лидеров — при поддержке османских и европейских посредников — по чеканке местной монеты и изготовлению медалей и знаков отличия. Подобные действия выступали одновременно как символические жесты и как практические шаги на пути к суверенитету и государственности. Анализ протоколов допросов, дипломатических меморандумов и таможенных записей позволяет выявить переплетение имперских стратегий, материальной культуры и черкесского нациестроительства. В статье утверждается, что монеты, медали и знаки отличия функционировали как прототипы суверенитета в спорном имперском пограничье, вызывая подозрения, отрицание и ответные меры со стороны соседних империй. Помещая эти эпизоды в рамки концепций «воображаемых сообществ» (Андерсон) и «изобретённых традиций» (Хобсбаум и Рейнджер), автор подчёркивает, что материальная культура служила медиумом политического воображения и государственного ремесла в Черкесии XIX века.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Кавказ
• Черкесия
• Османская империя
• Россия
• Крымская война
• нациестроительство
• символический суверенитет

Minting Sovereignty: Hidden Projects of Nation-Building in Nineteenth-Century Circassia

Öz

This article examines unpublished Ottoman and British archival sources that shed new light on Circassian political aspirations in the aftermath of the Crimean War (1856–1857). These documents reveal coordinated initiatives by Circassian leaders—supported by Ottoman and European intermediaries—to mint local currency and produce medals and insignia. These acts functioned as both symbolic gestures and practical steps toward sovereignty and statehood. Through the analysis of interrogation protocols, diplomatic memoranda, and customs records, the study uncovers the intertwined dynamics of imperial strategy, material culture, and Circassian nation-building. It argues that coins, medals, and insignia operated as prototypes of sovereignty in a contested imperial borderland—eliciting suspicion, denial, and retaliatory measures from neighboring empires. By situating these episodes within the frameworks of imagined communities (Anderson) and invented traditions (Hobsbawm and Ranger), the article underscores how material culture served as a medium for political imagination and statecraft in the nineteenth-century Circassia.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Caucasus
• Circassia
• Ottoman Empire
• Russia
• Crimean War
• nation-building
• symbolic sovereignty

Minting Sovereignty: Hidden Projects of Nation-Building in Nineteenth-Century Circassia [Egemenliği Darbetmek: 19. Yüzyıl Çerkesya’sında Ulus İnşasının Gizli Projeleri]

Öz

Bu makale, Kırım Savaşı’nın (1856–1857) hemen sonrasında Çerkes siyasal hedeflerine yeni bir ışık tutan yayımlanmamış Osmanlı ve Britanya arşiv kaynaklarını inceler. Bu belgeler, Osmanlı ve Avrupalı aracılar tarafından desteklenen Çerkes liderlerin yerel para basımı ile madalya ve nişan/alamet üretimine yönelik eşgüdümlü girişimlerini ortaya koymaktadır. Bu eylemler hem sembolik jestler hem de egemenlik ve devletleşmeye doğru atılmış pratik adımlar olarak işlev görmüştür. Sorgu tutanakları, diplomatik muhtıralar ve gümrük kayıtlarının analizi aracılığıyla çalışma; imparatorluk stratejisi, maddi kültür ve Çerkes ulus inşası arasındaki iç içe geçmiş dinamikleri açığa çıkarır. Makale, sikkeler, madalyalar ve nişanların çekişmeli bir imparatorluk sınır bölgesinde egemenliğin prototipleri olarak işlediğini; bunun da komşu imparatorluklar tarafından şüphe, inkâr ve misilleme tedbirleriyle karşılandığını savunur. Bu vakaları “hayali cemaatler” (Anderson) ve “icat edilmiş gelenekler” (Hobsbawm ve Ranger) çerçeveleri içinde konumlandırarak, maddi kültürün 19. yüzyıl Çerkesya’sında siyasal tahayyül ve devlet sanatının bir aracı olarak nasıl hizmet ettiğini vurgular.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kafkasya
• Çerkesya
• Osmanlı İmparatorluğu
• Rusya
• Kırım Savaşı
• ulus inşası
• sembolik egemenlik

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