HISTORICAL RELATIONS OF UKRAINIANS WITH THE ISLAMIC WORLD IN THE RECEPTIONS OF BORIS HRІNCHENKO (1863–1910)

Abstract

The article shows how knowledge about the Islamic world, religion, national identity, culture of the Crimean Tatars, Turks, Arabs, etc. spread in the Ukrainian space under the conditions of the development of the domestic national movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The focus of research is on the figure and achievements of B. D. Hrinchenko (1863–1910), a well-known devotee of pan-European values. On the basis of his public education, journalistic and artistic works, the author’s vision of the historical relations of Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and Turks is highlighted. The use of the image of the Crimean Tatars as «foreigners» as a factor in the formation of a nationally conscious Ukrainian modern nation, the revival of historical memory and the cultivation of love for the Motherland has been proven. Descriptions of captivity, mistreatment and abuse generally corresponded to the historiographical tradition of contrasting the Muslim and Christian worlds.

B. Hrinchenko’s reception of two historical figures is analyzed – Hetman Petro Doroshenko, who adhered to a pro-Turkish orientation, and Ivan Sirko, a Cossack, a consistent fighter against the aggression of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire.

In the work of Boris Hrinchenko, stereotyped characteristics of certain national and religious communities, which until the beginning of the 20th century, became widespread and found their use in literary and scientific discourses. Borys Hrinchenko is depicted in the circle of representatives of the domestic intellectual elite – D. Doroshenko, A. Krymskyi, M. Drahomanov, who also made efforts to form Ukrainian perception of the Islamic world.