Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

Доклады Международного конгресса по источниковедению и историографии стран Азии и Африки. Т. 1. 2020 349 Irina A. Dorokhova (Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk, Russia) Joseph Doke — the First Biographer of Mahatma Gandhi Summary : The article analyzes the book of Joseph John Doke (1861–1913) “M. K. Gandhi. Indian patriot in South Africa”, first published in 1909 in London. Its author was not a compatriot of Mahatma Gandhi. He was a European, a British Baptist pastor from Johannesburg, who became his friend. However, it was Doke who first introduced to the world the personality of the future leader of the Indian national liberation movement, his views and activities in SouthAfrica. Two storylines are intertwined in the book: on the one hand, the situation of the Indian population in southern Africa, and on the other, the multifaceted figure of the community leader M. K. Gandhi. Both stories are inextricably linked and complement each other. The book is based on material from the author’s conversations with Gandhi and his per- sonal perception of the Indian community’s protest against racial discrimination in South Africa at the beginning of the 20th century. In his book Doke outlined the main subjects and problems that later began to develop in other biographical essays dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. Starting from Gandhi’s childhood and paying tribute to his family, J. Doke consistently acquainted the reader with his hero’s studies in London, his disappointment and professional failures after returning to his homeland. Then Doke passed to the new stage of Gandhi’s life that began in 1893, when Gandhi ended up in South Africa and refused to accept racial discrimination of his compatriots. Doke closed his story with a description of the climax of the first stage of the South African Indian community’s struggle in 1908. Significant coincidences of the contents of Doke’s book with the corresponding sections in M. K. Gandhi’s autobiography “My Life” indicate that Gandhi was sincere with Doke while narrating him about his life. The emphasis was made by Doke on the moral side of the behavior of his hero. He was attracted by the simplicity of the young Indian leader’s lifestyle, his honesty, will and determination, which combined with his ability to compromise. Doke already then saw in Gandhi the real leader of the Indian community, who was able to rally people of different faiths and social status around him. The article also examines Gandhi’s opinion of Joseph Doke. Keywords: Mahatma; M. K. Gandhi; Joseph Doke; civil disobedience; satyagraha; India; South Africa.