Mantra: a Review Essay on Islam in Soviet Central Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-433
Author(s):  
Eren Tasar
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Muslim Religiosity ◽  
Soviet Central Asia

Abstract This paper traces the development of the historiography of Islam in Soviet Central Asia from the Cold War’s outset to the present by illustrating its uncritical reproduction of modernist and communist templates for describing Muslim religiosity, and its debt to two foundational frames of Soviet antireligious propaganda: “survivals” and “nationalized Islam.” It highlights the important implications of these frames for this scholarship’s development, i.e., its assumptions concerning “normativity” and the “poverty” of Central Asian Islam, as well as the urban-rural divide’s salience in religious life. The essay concludes with a survey of recent scholarship on the subject.

Kazakstan and the Rest of Central Asia: Fifteen Shades of Difference

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Rywkin
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Past History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Geographic Position ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Central Asian Republics

Kazakstan is both part of former Soviet Central Asia and yet stands apart in many respects. Its geographic position, past history and present development are unique for the area. It is significant that Soviet-era writings treated Kazakstan distinctly from the other four Central Asian republics. This essay is devoted to these differences.

Imagined democracy? Nation-building and elections in Central Asia

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donnacha Ó Beacháin ◽  
Rob Kevlihan
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Weak States ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Central Asian Countries ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Nation State Formation

Is an imagined democracy more important than actual democracy for nation-building purposes? After 20 years of independence, Central Asian countries present a mixed bag of strong and weak states, consolidated and fragmented nations. The equation of nation and state and the construction of genuine nation states remains an elusive goal in all of post-Soviet Central Asia. This paper examines the role that electoral politics has played in nation-state formation. We argue that electoral processes have been central to attempted nation-state building processes as part of efforts to legitimize authoritarian regimes; paradoxically in those few countries where (for brief periods) partial democratization actually occurred, elections contributed, at least in the short term, to nation-state fragmentation.

Power, Social Life, and Public Memory in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

Inner Asia ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timur Dadabaev
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Soviet Time ◽  
Historical Discourses ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Soviet Historiography

AbstractThis article attempts to analyse the memory of people through recollections of the everyday life of people in Soviet times in the Central Asian republics of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. By using extensive interviews with seventy-five elderly people in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan regarding their Soviet-time experiences, this article argues that the public view of history in post-Soviet Central Asia often falls in between Soviet historiography advocating advances of Soviet past and post-Soviet historical discourses rejecting the Soviet past. Public perceptions of history in Central Asia are mostly shaped by and related to the everyday needs, experiences, identifications and mentality of people as opposed to the ideologies and political doctrines of the time. They often reflect not only the perceptions of people regarding their past but also their perceptions regarding their present.

scholarly journals Russia and Post-Soviet Central Asia: Reciprocal Language Studies in University Curricula and Bilateral Cooperation in this Area

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ksenia Muratshina ◽  
Olga Iakimova ◽  
Ildar Hamzin ◽  
Tatiana Verbitskaia ◽  
Gayrat Bobojonov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Bilateral Cooperation ◽  
Linguistic Aspect ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Regional Languages ◽  
The Russian Language

Russia and the post-Soviet countries of Central Asia are close partners, having ties not only in the economy, politics and culture, but also in the field of security. The linguistic aspect of interaction is also of great importance. This article analyzes the presence of the Russian language in the curricula of Central Asian universities, the presence of Central Asian languages in the curricula of Russian universities, and the level of bilateral cooperation in this area. The study is conducted within the framework of the methodological structure of the theory of “soft power” by J. Nye and the concept of “competitive identity of the state” by S. Anholt. The findings of our study present arguments in support of, firstly, the development of an effective strategy to preserve the role of the Russian language as a unifying cultural factor and an instrument of international communication and cooperation, and, secondly, the possibility of preparation specialists in Central Asia in Russia with a good knowledge of regional languages in order to ensure strategic planning, evaluation of joint projects and the study of modern literature. Keywords: Russia, Central Asia, cultural cooperation

scholarly journals A Great Game in Greater Central Asia

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-243
Author(s):  
M. H. Glantz
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Aral Sea ◽  
Aral Sea Basin ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Great Game ◽  
Central Asian Republics

The region historically referred to as Soviet Central Asia includes the 5 Central Asian Republics (CARs) of the Former Soviet Union (FSU): Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Their political status changed drastically when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and they became independent republics. Since the early 1990s, Central Asian leaders have referred on occasion to neighboring Afghanistan as the sixth CAR. In fact, it does occupy 14% of the Aral Sea Basin and its mountains supply about 15% of streamflow to the region’s mighty Amu Darya River that used to flow into Central Asia’s Aral Sea.

Back to Islam? Women's Sexualities and Body-Politics in Muslim Central Asia

Hawwa ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 181-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Droeber
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Anthropological Fieldwork ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Political Economic

AbstractIn this paper I examine the commonly held assumption that the developments we witnessed in Central Asian societies since the disintegration of the Soviet Union could be interpreted as a "return to pre-Soviet Islamic traditions". I am specifically concerned with reports about the increasing violations of women's sexual rights and mounting control over their bodies, developments that are accompanied by a "conspiracy of silence" about sexual matters.This essay is based on anthropological fieldwork in Kyrgyzstan, various reports from other Central Asian republics, a review of Soviet sex and gender policies, and analysis of Islamic Scriptures on the issue of sexuality. Even though some Muslim practices regarding sexualities can be seen as having a basis in the Qurān, the interpretations and translations into daily practice are to a major extent influenced by political, economic, and socio-cultural forces. I trace these processes in the case of Soviet and post-Soviet Central Asia and argue that the rhetoric of a "return to Islamic traditions" does not take into account the significant impact on other forces on the current practices of policing women's bodies and silencing discourses on sexualities.

Dissent of the Muslims: Soviet Central Asia in the 1980s

1981 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mobin Shorish
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Muslim Population ◽  
The Past ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Soviet Central Asia

It is very difficult to translate fully the above verse from the great Persian-speaking poet Bidil without violating its spirit in the context of the Central Asian (and other Iranian areas) culture. The spirit of the verse is not so much fatalism about life itself but is one of cynicism derived from power-lessness over one's fate. This verse is often uttered by the Central Asian intellectuals in response to questions about their relationship with the Russians and sharing of power in the Soviet bureaucracy. It does not communicate resignation. It describes the reality of the USSR, an awareness that a Central Asian is powerless to change circumstances to those favoring his/her well being and spiritual instincts. It camouflages the underlying resentment toward the dominant group, the Russians, who have the monopoly of the means of violence and who have not hesitated to use these means against the Muslim population of Central Asia on numerous occasions during the past hundred years of their rule there.

Dynamics of India–Central Asia Relations: An Appraisal of Historical Legacy with Special Reference to Overland Trade

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-222
Author(s):  
Darakhshan Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Historical Legacy ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Soviet Central Asia

The article seeks to provide glimpses into the multidimension relations with special reference to trade relations that existed between India and Central Asia right from ancient times, which reached their climax during Mughal times. The article reveals that these relations continued unprecedented despite complex geophysical forces, namely formidable mountains, undulating deserts, unending plains together with the periodical political convulsions especially the triangular rivalry between the three mighty powers of the region, i.e., the Mughals of India, the Uzbeks of Central Asia and the Safavids of Persia. The study of contemporary sources reveals that each power tried at its best to encourage the trade by providing safety and security to the trading caravans carrying different mercantile. The brisk trade relations received a serious jolt when the two regions became part of colonial empires, i.e., the Britain and Russia. Though indirect political and cultural relations were restored by India with the former Soviet Central Asia, yet disintegration of the USSR and the subsequent emergence of independent Central Asian states, which, in search of new allies for the nation-building process, establishment of market economy and democratic set up, offered a golden opportunity to India, being an immediate neighbour in the region, for restoring and reviving its historical legacy. The historical study carried out in this article intends to provide insights into twenty-first-century Indian policy planers for establishing strong multidimensional relations for regional cooperation and sustainable development, apart from maintaining balance of political power.

Gender and nation in post-Soviet Central Asia: From national narratives to women's practices

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliette Cleuziou ◽  
Lucia Direnberger
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Feminist Studies ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Soviet Legacy ◽  
Gender And Nation ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Historical References

This article introduces a thematic issue consisting of five articles, which analyze the complex interrelations between gender norms and representations and the construction of nationalism in the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia. Drawing from gender and feminist studies, the first section explores how Central Asian nationalisms have promoted hierarchized gender roles to reinforce their legitimacy, noticeably invoking the authority of “tradition.” The second section examines not only how the Soviet period continues to shape contemporary nation-building processes in the region, but also how the latter has been creating new historical references to emancipate them from the Soviet legacy - and from the Soviet policy toward women in particular. The third section examines how gender norms promoted by Central Asian states may affect women in their everyday life and how they may negotiate, refuse, or promote these norms. In the final section, we show how “gender equality” has become a watchword of international organizations’ agendas and we analyze the production and implementation of this international agenda setting in a specific national context.

scholarly journals Post-Soviet Central Asia in the Focus of Interests of Major Asian States (2019-2020)

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-99
Author(s):  
D. B. Malysheva
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Political Cooperation ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Economic Landscape ◽  
Soviet Central Asia

The study aims at identifying some areas of international political interaction between post-Soviet Central Asian states and the major economic powers of Asia -China, India and Japan. The task is to determine their interests in the Central Asian region with an emphasis on the political component. The current state of political cooperation between China, India, Japan and the countries of Central Asia is considered. Their joint efforts to solve the problems and threats facing the sustainable development of the region are characterized, while overcoming those problems occurs within the framework of the formation of both bilateral and multilateral relations. The dynamics of political and military interaction between China and its Central Asian partners is revealed. It is shown that the regional security sphere is directly linked by China with the problem of protecting its own economic interests in the countries undergoing its Belt and Road program, aimed at changing the economic landscape not only in Central Asia, but throughout Asia. India and Japan, whose positions have come closer against the background of rising China, has defined their own strategies for Central Asia. Politics of major Asian powers in post-Soviet Central Asia are analyzed through the prism of the emergence of a polycentric world in Asia. Its distinctive features are: the emergence of new regional “centers of power”; their confrontation along the line of Sino-Pakistani, Sino-Indian rivalries; involvement of external players (the U.S.) in regional processes. In this regard, attention is drawn to the activities of such a multilateral international structure as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), as well as to the development of alternative infrastructure projects and concepts - QUAD, Indo-Pacific, Blue Dot Network. The results of the study are formulated in the following conclusion: the countries of Central Asia and the major regional economic powers in Asia base their relations on the foundation of mutually beneficial interests and equal partnership of independent states.

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