The Re-Islamization of Society and the Position of Women in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan
The Re-Islamization of Society and the Position of Women in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan

Author: Marfua Tokhtakhodzhaeva

Publisher: Global Oriental

Published: 2008-04-17

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9004213244

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As well as being a valuable and insightful study into the history, development and tenets of Islam, with particular reference to life in Uzbekistan, this study, which draws on a wide personal network and extensive field research, is also in part a personal quest in support of women’s position and aspirations in the modern world. In 1991, following the collapse of the USSR, Uzbekistan reappeared on the world map as an independent state within the Russian Federation, choosing the path of secular development and the creation of a democratic society. It also declared itself to be once again part of the Islamic world, where it had been for centuries, albeit on its periphery in Inner Asia. Yet, almost instantaneously, the modernization of the state was subsumed into the reestablishment of traditional Islam which immediately impacted on the political, economic and social structure of the former ‘Soviet’ society, above all on the position of women. Remarkably, the traditional role, status and dress code of women was quickly embraced by large sections of the female population ‘Fairly young girls, who had scarcely memorized a single sura of the Koran, started to accuse their friends of impiety.’ The author, who has written two other books, is a distinguished Uzbek architect and is a founder member of the Tashkent Women’s Resource Centre.

Identity and Memory in Post-Soviet Central Asia
Identity and Memory in Post-Soviet Central Asia

Author: Timur Dadabaev

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-08-11

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 1317567358

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Central Asian states have experienced a number of historical changes that have challenged their traditional societies and lifestyles. The most significant changes occurred as a result of the revolution in 1917, the incorporation of the region into the Soviet Union, and gaining independence after the collapse of the USSR. Impartial and informed public evaluation of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods has always been a complicated issue, and the ‘official’ descriptions have often contradicted the interpretations of the past viewed through the experiences of ordinary people. Identity and Memory in Post-Soviet Central Asia looks at the tradition of history construction in Central Asia. By collecting views of the public’s experiences of the Soviet past in Uzbekistan, the author examines the transformation of present-day Central Asia from the perspective of these personal memories, and analyses how they relate to the Soviet and post-Soviet official descriptions of Soviet life. The book discusses that the way in which people in Central Asia reconcile their Soviet past to a great extent refers to the three-fold process of recollecting their everyday experiences, reflecting on their past from the perspective of their post-Soviet present, and re-imagining. These three elements influence memories and lead to selectivity in memory construction, emphasising the aspects of the Soviet era people choose to recall in positive and negative lights. Presenting a broader picture of Soviet everyday life at the periphery of the USSR, the book will be a useful contribution for students and scholars of Central Asian Studies, Ethnicity and Identity Politics.

Insights and Commentaries: South and Central Asia
Insights and Commentaries: South and Central Asia

Author: Ms Anita Sengupta

Publisher: KW Publishers Pvt Ltd

Published: 2015-08-15

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 9385714058

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This volume emerged out of a search for scholarship that has studied connectivity between South and Central Asia from a variety of perspectives. Geographically and culturally, the vision that India has had of the region she referred to as Central Asia is of a space extending across China westward upto the Aral Sea and including within it Balkh, Bukhara and Samarkand. The Indian fascination with the region extends to various levels as this is the region out of which invading tribes entered India, across whose Silk Routes trade flourished and also the region where Indian culture and religion spread. Keeping this in mind the volume begins with an overview of positions from which the region has been traditionally situated from the Indian perspective as also reflections on the current scenario in terms of the geopolitical transformations of recent times. It then moves on to examine the history of the political, cultural and economic connections between the two regions from comparative perspectives. Written by specialists from Uzbekistan the articles reflect on connections that had ancient roots and shared historical experiences. The first set of articles focus on the historical linkages between the two regions. Another set looks at similar developments in the region in terms of transformations in the socio-political life of the people as also in the economy. Encounters and the necessity of security cooperation between the two regions is the focus of a third set of articles. The second part of the volume looks into certain issues that are significant in both South and Central Asia. Written with Uzbek insight they reflect on Soviet and post-Soviet state policies on a range of issues from gender and maternity policies, ethnic policies and social stratification, information policy and policies related to global organizations that have comparable relevance in the Indian context.

Islam, Society, and Politics in Central Asia
Islam, Society, and Politics in Central Asia

Author: Pauline Jones

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2017-07-20

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 0822981963

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During the 1990s, there was a general consensus that Central Asia was witnessing an Islamic revival after independence, and that this occurrence would follow similar events throughout the Islamic world in the prior two decades, which had negative effects on both social and political development. Twenty years later, we are still struggling to fully understand the transformation of Islam in a region that's evolved through a complex and dynamic process, involving diversity in belief and practice, religious authority, and political intervention. This volume seeks to shed light on these crucial questions by bringing together an international group of scholars to offer a fresh perspective on Central Asian states and societies. The chapters provide analysis through four distinct categories: the everyday practice of Islam across local communities; state policies toward Islam, focusing on attempts to regulate public and private practice through cultural, legal, and political institutions and how these differ from Soviet policies; how religious actors influence communities in the practice of Islam, state policies towards the religion, and subsequent communal responses to state regulations; and how knowledge of and interaction with the larger Islamic world is shaping Central Asia's current Islamic revival and state responses. The contributors, a multidisciplinary and international group of leading scholars, develop fresh insights that both corroborate and contradict findings from previous research, while also highlighting the problem of making any generalizations about Islam in individual states or the region. As such, this volume provides new and impactful analysis for scholars, students, and policy makers concerned with Central Asia.

Decolonizing Central Asian International Relations
Decolonizing Central Asian International Relations

Author: Timur Dadabaev

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-09-30

Total Pages: 129

ISBN-13: 1000458792

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This book unpacks the main narratives used in international relations to depict and explain existing inter-state relations in Central Asia, with a focus on the construction of fairer international relations along the Silk Road. The book points to the need to decolonize international relations in the Central Asian region to present a fair representation of the regional states in international affairs. In doing so, the book exposes the concepts and stereotypes that have been imposed on the Central Asian region by dominant assumptions in contemporary international relations. Offering empirical grounding for alternative views, the author suggests that Western international relations make the same mistakes in the Central Asian region that the Russian Marxists made when they attributed a narrative of modernity along the lines of the progress made in Germany and Russia. In such a structure, both Russian Marxist attempts and liberalist Western ideas disregard the fact that the region has its own model of modernity and progress, which does not necessarily involve an appeal to the modern nation state, ethnicity and state building. The book sheds lights on the prospects of coordinated development of Central Asia and Afghanistan. It also provides insights into the development of post-Socialist Asia in its relations with Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. Contributing to the task of placing Central Asia in discussions in the discipline of international relations, this book will be of interest to academics working in the fields of international relations and Asian politics, in particular Central Asian studies.

”Nomadity of Being” in Central Asia
”Nomadity of Being” in Central Asia

Author: Syinat Sultanalieva

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-01-01

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 9811954461

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This book offers a new framework for understanding feminism and political activiism in Kyrgyzstan, “nomadity of being. ” Here, foreign information and requirements, even forced ones, are transformed into an amalgamation of the new and the old, alien and native—like kurak, a quilted patchwork blanket, made from scraps. Conceptualizing feminist narratives in Kyrgyzstan, while keeping in mind, the complex relationship between ideological borrowing, actualization, appropriation or self-colonization of “feminist” concepts can expand both scholarly and activist understanding of specificities of post-Soviet feminisms from a historiographic point of view. Kurak-feminism is feminism that is half-donor-commissioned, half-learned through interactions (personal, media, academic, professional), unashamed of its borrowed nature and working toward its own purpose that is being developed as the blanket is being quilted. Weaving in elements from completely different and, to a Western eye, incompatible approaches nomadity of being might pave the way toward a Central Asian reframing of non-Western feminisms. This provocative text will interest scholars of European politics, the post-Soviet sphere, and feminists.

Textiles as National Heritage: Identities, Politics and Material Culture
Textiles as National Heritage: Identities, Politics and Material Culture

Author: Gabriele Mentges

Publisher: Waxmann Verlag

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 3830986092

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The edited volume discusses the role of textile heritage in relation to the dynamics of nation building, cultural identity, politics, economy and the globalization of markets. It was sparked by a research project investigating the role of textiles, textile design and contemporary fashion in the post-Soviet societies of Central Asia and also includes perspectives on similar developments in Algeria and Peru in order to question dichotomous narrations of modernity relations between textile cultures and heritage building, cultural property, and the concept of cultural heritage. Thus, this book intends to stimulate the ongoing debate about textile culture as national heritage or as means of nation branding.

Migration and Social Upheaval as the Face of Globalization in Central Asia
Migration and Social Upheaval as the Face of Globalization in Central Asia

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2013-04-15

Total Pages: 421

ISBN-13: 9004249508

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Since the start of the 1990s, Central Asia has been the main purveyor of migrants in the post-Soviet space. These massive migrations due to social upheavals over the last twenty years impact issues of governance; patterns of social adaptation; individual and collective identities; and gender relations in Central Asia. This volume raises the importance of internal migrations, those at a regional, intra-Central Asian, level, labor migrations to Russia, and carries us as far away to the Uzbek migrants based in Istanbul, New York, or Seoul, as well as to the young women of Tashkent who head to Germany or France, and to the Germans, Greeks, and Jews of Central Asia who have returned to their “ethnic homelands”. Contributors include Aida Aaly Alimbaeva, Stéphanie Belouin, Adeline Braux, Asel Dolotkeldieva, Olivier Ferrando, Sophie Hohmann, Nafisa Khusenova, Erica Marat, Sophie Massot, Saodat Olimova, Sébastien Peyrouse, Luisa Piart, Madeleine Reeves, Elena Sadovskaya.

Capital Cities around the World
Capital Cities around the World

Author: Roman Adrian Cybriwsky

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2013-05-23

Total Pages: 758

ISBN-13:

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This informative resource is a fascinating compilation of the history, politics, and culture of every capital city from around the world, making this the only singular reference on the subject of its kind. Every country, even the world's youngest nations, has a capital city—a centralized location which houses the seat of government and acts as the hub of culture and history. But, what role do capital cities play in the global arena? Which factors have influenced the selection of a municipal center for each nation? This interesting encyclopedia explores the topic in great depth, providing an overview of each country's capital—its history and early inhabitants, ascension to prominence, infrastructure within the government, and influence on the world around them. The author considers the culture and society of the area, discussing the ethnic and religious groups among those who live there, the major issues the residents face, and other interesting cultural facts. Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture features the capital cities of 200 countries across the globe. Organized in alphabetical order by country, each profile combines social studies, geography, anthropology, world history, and political science to offer a fascinating survey of each location.

Labour, Mobility and Informal Practices in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe
Labour, Mobility and Informal Practices in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe

Author: Rano Turaeva

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-05-26

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1000393267

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This book explores the daily survival strategies of people within the context of failed states, flourishing informal economies, legal uncertainty, increased mobility, and globalization, where many people, who are forced by the circumstances to be innovative and transnational, have found their niches outside formal processes and structures. The book provides a thorough theoretical introduction to the link between labour mobility and informality and comprises convincing case studies from a wide range of post-socialist countries. Overall, it highlights the importance of trust, transnational networks, and digital technologies in settings where the rules governing economic and social activities of mobile workers are often unclear and flexible.