Tribal Nation

Tribal Nation

Author: Adrienne Lynn Edgar

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2006-09-05

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1400844290

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On October 27, 1991, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Hammer and sickle gave way to a flag, a national anthem, and new holidays. Seven decades earlier, Turkmenistan had been a stateless conglomeration of tribes. What brought about this remarkable transformation? Tribal Nation addresses this question by examining the Soviet effort in the 1920s and 1930s to create a modern, socialist nation in the Central Asian Republic of Turkmenistan. Adrienne Edgar argues that the recent focus on the Soviet state as a "maker of nations" overlooks another vital factor in Turkmen nationhood: the complex interaction between Soviet policies and indigenous notions of identity. In particular, the genealogical ideas that defined premodern Turkmen identity were reshaped by Soviet territorial and linguistic ideas of nationhood. The Soviet desire to construct socialist modernity in Turkmenistan conflicted with Moscow's policy of promoting nationhood, since many Turkmen viewed their "backward customs" as central to Turkmen identity. Tribal Nation is the first book in any Western language on Soviet Turkmenistan, the first to use both archival and indigenous-language sources to analyze Soviet nation-making in Central Asia, and among the few works to examine the Soviet multinational state from a non-Russian perspective. By investigating Soviet nation-making in one of the most poorly understood regions of the Soviet Union, it also sheds light on broader questions about nationalism and colonialism in the twentieth century.


Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

Author: Paul Brummell

Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9781841621449

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The first guide in English to this former-Soviet Central Asian country covers everything travelers businesspeople and archaeologists need to know from information on Silk Road treasures to horse trekking to strategies for overcoming red tape


Sovietistan

Sovietistan

Author: Erika Fatland

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-01-07

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 1643133799

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Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan became free of the Soviet Union in 1991. But though they are new to modern statehood, this is a region rich in ancient history, culture, and landscapes unlike anywhere else in the world. Traveling alone, Erika Fatland is a true adventurer in every sense. In Sovietistan, she takes the reader on a compassionate and insightful journey to explore how their Soviet heritage has influenced these countries, with governments experimenting with both democracy and dictatorships. In Kyrgyzstani villages, she meets victims of the tradition of bride snatching; she visits the huge and desolate nuclear testing ground "Polygon" in Kazakhstan; she meets shrimp gatherers on the banks of the dried out Aral Sea; she travels incognito through Turkmenistan, as it is closed to journalists, and she meets German Mennonites that found paradise on the Kyrgyzstani plains 200 years ago. We learn how ancient customs clash with gas production and witness the underlying conflicts in new countries building their futures in nationalist colors. Once the frontier of the Soviet Union, life follows another pace of time. Amidst the treasures of Samarkand and the brutalist Soviet architecture, Sovietistan is a rare and unforgettable travelogue.


Ruhnama

Ruhnama

Author: Saparmyrat Turkmenbasy

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2015-01-31

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781507782231

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Translated as "The Book of the Soul" this is the manifesto of Saparmyrat Niyazov Turkmenbasy - the leader of the Turkemen. In this book, volume one of Ruhnama, Turkmenbasy lays out the history and the expected conduct of the Turkmen people. This book had become a cult book in Turkmenistan, leading daily life from schools to job interviews. Dive into the mind of the Turkmen people under the rule of Niyazov in the book- Ruhnama


Love Me Turkmenistan

Love Me Turkmenistan

Author: Nicolas Righetti

Publisher: Trolley Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781904563914

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A collection of photographs depicting the surreal reality of Turkmenistan whilst under the harsh dictatorship of Saparmurat Niyazov.


Central Asia and the World

Central Asia and the World

Author: Michael Mandelbaum

Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780876091678

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With the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, its fifteen constituent republics suddenly found themselves sovereign states. Among the new countries are the five republics of Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan - that comprise the region to the south of the great Russian heartland. Each of these countries now faces the task of creating its own foreign policy: with one another, with its former imperial ruler to the north, with the Islamic countries to the south, and with the West. In Central Asia and the World, eight experts on the region address the historic power struggles between east and west and north and south that have shaped the region and the prognosis for success in overcoming a turbulent past and an uncertain, divided present. In addition to its continuing strong ties to Russia, Central-Asia's links with its southern neighbors and the potential role of Islam are also examined. The authors advance the case that these countries are critical to the West insofar as they affect Western interests in Russia and the Middle East. The ongoing civil war in Tajikistan and Central Asia's relationship with China are also addressed. The first book to examine the complex issues facing the region Central Asia and the World provides a comprehensive overview of the developing foreign policies of these five new countries, including a look at the internal political, economic, and military issues confronting each country.


Learning to Become Turkmen

Learning to Become Turkmen

Author: Victoria Clement

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2018-05-19

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 0822986108

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Learning to Become Turkmen examines the ways in which the iconography of everyday life—in dramatically different alphabets, multiple languages, and shifting education policies—reflects the evolution of Turkmen society in Central Asia over the past century. As Victoria Clement shows, the formal structures of the Russian imperial state did not affect Turkmen cultural formations nearly as much as Russian language and Cyrillic script. Their departure was also as transformative to Turkmen politics and society as their arrival. Complemented by extensive fieldwork, Learning to Become Turkmen is the first book in a Western language to draw on Turkmen archives, as it explores how Eurasia has been shaped historically. Revealing particular ways that Central Asians relate to the rest of the world, this study traces how Turkmen consciously used language and pedagogy to position themselves within global communities such as the Russian/Soviet Empire, the Turkic cultural continuum, and the greater Muslim world.


Turkmeniscam

Turkmeniscam

Author: Ken Silverstein

Publisher: Random House Incorporated

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 140006743X

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Describes the author's masquerade as a representative for a firm heavily invested in Turkmenistan's natural gas reserves and the cutthroat, often absurd competition among Washington lobbyists to whitewash the corrupt Turkmeni regime.


Birds of Central Asia

Birds of Central Asia

Author: Raffael Ayé

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-05-28

Total Pages: 848

ISBN-13: 1408142708

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Birds of Central Asia is the first field guide to include the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, along with neighbouring Afghanistan. This vast area includes a diverse variety of habitats, and the avifauna is similarly broad, from sandgrouse, ground jays and larks on the vast steppe and semi-desert to a broad range of raptors, and from woodland species such as warblers and nuthatches to a suite of montane species, such as snowcocks, accentors and snowfinches. This book includes 141 high-quality plates covering every species (and all distinctive races) that occur in the region, along with concise text focusing on identification and accurate colour maps. Important introductory sections introduce the land and its birds. Birds of Central Asia is a must-read for any birder or traveller visiting this remote region.