Practices of Traditionalization in Central Asia
Practices of Traditionalization in Central Asia

Author: Judith Beyer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-05-21

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 1000045366

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Practices of Traditionalization in Central Asia focuses on how tradition is ‘everyday-ified’ in contemporary Central Asia, including Tatarstan and Tibet, and what people seek to achieve in its name. The case studies range from political demonstrations and industrial workers’ gatherings to institutions of religious education, minority communities, weddings, and the Internet. In this volume we regard tradition as a practice that needs to be explored in its institutional and interactional context at a particular time, rather than as a reliable guide to the past: tradition can only be judged from the present; it is an interpretative concept, not a descriptive one. While the scholarly debate has so far centered on what tradition entails and what it does not, including the question of invention and ownership, less attention has been devoted to investigating how tradition is enacted, enforced, or motivated – in short, how it ‘gets done.’ In Central Asia, practices of traditionalization are closely related to the transformation of the socialist order and the emergence of highly stratified societies. This volume asks: When does tradition emerge as a line of argumentation, who are the actors invoking it and how is it being (materially) manifested? Practices of Traditionalization in Central Asia will be of great interest to scholars of Central Asia, Anthropology, History, Political Science, and Sociology. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Central Asian Survey.

The Force of Custom
The Force of Custom

Author: Judith Beyer

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2016-12-16

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 0822981548

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Judith Beyer presents a finely textured ethnographic study that sheds new light on the legal and moral ordering of everyday life in northwestern Kyrgyzstan. Through her extensive fieldwork, Beyer captures the thoughts and voices of local people in two villages, Aral and Engels, and combines these with firsthand observations to create an original ethnography. Beyer shows how local Kyrgyz negotiate proper behavior and regulate disputes by invoking custom, known to the locals as salt. While salt is presented as age-old tradition, its invocation needs to be understood as a highly developed and flexible rhetorical strategy that people adapt to suit the political, legal, economic, and religious environments. Officially, codified state law should take precedence when it comes to dispute resolution, yet the unwritten laws of salt and the increasing importance of Islamic law provide the standards for ordering everyday life. As Beyer further reveals, interpretations of both Islamic and state law are also intrinsically linked to salt. By interweaving case studies on kinship, legal negotiations, festive events, mourning rituals, and political and business dealings, Beyer shows how salt is the binding element in rural Kyrgyz social life, used to explain and negotiate moral behavior and to postulate communal identity. In this way, salt provides a time-tested, sustainable source of authentication that defies changes in government and the tides of religious movements. Beyer's ground-level analysis provides a broad base of knowledge that will be valuable for students and researchers of contemporary Central Asia.

The Social Role of Art and Culture in Central Asia
The Social Role of Art and Culture in Central Asia

Author: Aliya de Tiesenhausen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-07-25

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1000622185

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This collection of multi-disciplinary essays offers a fresh, perspective on Central Asian art and culture as it gains increased attention on both the local and international stage. Influenced by the golden ages of its history – from the ancient Scythians, through the glory of the Persians and Turks, and shaped by the Russian and later Soviet imperial powers – the region is revealed as exotic, dramatic, and universally topical. Contributions come from scholars and participants in the Central Asian cultural scene who specialise in different, often isolated, spheres. Their unifying theme is identity and its formation, including national, ethnic, cultural, religious and gender identities. Art and culture are shown to have active social roles – representing, analysing, questioning and supporting social upheavals and change. Culture is seen as an intrinsic part of society; while being affected by the specific historical context, it does at times affect it in return. From major socio-economic and political shifts, to smaller yet not less potent personal and individual identities, this collection demonstrates we are once again experiencing a time in which culture plays a crucial role in opening minds and facilitating change. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Central Asian Survey.

EU–Central Asian Interactions
EU–Central Asian Interactions

Author: Rick Fawn

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-07-12

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 1040090680

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From limited interactions in the early 1990s, the EU and Central Asia now consider each other to be increasingly important. This book includes 12 chapters written by seasoned and policy-engaged researchers from across Eurasia and the wider world that analyse multiple levels of mutual interactions, understandings and misunderstandings across a range of policy areas. It shows why and in what ways exactly the EU and Central Asia matter to each other and why policymakers and researchers should pay more attention to their interactions. Central Asia falls under the broader external relations and security agenda of the EU, and over years it provided a testing ground for many EU policies, including the priority ones of region-building and resilience promotion. Looking at the EU, in turn, informs as to how Central Asian actors interact with external partners of the region, and how that can influence national policy agendas and consequently everyday life – bringing new approaches, insights and evidence also to the wide field of EU studies. This book is of key interest to scholars, practitioners and students of Central Asian history and politics, EU foreign policy, EU-Central Asia relations, and more broadly of EU studies, International Relations, regionalism and interregionalism as well as security studies. The chapters in this book were published over three issues of Central Asian Survey.

Central Asia
Central Asia

Author: David W. Montgomery

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2022-05-31

Total Pages: 879

ISBN-13: 0822988275

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Central Asia is a diverse and complex region of the world often characterized in the West as exotic, remote, and difficult to understand. Central Asia: Contexts for Understanding offers the most comprehensive introduction to the region available for students and general readers alike. Combining thematic chapters with detailed case studies, readers will learn to appreciate the richly interconnected aspects of life in Central Asia. These wide-ranging, easy-to-understand contributions from many of the leading scholars in the field provide the context needed to understand Central Asia and presents a launching point for further reading and research.

The Central Asian World
The Central Asian World

Author: Jeanne Féaux de la Croix

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-10-20

Total Pages: 815

ISBN-13: 100087589X

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This landmark book provides a comprehensive anthropological introduction to contemporary Central Asia. Established and emerging scholars of the region critically interrogate the idea of a ‘Central Asian World’ at the intersection of post-Soviet, Persianate, East and South Asian worlds. Encompassing chapters on life between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Xinjiang, this volume situates the social, political, economic, ecological and ritual diversity of Central Asia in historical context. The book ethnographically explores key areas such as the growth of Islamic finance, the remaking of urban and sacred spaces, as well as decolonizing and queering approaches to Central Asia. The volume’s discussion of More-than-Human Worlds, Everyday Economies, Material Culture, Migration and Statehood engages core analytical concerns such as globalization, inequality and postcolonialism. Far more than a survey of a ‘world region’, the volume illuminates how people in Central Asia make a life at the intersection of diverse cross-cutting currents and flows of knowledge. In so doing, it stakes out the contribution of an anthropology of and from Central Asia to broader debates within contemporary anthropology. This is an essential reference for anthropologists as well as for scholars from other disciplines with a focus on Central Asia

Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia

Author: Rico Isaacs

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-09-14

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0429603592

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The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia offers the first comprehensive, cross-disciplinary overview of key issues in Central Asian studies. The 30 chapters by leading and emerging scholars summarise major findings in the field and highlight long-term trends, recent observations and future developments in the region. The handbook features case studies of all five Central Asian republics and is organised thematically in seven sections: History Politics Geography International Relations Political Economy Society and Culture Religion An essential cross-disciplinary reference work, the handbook offers an accessible and easyto- understand guide to the core issues permeating the region to enable readers to grasp the fundamental challenges, transformations and themes in contemporary Central Asia. It will be of interest to researchers, academics and students of the region and those working in the field of Area Studies, History, Anthropology, Politics and International Relations. Chapter 23 of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Post-Liberal Statebuilding in Central Asia
Post-Liberal Statebuilding in Central Asia

Author: Lottholz, Philipp

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2022-05-25

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1529220017

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EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Drawing on decolonial perspectives on peace, statehood and development, this illuminating book examines post-liberal statebuilding in Central Asia. It argues that, despite its emancipatory appearance, post-liberal statebuilding is best understood as a set of social ordering mechanisms that lead to new forms of exclusion, marginalization and violence. Using ethnographic fieldwork in Southern Kyrgyzstan, the volume offers a detailed examination of community security and peacebuilding discourses and practices. Through its analysis, the book highlights the problem with assumptions about liberal democracy, modern statehood and capitalist development as the standard template for post-conflict countries, which is widespread and rarely reflected upon.

Informal Markets and Trade in Central Asia and the Caucasus
Informal Markets and Trade in Central Asia and the Caucasus

Author: Susanne Fehlings

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-04-11

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1000594025

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This edited book introduces new research on informal markets and trade in Central Asia and the Caucasus. The research presented in this volume is based on recent field research in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Beijing, Guangzhou, Yiwu and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. The nine chapters in this book illustrate how informal markets and trade in Central Asia and the Caucasus have provided space for millions of people across the region to negotiate changes in state and society in the three decades since the breakup of the Soviet Union and the emergence of successor states. Collectively, the book suggests that informality should be seen as a normative order for polities in Central Asia and the Caucasus for three reasons: (1) The inability – or unwillingness – of the states to measure commercial transactions. (2) The highly personalized nature of small business operations that rest on networking and social relations, oral agreements and trust. (3) Markets and bazaars being embedded within states in which clientelism frequently thrives. This book is a significant new contribution to the study of trade and informal markets in Central Asia and the Caucasus, and will be a great resource for academics, researchers and advanced students of Sociology, History, Politics, Business, Economics, Social Anthropology and Geography. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Central Asian Survey.

Parliamentary Representation in Central Asia
Parliamentary Representation in Central Asia

Author: Esther Somfalvy

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-06-09

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1000095444

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This book explores the nature of parliamentary representation within the autocratic regimes of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It argues that although many parliaments are elected under flawed or non-competitive elections, autocratic governments are nevertheless aware of the need to appear representative and accessible to the demands of citizens and that even limited parliaments manage to represent their voters, sometimes in ways not intended by the regime. The book examines how elites structure, manage and organize representation; how they foster the desired kind of representation; and how they limit the ways in which parliaments fulfil their representative functions. The book concludes that Kazakhstan is a more hegemonic form of autocracy and the Kyrgyz Republic a more competitive form and that the degree to which parliaments fulfil their representational functions and how much room for manoeuvre individual MPs have depends largely on how much parties control candidate selection and the daily schedule and administrative resources of parliaments.