ABOUT THIS BOOK

Honorable Mention, 2023 CESS Outreach Award

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

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

David W. Montgomery is research professor in the Department of Government and Politics and the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland and director of program development for CEDAR—Communities Engaging with Difference and Religion. His books include Practicing Islam: Knowledge, Experience, and Social Navigation in Kyrgyzstan; Living with Difference: How to Build Community in a Divided World; and Everyday Life in the Balkans.

REVIEWS

“At this time, when an assessment of the situation in Central Asia, broadly defined, is so vitally needed, this volume brings together detailed and specific reports on its various localities by respected experts from many disciplines to produce a work of critical importance for anyone interested in this strategic region and in fact in world affairs generally.” —Robert L. Canfield, professor emeritus at Washington University, St. Louis

“Central Asia: Contexts for Understanding offers an accessible and multi-faceted introduction to a crossroads and cockpit of world history. The authors offer chapters on everything from religion to cinema to the environment, providing a student-friendly approach to the modern history, contemporary condition, and lived reality of a complex region.” —J.R. McNeill, Georgetown University, author of The Webs of Humankind: A World History

“This volume assembles an impressive array of leading scholars and perspectives in Central Asian studies, combining beautifully-written thematic chapters with illuminating case studies. A multidisciplinary tour-de-force, the authors offer nuanced reflection, engaging analysis, and complex interconnections, which will inspire deeper understanding and generative insights for new students and established scholars of the region alike.” —Regine Spector, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

About this Book

About the Notes

Note on Transliteration and Spelling

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Central Asia in Context | David W. Montgomery

Mapping Context | Julien Thorez and Emmanuel Giraudet

Maps

Part I. Contextualizing Central Asia

1. Central Asia as Global | Alexander Cooley

2. Central Asia as Local | Morgan Y. Liu

3. Central Asia as Place | Alexander C. Diener and Nick Megoran

4. Central Asia as Story | Benjamin Gatling

I-A. Ordinary Soviet Life through Collectivization | Marianne Kamp

I-B. Regulation and Appropriation of Islam in Authoritarian Political Contexts | Tim Epkenhans

I-C. Migration from the Deep South to the Far North as Central Asian “Glocalism” | Marlène Laruelle

Discussion Questions and Further Reading

Part II. Contexts of History

5. Precolonial Central Asia | Scott C. Levi

6. Colonial Central Asia | Alexander Morrison

7. Soviet Central Asia | Ali İğmen

8. Post-Soviet Central Asia | David G. Lewis

II-A. The Rise of Vali Bay, an Entrepreneur between Two Empires | David Brophy

II-B. The Management of Islam in the Late Soviet Period | Adeeb Khalid

III-C. Gendered Aspects of Soviet Industrialization in Ak Tyuz | Botakoz Kassymbekova

Discussion Questions and Further Reading

Part III. Contexts of Living

9. Rural Life | Tommaso Trevisani

10. Urban Life | Natalie Koch

11. Migratory Life | Madeleine Reeves

12. Diaspora Life | Medina Aitieva

III-A. Mobility and the Rural Modern along Tajikistan’s Pamir Highway | Till Mostowlansky

III-B. From Potemkin Village to Real Life in Turkmenistan | Sebastian Peyrouse

III-C. Private Education, Inequality, and the Growing Social Divide in Bishkek | Emil Nasritdinov, Aigoul Abdoubaetova, and Gulnora Iskandarova

Discussion Questions and Further Reading

Part IV. Contexts of Structure

13. Family Structure | Cynthia Werner

14. Social Structure | Edward Schatz

15. Moral Structure | Maria Louw

16. Gender Structure | Svetlana Peshkova

IV-A. On Mothers- and Daughters-in-Law | Julie McBrien

IV-B. Mahalla as State and Community | Johan Rasanayagam

IV-C. Aitys, Ancestors, and the “Little Sister” | Eva-Marie Dubuisson

Discussion Questions and Further Reading

Part V. Contexts of Transformation

17. Religion | David W. Montgomery

18. Politics | John Heathershaw

19. Law | Judith Beyer

20. Education | Martha C. Merrill

V-A. Mood and Islam in Kazakhstan | Wendell Schwab

V-B. Spectacular Politics in the World Nomad Games | Mathijs Pelkmans

V-C. Displacement and Belonging in Eurasia | Jennifer S. Wistrand

Discussion Questions and Further Reading

Part VI. Contexts of Work

21. Resources | Jeanne Féaux de la Croix and David Gullette

22. Economics | Elmira Satybaldieva and Balihar Sanghera

23. Property | Eric McGlinchey

24. Labor | Russell Zanca

VI-A. Language as the Wealth of the Turkmen Nation | Victoria Clement

VI-B. Family as a Risk Management Institution in Changing Work Contexts | Sophie Roche

VI-C. Domestic and Foreign Policies in the Context of Eurasian Integration | Olivier Ferrando

Discussion Questions and Further Reading

Part VII. Contexts of Vision

25. Media | Svetlana Kulikova

26. National Identity | Laura L. Adams

27. Environment | Amanda E. Wooden

28. Development | Noor O’Neill Borbieva

VII-A. Governing Extremism through Communities in Tajikistan | Edward Lemon

VII-B. Customary Governance and the State in Central Eurasia | Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili

VII-C. Lineage Associations and Informal Politics in Mapping Kyrgyz Leadership | Aksana Ismailbekova

Discussion Questions and Further Reading

Part VIII. Contexts of Aesthetics

29. Music | Will Sumits

30. Art | Aliya de Tiesenhausen

31. Literature | Rebecca Ruth Gould and Amier Saidula

32. Film | Michael Rouland

VIII-A. Soviet Cultural Construction and Its Afterlives | Artemy M. Kalinovsky

VIII-B. Sound, Aesthetics, and Instrumental Variance in Dutar Ensembles in Tashkent | Tanya Merchant

VIII-C. Translating Art into Politics through Central Asian Feminist and Queer Fantasy | Georgy Mamedov

Discussion Questions and Further Reading

Translating Contexts into Policy | David M. Abramson, Laura L. Adams, and David W. Montgomery

About the Contributors

Index

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