Everyday Life in Central Asia: Past and Present

418 Pages·2007·4.898 MB·English

by  Jeff Sahadeo, Russell Zanca

Everyday Life
in
Central Asia
This page intentionally left blank
Everyday Life
in
Central Asia
Past and Present
E D I T E D B Y
Jeff Sahadeo and Russell Zanca
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bloomington and Indianapolis
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Indiana University Press
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© 2007 by Indiana University Press
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
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any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution
on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Everyday life in Central Asia : past and present / edited by Jeff Sahadeo and
Russell Zanca.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-34883-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-21904-6 (pbk. : alk.
paper) 1. Asia, Central—Social life and customs. 2. Ethnology—Asia, Central.
I. Sahadeo, Jeff, date II. Zanca, Russell G., date
DS328.2.E94 2007
958’.04—dc22
2006037058
1 2 3 4 5 12 11 10 09 08 07
To the countless Central Asians who have opened their doors
and hearts to us and with whom we have shared meals and
affection, joys and frustrations, and hopes and fears. We
hope this book makes some contribution toward a deeper
understanding of how much we all deserve a better world,
even as we seek different pathways toward that end.
Learn and learn, ask and ask, do not be afraid.
—Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von
Hohenheim (Paracelsus—16th century mystical
philosopher, physician, and alchemist)
C O N T E N T S
acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Central Asia and Everyday Life 1
Part 1. Background
Introduction 13
1. Turks and Tajiks in Central Asian History 15
Scott Levi
Part 2. Communities
Introduction 33
2. Everyday Life among the Turkmen Nomads 37
Adrienne Edgar
3. Recollections of a Hazara Wedding in the 1930s 45
Robert L. Canfi eld
4. Trouble in Birgilich 58
Robert L. Canfi eld
5. A Central Asian Tale of Two Cities: Locating Lives and
A spirations in a Shifting Post-Soviet Cityscape 66
Morgan Y. Liu
Part 3. Gender
Introduction 85
viii / Contents
6. The Limits of Liberation: Gender, Revolution, and the Veil
in Everyday Life in Soviet Uzbekistan 89
Douglas Northrop
7. The Wedding Feast: Living the New Uzbek Life in the 1930s 103
Marianne Kamp
8. Practical Consequences of Soviet Policy and Ideology for
Gender in Central Asia and Contemporary Reversal 115
Elizabeth A. Constantine
9. Dinner with Akhmet 127
Greta Uehling
Part 4. Performance and Encounters
Introduction 141
10. An Ethnohistorical Journey through Kazakh Hospitality 145
Paula A. Michaels
11. Konstitutsiya buzildi! Gender Relations in Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan 160
Meltem Sancak and Peter Finke
12. Fat and All That: Good Eating the Uzbek Way 178
Russell Zanca
13. Public and Private Celebrations: Uzbekistan’s
National Holidays 198
Laura Adams
14. Music across the Kazakh Steppe 213
Michael Rouland
Part 5. Nation, State, and Society in the Everyday
Introduction 229
15. The Shrinking of the Welfare State: Central Asians’
Assessments of Soviet and Post-Soviet Governance 233
Kelly M. McMann
Contents / ix
16. Going to School in Uzbekistan 248
Shoshana Keller
17. Alphabet Changes in Turkmenistan, 1904–2004 266
Victoria Clement
18. Travels in the Margins of the State: Everyday Geography
in the Ferghana Valley Borderlands 281
Madeleine Reeves
Part 6. Religion
Introduction 301
19. Divided Faith: Trapped between State and Islam
in Uzbekistan 305
Eric M. McGlinchey
20. Sacred Sites, Profane Ideologies: Religious Pilgrimage
and the Uzbek State 319
David M. Abramson and Elyor E. Karimov
21. Everyday Negotiations of Islam in Central Asia:
Practicing Religion in the Uyghur Neighborhood of
Zarya Vostoka in Almaty, Kazakhstan 339
Sean R. Roberts
22. Namaz, Wishing Trees, and Vodka: The Diversity of
Everyday Religious Life in Central Asia 355
David W. Montgomery
23. Christians as the Main Religious Minority in
Central Asia 371
Sebastien Peyrouse
selected bibliography 385
list of contributors 389
index 395