From Belonging to Belief : Modern Secularisms and the Construction of Religion in Kyrgyzstan

249 Pages·2017·4.996 MB·English

by  Julie McBrien

FROM BELONGING
TO BELIEF
CENTRAL EURASIA IN CONTEXT SERIES
Douglas Northrop, Editor
FROM BELONGING
TO BELIEF
Modern Secularisms and the
Construction of Religion in Kyrgyzstan

JULIE MCBRIEN
University of Pittsburgh Press
Published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15260
Copyright © 2017, University of Pittsburgh Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 13: 978-0-8229-6508-4
ISBN 10: 0-8229-6508-9
Cover art: Photo by the Seattle Globalist
Cover design by Melissa Dias-Mandoly
For my grandmother
Ruth Justine Anderson
with love and gratitude

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Transliteration and Translation xiii
Map xv
Introduction 3
1. On Being Muslim in Bazaar-Korgon 33
2. Listening to the Wedding Speaker 60
3. Living and Learning Islam 79
4. Mukadas’s Struggle 108
5. The Propriety of Mosques 131
6. Watching Clone 151
Conclusion 171
Appendix: Notes on Fieldwork 185
Notes 189
References 203
Index 223

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, I want to thank the townspeople of Bazaar-Korgon for their
hospitality, their friendship, and their goodwill. I owe much to their patience,
to their understanding, and to their willingness to let me write about their lives
and their town. In particular I would like to thank Alisher, Salima, and their
children; they are longtime friends who have become family. Extra special grat-
itude likewise goes to my dear friend Arzikhan-eje, her children, and friends
who not only assisted me with my research in every way but cared for and loved
our family during my fieldwork. They made our stay, and every subsequent visit,
beautiful, rich, and comfortable. Thank you for your understanding and your
friendship. Thank you for making your home and your family ours. Several in-
telligent, hard-working young women and men assisted in various capacities with
my research—thank you to Shahista, Nargeeza, Farida, Saida, Elmira, Abid,
Eliza, Aisulu, and A.A. This project would have been impossible without K.D.,
who cared for my children with love, patience, and skill and never tired of my
odd requests and expectations. You will always be close to our hearts. And to
my Kyrgyz-language teachers—Dilbar-ejeke, Usubaly-agai, and Salima-ejeke—
chong rakhmat.
ix