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Everyday Life in Central Asia: Past and Present |
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reviewed by Dilek Aydemir |
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Author: Jeff Sahadeo and Russell Zanca |
ISBN:
978-0253219046 |
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Publisher:
Indiana University Press |
Page:
424 |
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Type:
Hardcover |
Price:
$ 24.95 |
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Review: |
Studies on Central Asia are mostly centered on issues such as political transformation, changing power balances and the regional significance of the Central Asian states. This volume, titled "Everyday Life in Central Asia" and edited by Jeff Sahadeo and Russell Zanca, somehow goes beyond the prominent discussions and focuses on 'everyday life of Central Asian people' as a relatively overlooked aspect of the region.
The volume is compiled by two editors, both of whom are experts on Central Asia and widely known with their contribution to the studies on the region. Jeff Sahadeo, who is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of European and Russian Studies and the Department of Political Science at Carleton University, has had a say in numerous studies on Central Asia. Similarly, Russell Zanca, who has been conducting significant studies in the region since 1992, is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Northeastern Illinois University.
In the preface, two editors of the book present their hope for the volume as to make 'some contribution toward a deeper understanding of how much we all deserve a better world, even as we seek different pathways toward that end'. Moreover, Sahadeo and Zanca set the aim of the book as 'to impress upon readers the centrality of the intertwined Russian, Soviet and Marxist transformations among ordinary people...' (p.9). As promised, this premeditated aim helps the reader throughout the volume as a criterion to evaluate the diverse parts of the book. Thus, the reader can easily realize the 'transition paradigm' of the contributors who mainly try to catch a transformation in Central Asian people's everyday practices. Transition paradigm, which mainly focuses on transformation in developing countries from authoritarian regimes to fully functioning democracies, is highly appreciated by the Western researchers in the volume. Hence, contributors' approach of putting certain measures to categorize Central Asian countries in the steps of a possible transformation is in line with the aim of the book as well as with the transition paradigm.
Consisting of six main parts which embrace the basic aspects of daily life in Central Asia, the volume presents an extensive historical, anthropological and political study on the region. From presenting communities who reside in the region to observing their encounters in daily life the book stands as a brief, yet comprehensive tour into Central Asia. Different parts of the book - each one consisting of several chapters - analyzes diverse concepts such as nation, state, society and religion through investigating the imprints of these social structural concepts in everyday life. Each of the articles covered catches one or more details of the Central Asian way of life. The contributors, most of whom are Western, come from different disciplines and enthusiastically share their first hand experiences in their articles.
The first part of the volume, which centers on a basic article, gives the history of the region in detail to help the reader to link the events and transformations of the present with the memoirs of the past throughout the book. Within a historical approach, the first part claims that the present and past events are intertwined in Central Asia and they affect each other simultaneously. Without hesitating to sound deterministic, Scott Levi -the author of the first article - argues that Central Asia will be a scene of 'outside influence and internal upheavals' as the 'crossroads of Eurasian politics, economics and culture' as it was in the past. (p.14)
Part 2 consists of four articles presenting the details, rituals and traditions of the 'communities' in Central Asia. Afghans, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Turkmen and Uzbeks' wedding ceremonies, nomadic lives, family types, and traditions are evaluated in this part. The first article of this section observes Turkmen nomads' way of life with a special focus on their weddings as other significant practices of the Central Asian communities. Here, the author, Adrienne Edgar, gives a detailed description of the traditions in a nomad's life as well as the cultural practices they apply in certain cultural periods, especially in their wedding ceremonies. Part 2 also covers the works and lives of the Afghan tribes, referencing Robert L. Canfield's 1960s fieldwork in a similar way. Canfield illuminates the construction of reality in the region via creation of common explanations to deal with the roughness of everyday problems in an attention-grabbing manner.
Part 2 also presents different places - such as bazaars - as the communal spots in which people conduct exchange and take part in communal events. The specific article on this topic illuminates cultural spheres that people negotiate with each other in detail. The last article of Part 2 narrates the story of the city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan which is the story of the two different communities Uzbeks and Kyrgyz. Since the city has been carrying Uzbek traditionalism along with the Soviet style life of the Kyrgyz at the same time, the article gives a sociopolitical analysis observing the lives of both communities in line with the general topic of the chapter.
Part 3 deals with the evaluation and description of how 'gender' took an important place in representing the transformation in Central Asian states during the USSR rule in the region. In this chapter, first, the Soviet liberation movement towards women in Central Asia is examined with special reference to their unveiling attempts of Uzbek women. In this sense, Uzbek women's resistance to this top-down reform in 1927 and culture's resistance to the Soviet policies are presented. Analyzing another facet of the 'gender' issue in Central Asia, the Soviets' promotion of the 'new Soviet style' way of life through magazines is pointed out in this part as well. Hence, Soviet States efforts to transfer its ideal citizen types both for men and women via publications is portrayed explicitly.
This part also criticizes the practicality of Soviet policies to make women a part of their ideology and contributors to the labor force in a similar trend with previous matters. The Soviet Ideal's underestimation of the traditional forms of an Islamic way of life is illuminated and is also criticized in the chapter. Yet, contrary to perception of many Western analysts, Elizabeth A. Constantine - one of the contributors to Part 3 - believes that the Soviet State was successful in creating gender roles in harmony with its ideology. The last article of Part 3 examines the changes in the gender ideologies in the post-Soviet period by presenting a lively encounter the author experienced in Tajikistan.
Part 4 mainly deals with a number of daily practices of the Central Asian people, ranging from welcoming guests, family roles, eating habits, public and private celebrations to music, under the title of 'Performances and Encounters.' Consisting of five different articles, this part gives a brief picture of Central Asian people's daily encounters. In the first article, the author Paula A. Michaels shares her experience of Kazakh hospitality, which she personally experienced in the fall of the year 1991, with a comprehensive ethnologic examination of Kazakh proverbs dealing with several aspects of Kazakh traditions. This chapter also comprises the gender relations in two Central Asian states Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The contributors of Part 4 further examine if the Soviet period liberated women or the burden upon women increased as a result of their new roles as workers as well as housewives.
As another facet of 'performances and encounters', Russel Zanca, one of the two editors of the book, focuses on Uzbek's eating habits in the same part. Zanca, who has been working on projects related to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyztan since 1992, gives a lively picture of Uzbek cuisine in his article. Moreover this part deals with public and private celebrations in Uzbekistan and Uzbeks' protection of their traditions as well as portraying people's representation of their cultures via these cultural events. The last article in Part 4 focuses on music as a diverse yet significant aspect of performances in the region, pointing out two distinct ways for the development of Kyrgyz music: one is traditional and the other one is popular as it is grounded in Soviet traditions. In addition, music is introduced as a significant reflector of Kyrgyz identity in this part.
In Part 5 the introduction of large concepts such as 'nation state' and 'state building' into Central Asian people's everyday life is examined. In this context, people's perception of their current governments and of previous Soviet rule is pictured in detail. First, Part 5 analyzes how schools in Central Asian states promote national identity and proper behavior for an ideal citizenship. Likewise, this part shows that increasing corruption in the schooling system lowers the quality of education or makes proper education available merely to the wealthier. The effect of alphabet changes in Turkmenistan on identity formation and policy transition is portrayed in this part as a relevant topic. Since different alphabets such as Arabic, Cyrillic and Turkmen used in Turkmen history identified Turkmens with totally different cultures, the chapter highlights the role of language in changing behaviors of people as well as in transferring different political perceptions to them. Last but not least, this part highlights the role of artificial borders in people's internalization of the different concepts of 'nationality', 'citizenship', and 'independence.' Continuously, the last article of the chapter directly deals with the problems of Ferghana Valley residents while crossing across the borders to see their relatives whose homes were another state after borders were drawn.
As an interesting result for Western researchers, the chapter concludes that people in Central Asia find their current governments inferior to the Soviet system. For instance, according to the author of the first article, since people have not reached economic prosperity so far, their freer lives do not mean much to them.
Part 6, which composes the last chapter of the volume, deals with the topic of 'religion' as a significant issue whose importance increased after the 9/11 events in 2001. Articles in this chapter mainly center on the Central Asian states' strict controls over religious practices of their people and distinctions between secular states and religious identities of the society. In that order, the Uzbek state's manipulation of religion and its efforts to control the future of Islam in the country is analyzed in the chapter as well. For the author, Islamist activists are not only under the control of the Uzbek authorities but they are also suppressed harshly. Religious sites and sacred places are also studied in the chapter. The data collected by an archival study of the religious sites and sacred places are the result of fieldwork conducted in five regions in Uzbekistan respectively. The authors highlight the 'sacred place' and 'profane ideology' distinction in their investigative study.
The following two articles of the chapter focus on diverse practices of Islam among Central Asian people which are different, even contrary to each other sometimes. The Central Asian people's expression of their religion in a wide variety of practices gives a holistic picture of Islamic practices in the region. Moreover, Part 6 concludes that states' effects on religion in Central Asia are significant and that religious space is controlled by the authorities whether the religion is Islam or it is Christianity, the primary minority religion in the region.
Even though title of the book, 'Everyday Life in Central Asia,' sounds simplistic among the books on Central Asia which focus on diverse aspects of the significant transformations in the Central Asia or on effects of the regional changes on international affairs, the book's significance in contributing the studies on Central Asia is undeniable. Since the macro side of the region has been more appealing for researchers, the study fulfills the need for micro studies on Central Asia.
As promised in the introduction, the contributors give different stories of Turkmen, Afghan, Kazakh and Kyrgyz people's lives in Central Asia. Through narrating the people's everyday life and their daily encounters, contributors also question the links between the historical and political transformations that the region had experienced in the history. Moreover, gender, role of the state and the socio-economic difficulties that people have been witnessing since the collapse of the USSR were also examined in 'Everyday Life in Central Asia' along with the stories of people's everyday life. Since the contributors did not only observe the facts in the places that they visited, but they also took part in a wide range of daily activities and tell them - Zanca even describes the taste of 'kymiz' to the readers - the volume becomes an extensive picture of everyday life in Central Asia beyond being a mere contribution to the field. Contributors sharing their first hand experiences make the book valuable, for the reader feels included in their journeys in Central Asian cities. However, despite the accessibility and the vivid pictures included with the articles, the diverse topics of the articles make following the issues harder. Hence, the volume becomes an extensive collection of wide-ranging pieces which can be difficult to follow.
As for methodology, the longitudinal method followed in the book allows the reader to witness the tragedies and significant events of the past, such as the Andijan events in 2005, Uzbekistan or the Osh Riots in 199,0 as well as portraying the current situation. Although contributors do not mainly address the political or historical significance of any events, one can examine the realities of the past through the lenses of people who experienced them thanks to the longitudinal method employed in the volume.
Last but not least, the contributors' euphoria of tracing the imprints of liberation of the Central Asian countries from the Soviet domination can be realized in numerous articles in the book. This deterministic approach sometimes precedes the sociological analysis of daily practices of Central Asians, confining these cultural practices to reactions against a profound ideology. Since the contributors highly emphasize the concept of 'transformation', they somehow fail to question if the Central Asian cultures and norms are in transformation after the Soviets or if the hidden cultural practices of the Central Asian people were reborn in the relatively free atmosphere of today. Although the authors' approach does not bother readers as an ideological stance throughout this study - which is much more an anthropological study than a political one - it may narrow the extension of the conclusions reached by the contributors of the book.
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