When the Soviet Union asserted power over Uzbekistan in 1925, music was used as one of Russia’s tools in reshaping the Uzbek society. Ironically, since Uzbekistan’s independence in 1991, music became Uzbekistan’s way of finding its own identity and voice. During this period of R…
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Every year, thousands of individuals from every country and every walk of life arrive in the United States in hopes of better lives for themselves and their families. A significant portion of immigrants arrives from Central Asia countries, namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikist…
This dissertation considers the intersections of Islam and secularism in the post-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, as well as how international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have worked to promote peace and counter violent extremism in the country. By introducing two intert…
Since the independence of Central Asia’s five nations - Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan - the US has held interest in regional stability and security. While US strategy in the 1990s centered on nonproliferation and democracy promotion, the onset …
In general, Silk Road history has been dominated by the imperialist perspective resulting in the loss of historic voice of those who inhabit Central Asia. Historical perspectives have been dominated by political and military lens, which only provide a small portion of the Silk R…
This dissertation explores what it means to be post-socialist for Ismaili Muslims living in the Ishkashim district of Tajik Badakhshan. It examines the legacies of the Soviet era in people’s everyday lives, questioning how people continue to see themselves as socialist notwithst…
Although there is little official data, early girls’ marriage before the age of 18 appears to have increased in Tajikistan over recent years, due to the limited socio-economic opportunities. This study aimed to explore the main causes behind the fall in the age of marriage for g…
Sheep and goat formed the foundation of pastoral activity across the Central Asian steppe through the Bronze Age. Theories of pastoral activity have assumed that flocks were uniform in association with ethnic groups that crossed the steppe with new ceramic forms and technologies…
In this study, I examine the oppositional configuration of public figures around the poles of "proper" Muslimness and "authentic" Kyrgyzness in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. I ask: Why are public actors defining their positions in opposition to the other? Why do such opposing positions t…
The study of the eastern dynasties that ruled Khurasan and Transoxania during the third/ninth and fourth/tenth centuries - most notably the T[dotbelow]ahirids (r. 205-259/821-873), S[dotbelow]affarids (r. 247-393/861-1003), and S[dotbelow]amanids (r. 204-395-819-1005) - has trad…
This dissertation seeks to answer the question of how and why a community straddled along the Russia-China border imagined itself as the modem Uyghur nation in the wake of the Russian Revolution. Reflecting the transnational character of its subject, it incorporates a broad rang…
This dissertation is about social mobilizations in rural Kyrgyzstan from 2010-2015. Following a constructivist approach, I aim to answer a puzzling question in regard to multiple but rarely sustainable protests in this global periphery: Under what conditions can provisional epis…
The impact of environmental degradation on well-being is largely ignored in terms of economic costs of development. Due in large part to measurement difficulties, the environment in the daily welfare of the world's poorest remains inadequately accounted for in development polici…
This thesis comprises a three papers. The chapters stand on their own. Each paper-chapter analyses a specific issue and contains introduction, theoretical framework, methods of analyses, results and findings. Each of the chapters offers new empirical, methodological and modellin…
This thesis is an ethnography of how places like mountain pastures (jailoos), hydro-electric dams and holy sites (mazars) matter in striving for a good life. Based on eighteen months of fieldwork in the Toktogul valley of Kyrgyzstan, this study contributes to theoretical questio…
When Činggis Qan died in 1227, the Mongol Empire was a confederation of steppe peoples engaged in conquests over other steppe societies as well as civilizations of Central Eurasia. By the time of the election of Činggis Qan’s grandson, Möngke, to the office of qa’an in 1251, the…
This dissertation examines supra-ethnic nation-building in Kazakhstan, particularly focusing on policy outcomes since the republic became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. The population of Kazakhstan is distinctive among countries of the post-Soviet space in terms of i…
The collapse of the Soviet Union left countries of Central Asia to experience political confrontations over territory and water rights. Additionally, independence of Central Asian countries resulted in the change of control systems, including transboundary rivers of the region. …
Globalization has added to the growth of labor migration as a source of income for wives and families left behind in developing countries. The impact on wives left behind by working husbands requires further investigation in order to produce the best practices to combat the soci…