Nationalism in Central Asia : a biography of the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan border / Nick Megoran.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Megoran, Nick, author.

Series:

Central Eurasia in context.

Central Eurasia In Context Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nationalism--Uzbekistan.

Nationalism.

Nationalism--Kyrgyzstan.

Uzbekistan--Boundaries--Kyrgyzstan.

Uzbekistan.

Kyrgyzstan--Boundaries--Uzbekistan.

Kyrgyzstan.

Uzbekistan--Politics and government--1991-.

Kyrgyzstan--Politics and government--1991-.

Kyrgyzstan--Relations--Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan--Relations--Kyrgyzstan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 348 pages) illustrations

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017.

Summary:

Nick Megoran explores the process of building independent nation-states in post-Soviet Central Asia through the lens of the disputed border territory between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In his rich "biography" of the boundary, he employs a combination of political, cultural, historical, ethnographic, and geographic frames to shed new light on nation-building process in this volatile and geopolitically significant region. Megoran draws on twenty years of extensive research in the borderlands via interviews, observations, participation, and newspaper analysis. He considers the problems of nationalist discourse versus local vernacular, elite struggles versus borderland solidarities, boundary delimitation versus everyday experience, border control versus resistance, and mass violence in 2010, all of which have exacerbated territorial anxieties. Megoran also revisits theories of causation, such as the loss of Soviet control, poorly defined boundaries, natural resource disputes, and historic ethnic clashes, to show that while these all contribute to heightened tensions, political actors and their agendas have clearly driven territorial aspirations and are the overriding source of conflict. As this compelling case study shows, the boundaries of the The Ferghana Valley put in succinct focus larger global and moral questions of what defines a good border.

Contents:

Introduction: making borders, making worlds

Uzbekistan: building the nation, defending the border

Kyrgyzstan: contested visions of the nation

Caught in the middle: life in the "neutral zone"

Osh's borders: a matter of life and death

Conclusion: the destruction of the Ferghana Valley

Appendix I: Transliteration tables

Appendix II: Divergent spellings.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780822982395

0822982390

OCLC:

1003255976