Symbolism and Power in Central Asia
With the collapse of communism, post-communist societies scrambled to find meaning to their new independence. Central Asia was no exception. Events, relationships, gestures, spatial units and objects produced, conveyed and interpreted meaning. The new power container of the five independent states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan would significantly influence this process of signification. Post-Soviet Central Asia is an intriguing field to examine this transformation: a region which did not see an organised independence movement develop prior to Soviet implosion at the centre, it provokes questions about how symbolisation of a new political container begins in the absence of a national will to do so.
The transformation overnight of Soviet republic into sovereign state provokes questions about how the process of communism-turned-nationalism could become symbolised, and what specific role symbols came to play in these early years of independence. Characterized by authoritarianism since 1991, the regions ruling elites have enjoyed disproportionate access to knowledge and to deciding what, how and when that knowledge should be applied. The first of its kind on Central Asia, the study not only widens our understandings of developments in this geopolitically important region but also contributes to broader studies of representation, ritual, power and identity.
This book was previously published as a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies.
Sally N. Cummings teaches at the University of St. Andrews. Her current research focuses on the politics of culture and identity, primarily in Central Asia. Her publications include: Domestic and International Perspectives on Kyrgyzstans Tulip Revolution (ed. Routledge, 2009), Kazakhstan: Power and the Elite (IB Tauris, 2005), Oil, Transition and Security in Central Asia (ed., Routledge, 2003) and Kazakhstan: Centre-Periphery Relations (Royal Institute of International Affairs and Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2000).
Routledge Europe-Asia Studies Series
A series edited by Terry Cox
University of Glasgow
The Routledge Europe-Asia Studies Series focuses on the history and current political, social and economic affairs of the countries of the former communist bloc of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Asia. As well as providing contemporary analyses it explores the economic, political and social transformation of these countries and the changing character of their relationships with the rest of Europe and Asia.
Challenging Communism in Eastern Europe
1956 and its Legacy
Edited by Terry Cox
Globalisation, Freedom and the Media after Communism
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Edited by Birgit Beumers, Stephen Hutchings and Natalia Rulyova
Power and Policy in Putins Russia
Edited by Richard Sakwa
1948 and 1968 Dramatic Milestones in Czech and Slovak History
Edited by Laura Cashman
Perceptions of the European Union in New Member States
A Comparative Perspective
Edited by Gabriella Ilonszki
Symbolism and Power in Central Asia
Politics of the Spectacular
Edited by Sally N. Cummings
Symbolism and Power in Central Asia
Politics of the Spectacular
Edited by
Sally N. Cummings
First published 2010
by Routledge
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2010 University of Glasgow
This book is a reproduction of Europe-Asia Studies, vol.61, issue 7. The Publisher requests to those authors who may be citing this book to state, also, the bibliographical details of the special issue on which the book was based.
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ISBN13: 978-0-415-57567-6 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-81597-0 (pbk)
LAURA L. ADAMS is conducting research which explores the interactions between globalisation and the nation state in the context of the performing arts, specifically in Soviet and post-Soviet Central Asia. Currently she is teaching in the Sociology Department and the Expository Writing Program of Harvard University, and is Co-director of Harvards Program on Central Asia and the Caucasus. Laura received her BA in sociology and Russian area studies from Macalester College (USA) and her PhD in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. Her book manuscript, The Spectacular State: Culture and National Identity in Uzbekistan will be published in 2010 by Duke University Press. Address: Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
SARAH S. AMSLER is Lecturer in Sociology at Aston University in the UK. Her main research interests are in the sociology and politics of culture, and the sociology and philosophy of knowledge, education and science. Her first book, The Politics of Knowledge in Central Asia: Science from Marx to the Market was published by Routledge in 2007, and she has written several articles on the colonial politics of higher education reform in the Central Asian region. She is currently working on a project on the sociology of hope as it relates to problems of human agency and social change, and a project on the practices of critique and judgment in critical social theory. Address: Aston University, School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK.
SALLY N. CUMMINGS is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the School of International Relations, University of St Andrews, in the UK. She is particularly interested in the post-Soviet politics of culture, especially in the region of Central Asia. Her publications include Kazakhstan: Power and the Elite (London: IB Tauris, 2005), Oil, Transition and Security in Central Asia (ed.) (London and New York: Routledge, 2003), Power and Change in Central Asia (ed.) (London and New York: Routledge, 2002) and Kazakhstan: CentrePeriphery Relations (London and Washington DC: Royal Institute of International Affairs/Brookings Institution, 2000). Address: School of International Relations, Arts Faculty Building, Library Park, The Scores, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AX, UK.
MICHAEL DENISON is Special Adviser to the UK Foreign Secretary and Lecturer in International Security at the University of Leeds (currently on leave). His recent publications include: Fhrerkult in Turkmenistan.berwachen und berzeugen, OstEuropa, 0809/2007 and Turkmenistan in TransitionA Window for EU Engagement in Neil J. Melvin (ed.) Engaging Central Asia: The European Unions New Strategy in the Heart of Eurasia (Brussels and Washington DC: CEPS/Brookings Institution, 2008). Address: School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
WILLIAM FIERMAN received his BA in Slavic Languages & Literatures and East Asian Languages and Literatures from Indiana University, and his MA and PhD in Political Science from Harvard University. He began conducting research on Central Asia before he went to Uzbekistan as a Fulbright-Hays Scholar in 19761977 to conduct research on Soviet language policy in that republic. Fierman has published many articles on the politics of Central Asia, especially on language, literary, religious, and other cultural policy. He is professor of Central Asian Studies and adjunct professor of Political Science at Indiana University.
