Secure and Insecure Spaces for Uzbek Businesspeople in Southern Kyrgyzstan

Based on fieldwork in southern Kyrgyzstan in October and November 2017, this article explores at a micro-level the security practices undertaken by Uzbek people in Osh. It closely examines the experiences of Uzbek taxi-drivers, traders and businesspeople and thereby seeks to understand how and why local actors have managed to find creative ways to secure their economic activities. The business sector is the sector in which the Uzbek community is dominant, whereas the Kyrgyz community dominates the state structures. Historically, the two ethnic groups have lived side by side and have been in constant contact with each other through this state/business symbiosis. However, the conflict of 2010 drastically changed and destroyed this symbiosis, and with it threatened the Uzbek business sector. The examination of the security-making practices of the Uzbek businesspeople was guided through the prism of the theoretical framework of "securityscapes"

Jenseits religiöser Retraditionalisierung: Islamischer Aktivismus von Frauen als Element postsozialistischer Zivilgesellschaft in Kirgistan

In Kirgistan haben islamische Organisationen und islamischer Aktivismus - vor allem der von Frauen - in den letzten Jahren zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen. Dieser neue Einfluss muslimischer Frauen und ihrer Organisationen kann in unterschiedlichen Bereichen, von wohltätiger Arbeit bis Mode, online wie offline, beobachtet werden. Obwohl islamische Organisationen, die von Frauen geführt werden, mittlerweile etablierte Akteure der kirgisischen Zivilgesellschaft sind, wird ihre zentrale Rolle außerhalb muslimischer Kontexte noch immer verkannt. Der Beitrag untersucht, wie sich der islamische Aktivismus von Frauen vor dem Hintergrund der digitalen Revolution und der Verbreitung sozialer Medien als neuer Quelle religiöser Bildung weiterentwickelt

Silence, secrecy, ignorance, and the making of class and status across generations

A peculiar aura of uncertainty and difficulty of knowing surrounds class, and especially its transmission from one generation to another. In this programmatic text we trace silences around the reproduction of class through our ethnographic research in Kenya, Egypt, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, and Palestine, and among migrant diasporas that link those countries with Somalia, Afghanistan, Western Europe, Russia, and the Arab Gulf states. We propose a comparative and nuanced attention to the ways in which concealment and silences - that is, ways of not displaying things or not speaking openly about them even while they may be known; secrets - that is, knowledge that is actively prevented from circulating; and ignorance - that is, ways of not knowing or not addressing something, together contribute to the reproduction of social status across generations. That reproduction, we argue, is in need of not being known or addressed because the moral and institutional claims and the public image that are inherent to status are frequently contradicted or complicated by the process in which the resources have been gathered, and by the ways in which they are passed on. The passing on of status from one generation to another therefore needs to be understood in a way that is not restricted to its discursive and performative dimension of explicit markers and accomplishments. Marks of distinction, accomplishment of status - and also stigmas of discrimination and stories of failure - are likely to consist equally of aspects that are concealed, forcibly kept secret, or not addressed. At the same time, every display and utterance that qualitatively or quantitatively values a person’s or group’s standing vis-à-vis others is likely to be enabled and accompanied by blind spots and silences. These can be best studied from the bottom up through a qualitative enquiry

Eine weitere "gestohlene" Revolution? - Macht und Informalität in Kirgistan

Der Regierungssturz von 2020 in Kirgistan reiht sich ein in eine Reihe von Revolutionen im Land, welche keine tatsächlichen politischen Veränderungen bewirkt haben. Warum sind sich scheinbar alle Kommentator:innen einig, dass die Revolution "den Frauen und jungen Menschen gestohlen wurde"? Und welche Folgen hat es, wenn junge Menschen den Glauben daran verlieren, dass sich an den Machtverhältnissen in ihrem Land etwas ändern lässt? Es wird argumentiert, dass es progressive Bewegungen in Kirgistan nach den jeweiligen Revolutionen bisher nicht vermocht haben, sich eine von den etablierten Eliten unabhängige Machtbasis aufzubauen. Etablierte Eliten wiederum konsolidieren ihre eigene Machtbasis, in dem sie Teile von progressiven Bewegungen in den informellen Regierungskomplex einbinden. Hierdurch werden diese in korrupte staatliche Strukturen integriert, deren Überwindung das ursprüngliche Ziel vorangegangener Revolutionen war

Coping Strategies: Public Avoidance, Migration, and Marriage in the Aftermath of the Osh Conflict, Fergana Valley

This paper examines the changing survival strategies of Uzbeks in the aftermath of mass violent conflict in Osh in June 2010. After the riots, Osh Uzbeks were exposed to many difficulties. The Kyrgyz government used economic and political pressure to isolate minority groups from the titular nationality, and this opened the door to mistreatment of minorities in the form of the seizure of properties, job losses, and even verbal and physical abuse. Despite this mistreatment, however, Uzbeks have proved reluctant to leave the Osh area. Uzbeks have a long history of living in the region of Osh; strong emotional and historical sentiments bind them to the region and its graveyards and sacred sites. Uzbeks have thus had to develop alternative ways to cope with the uncertainty and insecurity of their situation. They have adopted strategies which reinforce their vulnerability on the one hand, but provide security for their children during post-conflict reconstruction on the other. These strategies include avoidance of public spaces and public attention, marrying daughters early, and sending male family members to Russia as labor migrants. These strategies are geared to the underlying aims of protecting the honor of the community, maintaining social networks, and preserving Uzbek identity without attracting attention. Uzbeks describe this strategy of patience as sabyrdu

Transferring Deceased Bodies, Building Transnational Communities. The Case of Kyrgyz and Tajik Migrants in Russia.

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