Black work, Green Money: Remittances, Ritual, and domestic economies in southern Kyrgyzstan

Drawing on ethnographic and survey data, Madeleine Reeves explores the meanings and impact of large-scale seasonal labor migration to Russia on a group of four kin-related villages in southern Kyrgyzstan. Although remittances have come to figure centrally in domestic budgets of migrant families, it is to questions of political economy that we must turn to understand the shift away from small-scale farming toward migrant work. Reeves examines a range of factors mediating decisions to migrate, including the role of social networks and sibling hierarchies; the emergence of growing economic differentials between migrant and nonmigrant households, and the growing importance for young men of a period of work “in town” (shaarda) in proving their eligibility for marriage. Although patterns of economic activity in southern Kyrgyzstan have changed dramatically in recent years, Reeves argues that new forms of engagement in distant labor markets are also being used to sustain patterns of ritual gifting and expressions of ethnic and religious identity that are imagined and articulated precisely as expressions of social continuity.</jats:p

Marginal hubs: on conviviality beyond the urban in Asia: introduction

This special issue explores the forms of coexistence that emerge in what we call ‘marginal hubs’: sites that appear geographically or politically marginal, but which emerge as areas of intense and often volatile sociability, including border posts, container markets, industrial workshops, and pilgrim encampments. Such sites, which often come into being suddenly and are remote from the great urban centres, do not fit easily either within the framework of the Asian urban nor of the continent's villages and small towns. By exploring the forms of sociability that are important to everyday life in such places, we seek to widen the spectrum of settings that are recognized by scholars across the humanities and social sciences as having the potential to offer productive insights into understanding how heterogeneity is handled in Asia and beyond. This Introduction sets out the theoretical stakes of such an approach, as well as introducing the articles in this special issue

“And Our Words Must be Constructive!” On the Discordances of Glasnost’ in the Central Asian Press at a Time of Conflict

This article explores the unmaking of authoritative discourse in the Central Asian press during perestroika. Studies of the Soviet press have often drawn attention to the momentous changes brought about by Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost’ in the second half of the 1980s. This article considers how such changes were reflected in the reporting of one significant event of inter-communal and trans-boundary conflict along the borders of the Kyrgyz and Tajik ssrs in 1989. Through a close analysis of the differential reporting of events in central, republican and provincial press, the article argues for the need to ‘provincialise’ our account of perestroika: that is, to attend to its differential dynamics in different parts of the Soviet Union, and the implications for journalists and editors negotiating the demands of ‘constructive speech’ at a time of mounting commentary on the relationship between truth, rumour and inter-ethnic conflict.Cet article analyse la déconstruction du discours officiel dans la presse d’Asie centrale sous la perestroïka. Les études sur la presse soviétique ont souvent souligné les bouleversements générés par la politique de transparence (glasnost) de Gorbatchev dans la seconde moitié des années quatre-vingt. Cet article examine comment ces changements ont été pris en compte dans la couverture médiatique d’un conflit interethnique et transfrontalier entre les rss kirghize et tadjike en 1989. Grâce à une analyse approfondie du traitement des événements dans la presse centrale, républicaine et provinciale, l’article défend le besoin de « provincialiser » le récit sur la perestroïka, c’est-à-dire de tenir compte des dynamiques propres à chaque région de l’Union soviétique, et leurs conséquences pour les journalistes et éditeurs face à l’exigence d’une « parole constructive » au moment même où les commentaires s’accumulent sur la relation entre vérité, rumeurs et conflit interethnique.В этой статье рассматривается деконструкция официального дискурса в прессе Центральной Азии в период перестройки. Исследования советской прессы часто подчеркнули знаменательные изменения вызванные горбачевской гласности во второй половине 1980-х годов. Данная статья анализирует, каким образом эти изменения были отражены в освещении межнационального и трансграничного конфликта между Кыргызской и Таджикской сср в 1989 г. Посредством глубокого анализа статей центральной, республиканской и областной прессы утверждается, что настало время воспринимать перестройку более с региональной точки зрения, то есть принимать во внимание динамики каждого региона советского союза и их влияние для журналистов и редакторов с требованием «конструктивной речи» в то время, когда есть вес ряд комментарий по отношении между истиной, слухами и межнациональным конфликтом

Design and implementation of a large and complex trial in emergency medical services

Background: The research study titled “Cluster randomised trial of the clinical and cost effectiveness of the i-gel supraglottic airway device versus tracheal intubation in the initial airway management of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (AIRWAYS-2)” is a large-scale study being run in the English emergency medical (ambulance) services (EMS). It compares two airway management strategies (tracheal intubation and the i-gel) in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. We describe the methods used to minimise bias and the challenges associated with the set-up, enrolment, and follow-up that were addressed. Methods: AIRWAYS-2 enrols adults without capacity when there is no opportunity to seek prior consent and when the intervention must be delivered immediately. We therefore adopted a cluster randomised design where the unit of randomisation is the individual EMS provider (paramedic). However, because paramedics could not be blinded to the intervention, it was necessary to automatically enrol all eligible patients in the study to avoid bias. Effective implementation required engagement with four large EMS and 95 receiving hospitals. Very high levels of data capture were required to ensure study integrity, and this necessitated collaborative working across multiple organisations. We sought to manage these processes by using a large and comprehensive electronic study database, implementing efficient trial procedures and comprehensive training. Results: Successful implementation of the study design was facilitated by the approaches used. The necessary regulatory and ethical approvals to conduct the study were secured, and benefited from strong patient and public involvement. Early and continued consultation with decision makers within the four participating EMS resulted in a coordinated approach to study set-up. All receiving hospitals gave approval and agreed to collect data. A comprehensive database and programme of training and support were implemented. More than 1500 paramedics have been recruited to the study, and patient enrolment and follow-up has proceeded as planned. Conclusion: Care provided by EMS needs to be based on evidence. Although participants may be experiencing life-threatening emergencies, high-quality pre-hospital research is possible in well-designed and well-managed studies. The approaches described here can be used to support successful research that will lead to improved treatment and outcomes in similar patient groups. Trial registration: ISRCTN08256118. Registered on 22 July 2014

COVID-19 TestNorm: A tool to normalize COVID-19 testing names to LOINC codes.

Large observational data networks that leverage routine clinical practice data in electronic health records (EHRs) are critical resources for research on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Data normalization is a key challenge for the secondary use of EHRs for COVID-19 research across institutions. In this study, we addressed the challenge of automating the normalization of COVID-19 diagnostic tests, which are critical data elements, but for which controlled terminology terms were published after clinical implementation. We developed a simple but effective rule-based tool called COVID-19 TestNorm to automatically normalize local COVID-19 testing names to standard LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes) codes. COVID-19 TestNorm was developed and evaluated using 568 test names collected from 8 healthcare systems. Our results show that it could achieve an accuracy of 97.4% on an independent test set. COVID-19 TestNorm is available as an open-source package for developers and as an online Web application for end users (https://clamp.uth.edu/covid/loinc.php). We believe that it will be a useful tool to support secondary use of EHRs for research on COVID-19

Hierarchies of trade in Yiwu and Dushanbe: the case of an Uzbek merchant family from Tajikistan

This article focuses on the trading trajectory of an Uzbek family of merchants from Tajikistan. This family runs businesses in both Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, and China’s famous international trading city: Yiwu. The analysis is centred on the accounts placed by Tajikistan’s Uzbek merchants about their historically sustained experience, often across several generations, in trading activities. These merchants’ claims of belonging to a ‘historical’ trading community rather than being ‘newcomers’ to long-distance commerce are articulated in relation to notions of ‘hierarchies of trade’ as they evolve in a twofold relational model linking Yiwu’s Changchun neighbourhood and Dushanbe. I suggest that the forms of conviviality enacted in Yiwu’s Changchun neighbourhood need to be understood in terms of the historical, multinational and transregional contacts that have occurred within the spaces of the former Soviet Union, as well as along the China-Russia and China-Central Asian borders. Equally, the hierarchies of trade of Uzbek merchants from Tajikistan in Yiwu’s Changchun neighbourhood cut-across markers of identity that juxtapose the roles of Tajik and Uzbek communities in Tajikistan’s contemporary politics and economics