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Muslim Turkistan
This ethnography of Muslim life among the Kazaks of Central Asia describes the sacralisation of land and ethnic identity, local understanding of Islamic purity, the Kazak ancestor cult and domestic spirituality, and pilgrimage to the tombs of Sufi saints.
Everyday Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia
Providing a wealth of empirical research on the everyday practise of Islam in post-Soviet Central Asia, this book gives a detailed account of how Islam is understood and practised among ordinary Muslims in the region, focusing in particular on Uzbekistan. It shows how individuals negotiate understandings of Islam as an important marker for identity, grounding for morality and as a tool for everyday problem-solving in the economically harsh, socially insecure and politically tense atmosphere of present-day Uzbekistan. Presenting a detailed case-study of the city of Bukhara that focuses upon the local forms of Sufism and saint veneration, the book shows how Islam facilitates the pursuit of more modest goals of agency and belonging, as opposed to the utopian illusions of fundamentalist Muslim doctrines.
Polygynous Marriages among the Kyrgyz
During Soviet rule, the state all but imposed atheism on the primarily Islamic people of Kyrgyzstan and limited the tradition of polygyny—a form of polygamy in which one man has multiple wives. Polygyny did continue under communism, though chiefly under concealment. In the decades since the fall of the Soviet Union, the practice has reemerged. Based on extensive fieldwork, Polygynous Marriages among the Kyrgyz argues that this marriage practice has become socially acceptable and widely dispersed not only because it is rooted in customary law and Islamic practice, but because it can also enable men and women to meet societal expectations and solve practical economic problems that resulted from the fall of the Soviet Union. Michele E. Commercio’s analysis suggests the normalization of polygyny among the Kyrgyz in contemporary Kyrgyzstan is due both to institutional change in the form of altered governmental rules and expectations and to institutional endurance in the form of persistent hegemonic constructions of gender.
Introducing Cultural Anthropology
What is the role of culture in human experience? This concise yet solid introduction to cultural anthropology helps readers explore and understand this crucial issue from a Christian perspective. Now revised and updated throughout, this new edition of a successful textbook covers standard cultural anthropology topics with special attention given to cultural relativism, evolution, and missions. It also includes a new chapter on medical anthropology. Plentiful figures, photos, and sidebars are sprinkled throughout the text, and updated ancillary support materials and teaching aids are available through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources.
Pre-tsarist and Tsarist Central Asia
This study, written from the perspective of political sociology, represents the first comparative examination of Central Asian communal and political organisation before and after the tsarist conquest of the region. It covers Turkman, Kyrgyz, Kazakh and other tribal societies, analyses the patrimonial state structures of the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanates of Khiva and Khokand, and discusses the impacts of the established tsarist civil military administration on communal and political orientations of the Muslim population.
Community Matters in Xinjiang, 1880-1949
Drawing on a wide range of historical sources presenting both emic and etic views, this book offers an insight into aspects of social life among the Uyghur in pre-socialist Xinjiang and substantiates the concept of tradition which modern Uyghurs draw upon to construct their ethnic identity.
Contested Memories and the Demands of the Past
This book brings together new perspectives on collective memory in the modern Muslim world. It discusses how memory cultures are established and used at national levels – in official history writing, through the erection of monuments, the fashioning of educational curricula and through media strategies – as well as in the interface with both artistic expressions and popular culture in the Muslim world at large. The representations of collective memory have been one of the foremost tools in national identity politics, grass-root mobilization, theological debates over Islam and general discussions on what constitutes ‘the modern in the Middle East’ as well as in Muslim diaspora environments. Few, if any, contemporary conflicts in the region can be understood in depth without a certain focus on various uses of history, memory cultures and religious meta-narratives at all societal levels, and in art and literature. This book will be of use to students and scholars in the fields of Identity Politics, Islamic Studies, Media and Cultural Anthropology.
Kazakh Muslims in the Red Army, 1939-1945
Kazakh Muslims in the Red Army is the first study of the WWII experience of Soviet Kazakhs. Based on indigenous-language sources, it focuses on the wartime experiences of Kazakh conscripts and the home front as expressed in correspondence. The study emphasizes how Kazakh social structure, religion, and patriotism were expressed and mobilized during the war years. By focusing on indigenous forms of private correspondence, the book presents an alternative to previous studies focusing on narratives and documentation derived from the Soviet state. It offers an entirely new basis for examining the wartime experiences of Soviet citizens and Soviet Muslims.
Spirited Performance
In the heart of Asia, straddling the western Tien Shan mountain range, lies the former Soviet republic Kyrgyzstan. The country prides itself in an age old oral epic tradition that recounts the mighty deeds of the hero Manas. When explorers first encountered Manas performers in the late nineteenth century, they hailed their art as a true representation of the heroic age, and compared it to masterpieces such as the Kalevala and the Iliad. Today there are still many excellent performers who can keep their audiences spellbound. They are believed to draw their inspiration from the spirit of Manas himself. This book portrays the meaning of this huge work of art in Kyrgyz society. Based on extended...
Writing Religion
"In the late 1980s, the Alevis, at that time thought to be largely assimilated into the secular Turkish mainstream, began to assert their difference as they never had before. The question of Alevism's origins and its relation to Islam and to Turkish culture became a highly contested issue. According to the dominant understanding, Alevism is part of the Islamic tradition, although located on its margins. It is further assumed that Alevism is intrinsically related to Anatolian and Turkish culture, carrying an ancient Turkish heritage, leading back into pre-Islamic Central Asian Turkish pasts. Dressler argues that this knowledge about the Alevis-their demarcation as "heterodox" but Muslim and their status as carriers of Turkish culture-is in fact of rather recent origins. It was formulated within the complex historical dynamics of the late Ottoman Empire and the first years of the Turkish Republic in the context of Turkish nation-building and its goal of ethno-religious homogeneity"--Front flap.
