From Belonging to Belief : Modern Secularisms and the Construction of Religion in Kyrgyzstan PDF
Preview From Belonging to Belief : Modern Secularisms and the Construction of Religion in Kyrgyzstan
FROM BELONGING TO BELIEF CENTRAL EURASIA IN CONTEXT SERIES Douglas Northrop, Editor FROM BELONGING TO BELIEF Modern Secularisms and the Construction of Religion in Kyrgyzstan JULIE MCBRIEN University of Pittsburgh Press Published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15260 Copyright © 2017, University of Pittsburgh Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 13: 978-0-8229-6508-4 ISBN 10: 0-8229-6508-9 Cover art: Photo by the Seattle Globalist Cover design by Melissa Dias-Mandoly For my grandmother Ruth Justine Anderson with love and gratitude CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Note on Transliteration and Translation xiii Map xv Introduction 3 1. On Being Muslim in Bazaar-Korgon 33 2. Listening to the Wedding Speaker 60 3. Living and Learning Islam 79 4. Mukadas’s Struggle 108 5. The Propriety of Mosques 131 6. Watching Clone 151 Conclusion 171 Appendix: Notes on Fieldwork 185 Notes 189 References 203 Index 223 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I want to thank the townspeople of Bazaar-Korgon for their hospitality, their friendship, and their goodwill. I owe much to their patience, to their understanding, and to their willingness to let me write about their lives and their town. In particular I would like to thank Alisher, Salima, and their children; they are longtime friends who have become family. Extra special grat- itude likewise goes to my dear friend Arzikhan-eje, her children, and friends who not only assisted me with my research in every way but cared for and loved our family during my fieldwork. They made our stay, and every subsequent visit, beautiful, rich, and comfortable. Thank you for your understanding and your friendship. Thank you for making your home and your family ours. Several in- telligent, hard-working young women and men assisted in various capacities with my research—thank you to Shahista, Nargeeza, Farida, Saida, Elmira, Abid, Eliza, Aisulu, and A.A. This project would have been impossible without K.D., who cared for my children with love, patience, and skill and never tired of my odd requests and expectations. You will always be close to our hearts. And to my Kyrgyz-language teachers—Dilbar-ejeke, Usubaly-agai, and Salima-ejeke— chong rakhmat. ix
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