Identity and Memory in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Uzbekistan's Soviet Past

227 Pages·2015·1.915 MB·English

by  Timur Dadabaev

Identity and Memory in Post- Soviet
Central Asia
Central Asian states have experienced a number of historical changes that have
challenged their traditional societies and lifestyles. The most significant changes
occurred as a result of the revolution in 1917, the incorporation of the region into
the Soviet Union, and gaining independence after the collapse of the USSR.
Impartial and informed public evaluation of the Soviet and post- Soviet periods
has always been a complicated issue, and the “official” descriptions have often
contradicted the interpretations of the past viewed through the experiences of
ordinary people.
Identity and Memory in Post- Soviet Central Asia looks at the tradition of
history construction in Central Asia. By collecting views of the public’s experi-
ences of the Soviet past in Uzbekistan, the author examines the transformation
of present- day Central Asia from the perspective of these personal memories,
and analyzes how they relate to the Soviet and post- Soviet official descriptions
of Soviet life. The book discusses that the way in which people in Central Asia
reconcile their Soviet past to a great extent refers to the three- fold process of
recollecting their everyday experiences, reflecting on their past from the per-
spective of their post- Soviet present, and re- imagining. These three elements
influence memories and lead to selectivity in memory construction, emphasizing
the aspects of the Soviet era people choose to recall in positive and negative
lights.
Presenting a broader picture of Soviet everyday life at the periphery of the
USSR, the book will be a useful contribution for students and scholars of Central
Asian Studies, Ethnicity and Identity Politics.
Timur Dadabaev is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Social
Sciences and Humanities, University of Tsukuba, Japan and Adjunct Associate
Professor at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, University of
Tokyo, Japan.
Central Asia Research Forum
Series Editor: Shirin Akiner
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Identity and Memory in
Post- Soviet Central Asia
Uzbekistan’s Soviet past
Timur Dadabaev
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Timur Dadabaev
The right of Timur Dadabaev to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-83146-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-73655-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
Contents
Acknowledgments x
1 Selectivity in recalling the Soviet past in Uzbekistan:
re- collecting, reflecting and re- imagining 1
Sampling method and respondents 7
Interviewing 9
Narrating the memory 10
Challenges, limitations and biases 13
Synopsis and chapter headings 16
2 Power, social life and public memory in Uzbekistan 20
History recreated and re- interpreted 21
“Licensing” historical symbols 23
Creation of Soviet man: Soviet cosmopolitanism vs. purity of
ethnicity 24
Stance on religion 26
Leaders and time 31
Decision- making and public participation 33
Conclusion 35
3 Recollections of trauma and public responses to the political
violence of state policies in the Stalinist era in Uzbekistan 38
Stalinist policy perspectives 39
The traumas of collectivization 43
Political repression and the general public 50
Trauma and political structure 57
Conclusion 61
viii Contents
4 The impact of World War II/the Great Patriotic War in
Uzbekistan 63
The participation of Uzbekistan in World War II 64
Everyday life during the war 72
Postwar reconstruction 77
Conclusion 80
5 The death of Stalin: time of despair and hope 82
News of the death of Stalin 83
Hysteria and the shock 84
Confusion 86
Relief of people 89
Conclusion 91
6 Post- Soviet nostalgia in Uzbekistan 93
Operationalizing post- Soviet nostalgia and memory in the Central
Asian domain 94
Soviet model of modernization 97
Soviet model of a “free” society 104
Communist party paternalism and public order 107
Stable lifestyles and socialist “democracy” 110
Conclusion 114
7 Hybrid ethnic identities in Soviet Uzbekistan 118
Memories of the Soviet times and the periphery of the USSR in
regard to ethnic issues 120
Ethnicity and language policy in Soviet Uzbekistan and Soviet
nation- building 122
A “Russi” social stratum recollected 126
Inter- ethnic marriages and inter- ethnic “drawing together”
(sblizhenie) 131
Hostility toward “Russianization” 135
Between russophobes and russophiles 138
Conclusion 140
8 Religiosity and Soviet “modernization” in Central Asia:
locating religious traditions and rituals in recollections of
antireligious policies in Uzbekistan 145
The re- imagination of religion in post- Soviet memory 147
Moving away from a simple dichotomy 149
What the narratives of the respondents reveal 152
Conclusion 172
Contents ix
9 Soviet hybridity and communal life: the changing nature of
mahalla identity in Uzbekistan 176
Placing the mahalla between public and private life 177
Recollections of the mahalla community in the Soviet system of
administration 182
Nostalgia about the Soviet- era community 186
Human relations in the mahalla during the Soviet era 187
The community after the collapse of the Soviet State 195
Conclusion 203
Index 208