{"title":"The cat in Mongolian society: a good, bad and ugly animal","authors":"Baasanjav Terbish","doi":"10.1080/02634937.2023.2201306","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2023.2201306","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In Mongolia the cat is viewed ambiguously. It is seen either as a good, a bad or an ugly creature, or as a mix of all these. This ambiguity stems from the cat’s function as a mirror of Mongolian society, where the transition to socialism and post-socialism was traumatic, interrupting the cosmological order. This paper explains these diverse images by analysing old legends and modern folk stories about felines.","PeriodicalId":46602,"journal":{"name":"Central Asian Survey","volume":"42 1","pages":"561 - 576"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42491178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Persuasion or polarization? LGBTQ+ attitudes among young social media users in Kazakhstan","authors":"Marika Olijar, Junda Li","doi":"10.1080/02634937.2023.2187759","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2023.2187759","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46602,"journal":{"name":"Central Asian Survey","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46006747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘The freedom of a fair word’: the roots of human rights discourse in Kazakh cultural heritage","authors":"B. Shangirbayeva","doi":"10.1080/02634937.2023.2192742","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2023.2192742","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines the roots of freedom of expression and opinion, of the right to a fair trial, and of the freedom to enjoy cultural rights in Kazakh nomadic customary traditions that underlie and give meaning to human rights discourse in contemporary Kazakh society. Based on oral traditions and the perception of fairness of the nomadic Kazakhs, this rich heritage created resilient instruments that are still vital and play a significant role in the judiciary, political discussions, public debates and cultural performances in contemporary Kazakhstan. The evidence indicates that in Kazakh nomadic society a core essence of these freedoms was ‘the freedom of a fair word’, which, combined with outstanding rhetorical skills, functioned as an instrument through which civil, political and cultural rights were ensured; the concept enacted a discourse of commentary and claims-making analogous to norms of human rights. This research provides evidence for how ‘the freedom of a fair word’ was articulated by the general population in the traditional nomadic institutions of the bi, and of the zhyraus and aqyns.","PeriodicalId":46602,"journal":{"name":"Central Asian Survey","volume":"42 1","pages":"444 - 460"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46636037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"In Soviet educational greenhouses: on the problem of language teaching to the Bukharan–Jewish children of Uzbekistan, 1917–47","authors":"Albert Kaganovitch","doi":"10.1080/02634937.2023.2181763","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2023.2181763","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this article we will consider the language policy the Soviet authorities directed toward the Bukharan Jews in Uzbekistan. These reforms were carried out in several stages. Initially, traditional Hebrew education was banned in favour of the Judeo-Tajik language. Then, in the late 1930s, it was the turn of the ban in favour of the Russian, Tajik and Uzbek languages. At the same time, the national schools of the Bukharan Jews were liquidated. All this, as well as the alphabet of education, changed twice in the 1930s, harmed the level of education of Bukharan Jews. As a result, many Bukharan–Jewish children could not handle the language innovations and began to study worse or even stopped attending public schools. Concerned about this, the authorities were forced to temporarily restore Bukharan–Jewish schools and classes with Judeo-Tajik or Tajik language instruction in the mid-1940s. This history shows that the Soviet authorities carefully monitored the reaction of the population and were able to show flexibility in matters that were not points of principle.","PeriodicalId":46602,"journal":{"name":"Central Asian Survey","volume":"42 1","pages":"480 - 499"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49665922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Smartphones and public support for LGBTQ+ in Central Asia","authors":"Jasmin Dall’Agnola","doi":"10.1080/02634937.2023.2187346","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2023.2187346","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46602,"journal":{"name":"Central Asian Survey","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48908825","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bridge or base? Chinese perceptions of Central Asia under Europeanisation","authors":"P. Hou","doi":"10.1080/02634937.2023.2178386","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2023.2178386","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The article examines how China perceives Central Asia under Europeanisation after the Cold War (1992-2022). Central Asia is a geo-economically significant frontier zone between China and the European Union (EU). The EU released the Central Asia strategies in 2007 and 2019. Although there were no immediate policy reactions from neighbouring China, we can sketch China’s seemingly paradoxical perceptions of the region by scrutinising official narratives. The perceptions have been simplified into the bridge-base dyad. As a land bridge, Central Asia connects China with the EU, the role of which gained growing significance against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. As a possible ideological base, Central Asia, under Europeanisation, may spread incompatible norms to the contiguous Xinjiang. Wary of creeping foreign hostile forces, China particularly underlines Xinjiang’s stability.","PeriodicalId":46602,"journal":{"name":"Central Asian Survey","volume":"42 1","pages":"577 - 596"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42812350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The long-run analysis of the association between macroeconomic variables and suicide: the case of Turkic-speaking countries in Central Asia","authors":"Yüksel Okşak, C. Koyuncu, R. Yilmaz","doi":"10.1080/02634937.2023.2167808","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2023.2167808","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Using an unbalanced data set covering the years from 1990 to 2017, this study examines the long-run relationship between three selected macroeconomic variables (unemployment, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and inflation) and suicide rates for Turkic-speaking countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). The mean group estimation results suggest that among the three macroeconomic variables under study, only the unemployment rate has a statistically significant relationship with the suicide rate for the Central Asian Turkic-speaking countries. Regarding country-specific estimations, results suggest that all macroeconomic variables under study correlate with the suicide rate for some countries in the sample. Overall, the empirical findings of the study suggest that unemployment and per capita GDP are important contributors of suicide and intentional self-harm in Central Asia. Estimation results also call attention to the inflation rate.","PeriodicalId":46602,"journal":{"name":"Central Asian Survey","volume":"42 1","pages":"597 - 616"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45690004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Vehicularizing the vernacular: using the periodical press to popularize vernacular languages in Soviet Turkic communities","authors":"M. J. Erdman","doi":"10.1080/02634937.2022.2154750","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2022.2154750","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The study of language and script change among the Turkic communities of the Soviet Union often focuses on the switch from Arabic to Latin scripts. Less attention is paid to adaptations of the Arabic script to Turkic vernaculars, and to attempts aimed at convincing the literate masses of their usefulness. In the current paper, I aim to do just that. By making use of Turkic-language periodicals from Crimea, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, I throw light on the era before Latin. I explore writers’, editors’ and other intellectuals’ efforts to vernacularize written languages and enforce national boundaries along Soviet lines through changes to the dominant script. More than this, I investigate these actors’ use of magazines to convince their readers of new vernacular, language- and territory-based national identities. In doing so, I demonstrate that periodicals became implements of national consciousness creation targeted at the Turkic citizens of the early Soviet Union.","PeriodicalId":46602,"journal":{"name":"Central Asian Survey","volume":"42 1","pages":"461 - 479"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49608754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Representation of the Kazakhstani famine (1931–33) in secondary school history textbooks, 1992–2021","authors":"Berikbol Dukeyev","doi":"10.1080/02634937.2022.2152778","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2022.2152778","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper studies the role of textbook authors when portraying the Kazakhstani famine of 1931–33 in textbooks printed between 1992 and 2021 for the secondary school subject ‘The History of Kazakhstan’. Drawing on a multilayered and inter-discursive analysis of seven of these textbooks, and after 10 interviews with curriculum developers and textbook authors, this paper argues that authorship agencies have reflected a level of ambivalence: on the cause(s) of the famine; on their evaluation of it as a tragedy or as a genocide; on the identification of the perpetrators and victims; and the people’s revolt against the collectivization. The textbook authors have echoed the narratives from the cautious approach to the famine’s commemoration portrayed in state-led nation-building, to those in Kazakh nationalist narratives and the academic history. The results of this paper oppose the general assumption that textbook narratives are merely constructed from ‘above’ in a non-democratic state such as Kazakhstan.","PeriodicalId":46602,"journal":{"name":"Central Asian Survey","volume":"42 1","pages":"383 - 401"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48466750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}