Ghosts of a different present: spectres of possibility in the lives of older Kyrgyz Muslims

The anthropology of possibility – and the phenomenological traditions it often draws on – has predominantly been oriented towards the future, the not‐yet. With an empirical point of departure in fieldwork among older Kyrgyz Muslims who become old in the absence of younger relatives and drawing on the critical phenomenology of Alia Al‐Saji, I explore the what‐might‐have‐been as a space of possibility that is equally important in human life as a space in which one may dwell and even thrive, and which may gain in importance as a person becomes older. I argue that if we want to understand the existential importance of what‐might‐have‐been and question the futurity bias in anthropology, we need to understand the past, not as frozen and inert, but as a space of possibility that keeps opening in new ways. I find the inspiration for doing so in the Kyrgyz concept of qayip duino (the hidden or unseen world) and Al‐Saji's concept of hesitation.