Central Asian Studies

"Title in Italian: "La letteratura tagica fra riforme e rivoluzioni (1870-1954). Con uno studio preliminare delle Ëddoštho [Memorie] di Sadriddin Ajnī e appendici bibliografiche"

The thesis focuses on the period of reforms and revolutions the Tajik intellectuals and men of letters experienced in the field of culture and literature from the second half of the 19th century, when Tsarist Russia penetrated in Turkestan, to the first Soviet decades (1870-1954).
In 1870, Ahmad Donish, one of the first reformers in the history of Modern Tajik literature, wrote the Risola dar nazmi tamaddun va taovun [Treatise on the organization and regulation of common decency], trying to persuade the emir of Bukhara of the need of reforms.
In 1954, Sadriddin Ayni, the author commonly regarded as the founder of Soviet Tajik literature, died of disease. His final major work, Yoddoshtho [Reminiscences; 1948-1954, uncompleted], to which a preliminary study is devoted to in this thesis, is a collection of lively short-stories where the author describes his childhood spent in two villages near Bukhara, his youth and schooldays in Bukhara city between 1882 and 1903, also depicting the social and economic situation of the Emirate with particular reference to the lowest social strata (petty farmers and craftsmen) living there.
The period under consideration in this thesis also marked the transition from the manuscript era to the periodical press age.
The reformers of the first two decades of the 20th century, the Jadids, turned newspapers and journals into an instrument of protest against the social, cultural, and spiritual degradation of the Bukhara Emirate. In the 1920s, magazines became a platform for the expression of a nascent Tajik nationalism, as in those years Tajikistan, rather than a Federal Republic of the Soviet Union, was an Autonomous Region within the Republic of Uzbekistan. Moreover, Soviet magazines became the first editorial space for the spreading of the Tajik realistic prose, since during the 1920s and the 1930s Tajik tales and novels were first published there in serial form, later in book form.""

To make an object transparent implies that its internal features become better visible. It also means that the surface of that same object becomes less discernable. I apply this analogy to argue that the current preoccupation with transparency allows certain ideological movements to hide controversial agendas from public scrutiny. Focusing on evangelical Christian aid to Kyrgyzstan, this article traces how post-Soviet liberalization enabled evangelicals to gain a strong footing in this Muslim-majority society. Their emphasis on religious rights served to legitimize their missionary agendas, while the adoption of development rhetoric allowed evangelicals to present themselves as “transparent” civil society players. As such, this empirical case illuminates the ideological workings of “empty” and ostensibly value-free political imageries.

"In 1992 Tajikistan experienced several months of intense civil war, where small arms and light weapons became the principle tool of conflict. While most of the fighting had ended by 1993, a peace agreement was not signed until 1997, and significant political violence continued sporadically until 2001. The war and its consequences have dominated Tajikistan’s short history. The ‘Kulyobisation' of Tajikistan was apparently confirmed by Emomali Rahmonov’s victory in 1999’s fraudulent presidential elections. However, Tajikistan has avoided fragmentation along regional lines and descent into further conflict. The government,
opposition and international actors have often worked together successfully to re-establish security in the country and begin to rehabilitate the economy. A 2003 referendum on constitutional changes, despite being conducted without international monitoring and with protests from much of the opposition, passed
off peacefully and cleared the way for President Rahmonov to remain in power for two further terms."

"First issue of new academic journal. Studia Turkica Mongolica Tibetica Manchurica Sibirica Russica et cetera.

Tartaria Magna is a peer reviewed e-journal in Russian. Editors accept papers and reviews in English and provide Russian translation. We may consider publication of the papers and reviews that have been published in other journals within the period of 3 years. More info: www.tartaria-magna.ru"