Russia's Muslim Frontiers

The sudden independence of five Muslim Central Asian countries- Khazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan- and one Muslim country in the Transcaucasus regionAzerbaijan- has surprised even the international scholarly community. When the former Soviet Union was alive and well,...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: M. E. Ahrari
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 1995
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/42765f5b7794495f898e6190db3ade8a
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:The sudden independence of five Muslim Central Asian countries- Khazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan- and one Muslim country in the Transcaucasus regionAzerbaijan- has surprised even the international scholarly community. When the former Soviet Union was alive and well, there were "Soviet scholars," a rubric that largely included specialists on Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic states. Western scholars were almost never inclined to specialize in, or to give any serious attention to, the Muslim regions of the Soviet Union. This neglect was also reflected in their evaluations of the problems of this region, as can be seen by the uncritical acceptance of the Soviet vocabulary. For instance, the Qorabashi armed resistance in Muslim Central Asia was labeled the "Basmachi" (or bandit) movement by the Soviet Union and its scholars. This phrase was also used by western scholars. Now there is no more Soviet Union, the cold war has entered history, and there are six new Muslim republics. These developments have engendered a renewed interest in these republics, as can be seen by the number of recently published books that have been devoted to them. Although some of them have been hurriedly compiled, others have been written with a lot of forethought and balanced analysis. Eickelman's present anthology definitely falls into the latter category. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, his anthology is one of the first books that raises the question of whether the above-mentioned Qorabashi movement was indeed an armed struggle against the Soviet imperial masters or was a "bandit" movement as portrayed by Soviet scholars. This book comprises four parts: "International and Regional Perspectives," "Central Asia " "Afghanistan and Iran," and "Pakistan." The first two sections formulate the essence of this study. Eickelman's introduction, in my estimation, is certainly one of the best chapters. It is unfortunate that he did not include more of his writing in this book. His review of the literature on modernization theories and orientalism in this chapter will be read by students of Central Asia and the Middle East with interest. Other noteworthy contributions are the two essays by Richard Cottam and Gregory Kornyenko. It is refreshing to read Cottam's ...