Nomads and Soviet Rule

Nomads and Soviet Rule
Author: Alun Thomas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2019-12-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1350143685

The nomads of Central Asia were already well accustomed to life under the power of a distant capital when the Bolsheviks fomented revolution on the streets of Petrograd. Yet after the fall of the Tsar, the nature, ambition and potency of that power would change dramatically, ultimately resulting in the near eradication of Central Asian nomadism. Based on extensive primary source work in Almaty, Bishkek and Moscow, Nomads and Soviet Rule charts the development of this volatile and brutal relationship and challenges the often repeated view that events followed a linear path of gradually escalating violence. Rather than the sedentarisation campaign being an inevitability born of deep-rooted Marxist hatred of the nomadic lifestyle, Thomas demonstrates the Soviet state's treatment of nomads to be far more complex and pragmatic. He shows how Soviet policy was informed by both an anti-colonial spirit and an imperialist impulse, by nationalism as well as communism, and above all by a lethal self-confidence in the Communist Party's ability to transform the lives of nomads and harness the agricultural potential of their landscape. This is the first book to look closely at the period between the revolution and the collectivisation drive, and offers fresh insight into a little-known aspect of early Soviet history. In doing so, the book offers a path to refining conceptions of the broader history and dynamics of the Soviet project in this key period.

Everyday Life in Central Asia

Everyday Life in Central Asia
Author: Jeff Sahadeo
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007-07-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780253219046

For its citizens, contemporary Central Asia is a land of great promise and peril. While the end of Soviet rule has opened new opportunities for social mobility and cultural expression, political and economic dynamics have also imposed severe hardships. In this lively volume, contributors from a variety of disciplines examine how ordinary Central Asians lead their lives and navigate shifting historical and political trends. Provocative stories of Turkmen nomads, Afghan villagers, Kazakh scientists, Kyrgyz border guards, a Tajik strongman, guardians of religious shrines in Uzbekistan, and other narratives illuminate important issues of gender, religion, power, culture, and wealth. A vibrant and dynamic world of life in urban neighborhoods and small villages, at weddings and celebrations, at classroom tables, and around dinner tables emerges from this introduction to a geopolitically strategic and culturally fascinating region.

Stalin's Nomads

Stalin's Nomads
Author: Robert Kindler
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2018-07-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 0822986140

Robert Kindler's seminal work is a comprehensive and unsettling account of the Soviet campaign to forcefully sedentarize and collectivize the Kazakh clans. Viewing the nomadic life as unproductive, and their lands unused and untilled, Stalin and his inner circle pursued a campaign of violence and subjugation, rather than attempting any dialog or cultural assimilation. The results were catastrophic, as the conflict and an ensuing famine (1931-1933) caused the death of nearly one-third of the Kazakh population. Hundreds of thousands of nomads became refugees and a nomadic culture and social order were essentially destroyed in less than five years. Kindler provides an in-depth analysis of Soviet rule, economic and political motivations, and the role of remote and local Soviet officials and Kazakhs during the crisis. This is the first English-language translation of an important and harrowing history, largely unknown to Western audiences prior to Kindler’s study. The translation of this work was funded by Geisteswissenschaften International – Translation Funding for Work in the Humanities and Social Sciences from Germany, a joint initiative of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the German Federal Foreign Office, the collecting society VG WORT and the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers & Booksellers Association).

The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan

The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan
Author: Thomas J. Barfield
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-10-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780292768383

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 focused international attention on this country for the first time in nearly a century. The need for reliable information has only become been greater. Because of their traditional xenophobia toward the West, successive Afghan governments have restricted the number of scholars permitted to undertake extensive fieldwork. For this reason Thomas Barfield's study of the Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan is a welcome addition to the literature, a literature which is not likely to grow in the coming years as war, domestic unrest and restrictive travel policies continue to make the research environment in Afghanistan unfavorable. The Central Asian Arabs are a little-known people of northeastern Afghanistan. This book is an account of the changes that have taken place in their way of life over the twentieth century as they switched from a form of subsistence pastoralism to a cash economy. Barfield's research constitutes a substantial revision of the standard hypothesis on the economic and social status of nomadic pastoralists, as originally posited by Fredrik Barth. One of Barfield's main purposes is to provide a case study that illustrates the wide-ranging complexity of pastoral nomadism, its integration into a regional economy, and how structural changes have occurred within the pastoral economy itself.

The Hungry Steppe

The Hungry Steppe
Author: Sarah Cameron
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 395
Release: 2018-11-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1501730452

The Hungry Steppe examines one of the most heinous crimes of the Stalinist regime, the Kazakh famine of 1930–33. More than 1.5 million people perished in this famine, a quarter of Kazakhstan's population, and the crisis transformed a territory the size of continental Europe. Yet the story of this famine has remained mostly hidden from view. Drawing upon state and Communist party documents, as well as oral history and memoir accounts in Russian and in Kazakh, Sarah Cameron reveals this brutal story and its devastating consequences for Kazakh society. Through the most violent of means the Kazakh famine created Soviet Kazakhstan, a stable territory with clearly delineated boundaries that was an integral part of the Soviet economic system; and it forged a new Kazakh national identity. But this state-driven modernization project was uneven. Ultimately, Cameron finds, neither Kazakhstan nor Kazakhs themselves were integrated into the Soviet system in precisely the ways that Moscow had originally hoped. The experience of the famine scarred the republic for the remainder of the Soviet era and shaped its transformation into an independent nation in 1991. Cameron uses her history of the Kazakh famine to overturn several assumptions about violence, modernization, and nation-making under Stalin, highlighting, in particular, the creation of a new Kazakh national identity, and how environmental factors shaped Soviet development. Ultimately, The Hungry Steppe depicts the Soviet regime and its disastrous policies in a new and unusual light.

Central Asia in World History

Central Asia in World History
Author: Peter B. Golden
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2011-01-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199793174

A vast region stretching roughly from the Volga River to Manchuria and the northern Chinese borderlands, Central Asia has been called the "pivot of history," a land where nomadic invaders and Silk Road traders changed the destinies of states that ringed its borders, including pre-modern Europe, the Middle East, and China. In Central Asia in World History, Peter B. Golden provides an engaging account of this important region, ranging from prehistory to the present, focusing largely on the unique melting pot of cultures that this region has produced over millennia. Golden describes the traders who braved the heat and cold along caravan routes to link East Asia and Europe; the Mongol Empire of Chinggis Khan and his successors, the largest contiguous land empire in history; the invention of gunpowder, which allowed the great sedentary empires to overcome the horse-based nomads; the power struggles of Russia and China, and later Russia and Britain, for control of the area. Finally, he discusses the region today, a key area that neighbors such geopolitical hot spots as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China.

Post-Soviet Women

Post-Soviet Women
Author: Mary Buckley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 1997-07-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521565308

This volume is the first to to take a systematic look at the position of women in the post-Soviet states of the former USSR.

Nomads in the Middle East

Nomads in the Middle East
Author: Beatrice Forbes Manz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 545
Release: 2021-12-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1009213385

A history of pastoral nomads in the Islamic Middle East from the rise of Islam, through the middle periods when Mongols and Turks ruled most of the region, to the decline of nomadism in the twentieth century. Offering a vivid insight into the impact of nomads on the politics, culture, and ideology of the region, Beatrice Forbes Manz examines and challenges existing perceptions of these nomads, including the popular cyclical model of nomad-settled interaction developed by Ibn Khaldun. Looking at both the Arab Bedouin and the nomads from the Eurasian steppe, Manz demonstrates the significance of Bedouin and Turco-Mongolian contributions to cultural production and political ideology in the Middle East, and shows the central role played by pastoral nomads in war, trade, and state-building throughout history. Nomads provided horses and soldiers for war, the livestock and guidance which made long-distance trade possible, and animal products to provision the region's growing cities.

Your Keys, Our Home

Your Keys, Our Home
Author: Debbie and Michael Campbell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016-10
Genre: Bed and breakfast accommodations
ISBN: 9781539014645

If you've ever dreamed of casting off your worldly possessions and traveling to your heart's content, this story about two intrepid seniors will inspire you no matter your age. Michael and Debbie Campbell felt they had one more adventure in them before considering retirement in the traditional sense, so they filled two rolling duffel bags with life's essentials (including their own pillows) and hit the road. Three years later, having sold their home in Seattle, their "Senior Nomad" lifestyle has no end in sight. Ride along as they share tales of living full-time in Airbnbs in over 50 countries and pay tribute to the many hosts who not only helped them live daily life, but also offered unique opportunities to experience their cities. From the barber's chair in Dublin and the dentist's chair in Split, to a wild motorcycle ride in Athens, a peek behind the Soviet Curtain in Transnistria, and the demise of a chicken for dinner in Marrakech, hosts made the Campbell's dream of adventure come true. Discover how Debbie and Michael find their next Airbnb, how they get there, and the many ways they enjoy their new city just as the locals do. Learn their tips and tricks for using Airbnb and how they get the most out of each stay, all while spending little more than they would have spent settled into their rocking chairs in Seattle.

On the Trail of Genghis Khan

On the Trail of Genghis Khan
Author: Tim Cope
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 529
Release: 2013-01-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1408825058

The personal tale of an Australian adventurer's tragedy and triumph that is packed with historical insights. On the Trail of Genghis Khan is at once a celebration of and an elegy for an ancient way of life. Supported by an epic Australian and New Zealand Tour.