Last week I traveled with Rasul Momunaliev, of the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia, to Karakol to survey their work throughout the province.
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This Week in Photos: February 21st to 28th
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 Research: Life at the Edge of the Empire: Oral Histories of Soviet Kyrgyzstan
Monday, March 1st, 2010Life at the Edge of the Empire: Oral Histories of Soviet Kyrgyzstan
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, we often forget the hardships of past generations under communism. Researchers continue to sift through archives and conduct interviews for a glimpse into the lives of these individuals. Yet even with such efforts, within Central Asia, many tales remain untold. One professor inspired by his own difficulties locating such resources set out to give these people a voice through the project titled Life at the Edge of the Empire: Oral Histories of Soviet Kyrgyzstan.
Interviewee Alexander Shafir (Photo Courtesy of Centralasianhistory.org)
Project Background
Across Eurasia, The spread of the communism introduced an alien ideology that forever transformed the region’s diverse peoples and cultures. Overnight entire ethnic communities were uprooted while others were forcibly sedentarized decimating once flourishing nomadic cultures. These draconian policies altered and even destroyed time-honored traditions for future generations to come.
A great deal of scholarship examines the effects of the Soviet experience amongst Russia and its Eastern European neighbors often overlooking Central Asia. Existing research exploring this legacy within Central Asia is characterized by scant efforts to account for the struggles faced by individuals in this region of the Soviet Union. When conducting his own research, scholar and Professor Sam Tranum encountered this problem first hand.
Publication: The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly is an independent publication which examines China’s growing relationship with Greater Central Asia. This publication associated with The Central-Asia Caucaus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program -a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center of Johns Hopkins University and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, provides a unique forum for practiconers, academics, and policy makers to conduct research on Sino-Central Asian issues.
According to their website, The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly focuses ”primarily on Sino-Central Asian, Sino-Russian, and Sino-Caucasian relations, the goal of this website and the China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly is to foster discussion and information sharing between a geographically distant community that recognizes the significance of China’s emergence in this important part of the world.”
For all individuals interested in the Greater Central Asia Region, particuarly China’s invovlement, daily news updates along with useful links and resources can be found on their website.
The following is a digital copy of Volume 7- No.4 (December 2009) of The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly. All volumes may be downloaded free of charge from www.chinaeurasia.org
The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly: Volume 7 – No. 4 – 2009
Living With Disabilities: From Kidnapped Bride to Community Hero
Friday, February 12th, 2010One woman’s struggle to improve the lives of the disabled within her community.
Title Image: Baktygul, the founder of the Beypil Rehabilitation Center of Bokonbeyvo.
West of Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek, over the peaks of the Tien Shan Mountains, is Issyk Kul Oblast. Travelers from distant lands frequent this region in the hopes of seeing the unparalleled beauty of Eurasia’s highest lake, Issyk Kul. The gated beach communities create an allusion of a prosperous and developed retreat, but unbeknownst to most travelers, life for the majority of Kyrgyz people within this overwhelmingly rural area is an unrelenting fight for survival.
Outside of these vacation getaways, removed from adequate medical facilities, public transportation and commerce, remote villages speckle the mountainsides. Such a difficult environment has disproportionately affected the disabled who lack the most rudimentary facilities and are unable to receive medical treatment. The Kyrgyz government provides for these families to the best of their ability but given the state’s limited financial means, the average pension of $17 a month is scarcely enough for a basic diet of milk and bread.
After witnessing first hand the challenges her daughter faced with a disfigured cleft palate, one woman by the name of Baktygul, set out to tackle this problem gripping her community by creating a rehabilitation and work center for the disabled. At first openly ridiculed and ostracized, Baktygul struggled to secure financial, community and government support. Undiscouraged, she worked two jobs while raising a family to realize her dream.
Bokonbayevo and Children with Disabilities
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010Tomorrow we will be traveling to Bokonbayevo to document the Scientific Technology and Language Institutes’ (STLI) work with children who have disabilities.
A chalkboard in a school for children with disabilities. Education is key for the development and social acceptance of the disabled community.
