Subject: Introduction, of a former resident.
From: Asgeir Baldursson (erjana@centrum.is)
Date: Sat Apr 17 1999 - 03:24:07 EDT
Dear all,
This idea of introductions is pretty good. We get started with a much
better idea of the community at the listserver, and we can establish more
direct personal links with those who share the same research field (although
I hope most of the academic exchange between members of the listserver reach
our community).
It is clear that those of us outside the valley, with intrest in the
region, have better resourses to hook up, to introduce ourselves, to
participate. When I lived in Namangan, I worked with the ACCELS office
there, which had probably the only computer in town that was accessible to
the people of Namangan. It saw very limited outside office use. Still I
hope that as many valley residents as possible join our ranks, and
participate in the discussions (and not only from Kyrgystan, but also
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan).
My name is 'Asgeir Baldursson, and I am a student of political science
from Iceland. My field is ideology (especially religion) and politics. I
found Central Asia most intriguing from this perspective, looking at the
clash of Marx-Leninism, Nationalism, Islam, and Western market capitalism,
and how this ideological conflict finds expression in politics. To get a
good feel for the real life situation, I went to Uzbekistan in the fall of
1995. I chose to go to Namangan since it was allegedly a hotbed of
religious fervor and a stronghold of conservative Islam. I guess
everything is relative, and in comparison with Tashkent, or Almaty,
Namangan certainly is religious. But the people I met do not conform with
the picture drawn in some academic work or in recent news from the Valley
of mass arrests and purges of religious fanatics. Even people with a
reputation for religiousity didn't correspond to any defination of fanatics
or religious extremists. Of course the repression of any deviant behavior
in Uzbekistan has made people vary of expressing themselves, but I still
don't see how the authorities were able to reach the conclusion that the
bombings in Tashkent were orchestrated by popular movements supported by
large segments of the population of the valley. After I left at the end of
November 1997, the purges began.
While I stayed in Namangan, I taught classes in English and did volunteer
work in student advising for ACCELS, I also studied Uzbek, and met with
hundreds of people (Uzbeks, Tajiks and Russian speakers). I visited homes
and mosques both in Namangan and in the surrounding country-side.
I also travelled in the Valley, and to Tashkent and Almaty. I am
currently residing in my home-country, Iceland, where I am working on an
essay on the interplay of Islam and politics in post-independence Uzbekistan.
I hope to participate in many fruitful discussions on various questions
concerning the valley.
Sincerly,
'Asgeir Baldursson.
Asgeir Baldursson <asgeirb@rhi.hi.is>
Yerzhana Akhmetzhanova
Dina Akhmetzhanova <dina@rhi.hi.is>
Brekkustigur 12, kj.
101 Reykjavik
ICELAND
+(354) 562-6826
e-mail: erjana@centrum.is
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