How should we do Central Asian history today? Our response to Isabel Ohayon, Julien Thorez, and Tomohiko Uyama

Как быть историком Центральной Азии сегодня? Наш ответ Изабель Огайон, Жюльену Торезу и Томохико Уяме¹
Chokobaeva A. Shelekpayev N.
2023 National Research University, Higher School of Econoimics

Zhurnal Issledovanii Sotsialnoi Politiki
2023 #22 Issue 1 72 - 81 pp.

This text is a response to Isabelle Ohayon, Julien Thorez, and Tomohiko Uyama, who commented on our essay that was published two years ago in this journal. We argue that “tactical essentialism,” embraced by Central Asian scholarly communities to circumvent external academic and political pressure, is not equivalent to biological primordialism. We also discuss the commemoration of the 1916 uprising in Kyrgyzstan to demonstrate how the production of history in Central Asia involves the participation of local communities. The socio-historical agenda in the region is fluid and is not dictated solely by the state, as our interlocutors suggest.

Central Asia , essentialism , Global East , historiography , local communities , nationalism(s) , post-Soviet space

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Departmen of History, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Nazarbayev University, Kabanbai batyr 53, Astana, 010000, Kazakhstan
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Yale University, 320 York St, HQ 534, New Haven, 06511, CT, United States

Departmen of History
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

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