Muslim identity and Islamic practice in post-Soviet Central Asia

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the newly independent countries of Central Asia had the opportunity to endorse religious freedom. Nevertheless, they chose for the most part to continue the policy of monitoring religious activity, on the pretext of protecting their countries from radical Islam. This study focuses on Islamic praxis in post-Soviet Central Asia. Based on a survey conducted in four Central Asian successor states (excluding Turkmenistan), it examines everyday Islam – observance of precepts, life-cycle rites, prayer and mosque attendance – as well as people's perceptions about the role of Islam in their lives and in the evolution of their societies and the place of Islam in local identity. The authors' findings have not always corresponded to usually accepted hypotheses and they have sought to analyse the reasons for this. Undoubtedly, the exigencies of the current political situation both act as a restraint on respondents in addressing the questions put to them and restrict their religious praxis outside the home. It is difficult to assess how far responses would have differed had the survey been conducted under more favourable circumstances; indeed, some of the questions may have been genuinely misinterpreted as a result of differences in outlook and the use of concepts.     

The centrality of Central Asia

Abstract

This paper poses some questions about how Central Asia fits into world history. The questions arise from my attempt to study world history as a world system. From this perspective, as one nonspecialist addressing other nonspecialists, Central Asia appears as a sort of black hole in the middle of the world. Little is known or said about it by those who focus on the geographically outlying civilizations of China, India, Persia, Islam, and Europe—including Russia. Even world historians see only some migrants or invaders who periodically emerge from Central Asia to impinge on these civilizations and the world history they make. Historians of art and religion view Central Asia as a sort of dark space through which cultural achievements moved from one civilization to another. At best, they see Central Asia itself as a dark tabula rasa on which itinerant monks, mullahs, and artists from these allegedly civilized areas left their marks. Now their remains can be admired in a thousand Buddha caves and mosques spread through Central Asia. Or they have been deposited in museums spread through the cultural capitals of the West and Japan after their “discoverers” unearthed them, crated them up, and carted them away.     

美国与俄罗斯的中亚竞逐

冷战结束后中亚地区所处的地缘战略位置及其属性凸现出其重要的战略意义。而美国和俄罗斯由于其各自特定的历史抱负和使命感、该地区在其对外战略中所占有的特殊份量、以及两国特殊的历史交往过程等因素,使其在中亚地区的相互竞逐过程尤为引人注目。尤其是“9·11”以后美国和俄罗斯在互动中展现出新型的竞逐态势,对地区乃至全球局势产生了直接或间接的影响。     

中亚石油与中国

展望21世纪,中亚石油潜力巨大,可能成为今后世界石油市场极为重要的新角色。中国自1993年成为石油净进口国以来,对外来石油的依赖度日趋增大。中亚石油将成为中国除中东以外的主要外来油源。因此,我们应对中国——中亚石油问题进行思考。