Authors and Authoritarianism in Central Asia: Failed Agency and Nationalising Authoritarianism in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan

Abstract

This paper aims to reconstruct widely accepted concepts of the top-down authoritarian nature of Central Asian politics in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan through a comparative study of the pro-democratic movements that emerged in the late 1980s. By analysing data from interviews with the cultural elites of the late Soviet perestroika period and data on the indigenous nationalist movements such as Erk, Zheltoksan, Birlik and others, we question why such nationalist movements did not “survive” or emerge as a significant political platform as promised in post-independence Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and why they failed to change the political outlook of one party rule or the dominance of one nationalising regime. Furthermore, we analyse how such nationalist movements had an opportunity to turn into semi-democratic movements but failed to transform after their agenda (arguably, independence) was achieved, leaving “communists-turned-nationalists” to continue their policies in newly formed countries. Thus, the paper also looks at how these cultural elites eventually contributed to the local “authoritarianism” and lack of plurality in views and identifications.     

The Ob' will enter the Caspian: the Yenisey-Ob'-Aral-Caspian Water Connection and the Energy Problem

An early 1949 version of Davydov's grandiose scheme for diverting water from the Yenisey and Ob' Rivers to Kazakhstan and Central Asia via the Turgay Gates and the Aral and Caspian Seas in order to stabilize the level of the Caspian, expand the irrigated acreage of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, generate abundant hydro-electric power, provide a cheap water transport route between Siberia and Central Asia, eliminate sukhovei (dry winds) at their source, and ameliorate the continental climate of Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia. The plan reflects the anthropocentric “transformation of nature” and the large-scale “great projects of communism” drives of the late Stalinist period. The translation was prepared by James R. Gibson of York University, Toronto.     

From Scale to Practice: A New Agenda for the Study of Early Metallurgy on the Eurasian Steppe

This paper evaluates conventional scholarship surrounding early metallurgy in the Eurasian steppe zone, with a particular focus on prehistoric developments in a region including northern Kazakhstan and the Southern Ural Mountains of the Russian Federation. Traditionally, the emergence of metallurgy in this region has been viewed either as peripheral to core developments in Mesopotamia, Europe and the Near East, or as part of a much larger zone of interaction and trade in metals and metal production technologies. Such views have deflected scholarship from pursuing questions concerning metallurgical production, consumption, trade and value, and their connection to local diachronic socio-economic change. This paper examines these key issues through recent research programs in the steppe region, and in so doing offers an important comparative case study for early metallurgy. It is suggested that in order to develop a better understanding of early mining, metallurgy and socio-economic change in the central steppe region, new theoretical and methodological approaches are needed that highlight the unique characteristics of early mining communities and their relationships to micro-regional resources and concomitant local, in addition to long-distance, trade dynamics. These issues are discussed in light of current field research by the authors and their Russian colleagues on the Middle Bronze Age Sintashta development (2,100–1,700 BC) in the Southern Ural Mountains.     

Ordovician (Bendigonian,Darriwilian to Gisbornian) faunas from the northern Molong Volcanic Belt of central New South Wales

Diverse shallow water assemblages dominated by brachiopods, molluscs, sponges and stromatoporoids, and a tabulate coral, in the Wahringa Limestone Member (Darriwilian-Gisbornian), and Yuranigh Limestone Member (Gisbornian, or early Late Ordovician) of the Fairbridge Volcanics, are documented from the northern Molong Volcanic Belt in central N.S.W. New species described include Billingsaria spissa, Shlyginia printhiensis and Sowerbyites? wahringaensis. Elements of the Wahringa Limestone Member assemblage such as Labechia banksi, Labechiella regularis, and Maclurites cf. M. florentinensis are biogeographically significant in displaying strong similarities with contemporaneous Tasmanian faunas. The brachiopods Ishimia and Shlyginia from the Yuranigh Limestone Member are recognised for the first time outside Kazakhstan and Sibumasu. The presence of the brachiopod Anoptambonites in allochthonous limestone breccia within the lower Fairbridge Volcanics provides evidence of a regionally significant hiatus of 10–15 Ma duration separating this unit from the underlying Hensleigh Siltstone, of Early Ordovician (Bendigonian) age. The sponge Archaeoscyphia?, from allochthonous limestones in the latter formation, is the oldest macrofossil yet described from the Lachlan Fold Belt in central N.S.W.     

Regensburg,Wandalgarius and the novi denarii: Charlemagne's monetary reform revisited

Until now, Philip Grierson's tentative dating of Charlemagne's monetary reform to 793/4 has been generally accepted. His dating was based not only on numismatic evidence but also on his attempt to set this event in the context of Charlemagne's activities from 792 to 794. This traditional date of the reform does not, however, take into account evidence provided by Codex Sangallensis 731, in which the scribe Wandalgarius drew the image of a post‐reform coin around mid‐October 793. Based on this evidence as well as the historical contextualization of Charlemagne's stay in Regensburg in 791–3, this paper attributes the introduction of the novi denarii to the period between the autumn of 792 and the early autumn of 793, when his court was located in Regensburg.     

Review of the Cambrian acrotretid brachiopod Neotreta

The Cambrian acrotretid brachiopod Neotreta Sobolev 1976 is reviewed and re-illustrated, based on new material of the type species, N. tumida Sobolev 1976, from the lower Upper Cambrian of Siberia; Neotreta orbiculata Koneva 1990, originally described from the Middle Cambrian of Kazakhstan, has been obtained from roughly coeval beds in Shropshire, England; Neotreta pusilla Koneva 1986 was unavailable for study. Two new species, N. davidi and N. karagailensis, are described from Queensland, Australia, and Kirgizia, Central Asia respectively.     

Divided Post‐Soviet Small Cities? Residential Segregation and Urban Form in Leninogorsk and Zyryanovsk,Kazakhstan

This paper maps and analyses ethnic and socio‐economic residential segregation in two small post‐Soviet mining and enrichment cities in Eastern Kazakhstan, Leninogorsk and Zyryanovsk. The study is based on data collected by the author in collaboration with the Eastern Kazakhstan oblast' statistical authority in an extensive questionnaire survey carried out during January 2001. The paper investigates the linkages between the physical spatial structure of small post‐Soviet cities and the socio‐spatial landscape that has unfolded in their context, and attempts to identify the principal factors that underlie the observed segregation patterns.     

The French romantics

Berkeley's Theory of Vision, or Visual Language Showing The Immediate Presence and Providence of A Deity, Vindicated And Explained was published in 1733, occasioned by an anonymous letter of the previous year to the London Daily Post Boy. The letter criticized Berkeley's New Theory of Vision, which had been published in 1709, but which had been appended to Berekely's Alciphron, published in 1732. No one has ever identified the author whose criticisms led Berkeley to his Theory of Vision Vindicated. Circumstantial evidence presented here suggests that the author was Catherine Trotter Cockburn. Part of the evidence is the brilliance of her interpretation of Locke, whose position is defended in the letter against Berkeley.     

A Portuguese East Indiaman from the 1502–1503 Fleet of Vasco da Gama off Al Hallaniyah Island,Oman: an interim report

Two Portuguese naus from Vasco da Gama's second voyage to India, left behind to disrupt maritime trade between India and the Red Sea, were wrecked in May 1503 off the north‐eastern coast of Al Hallaniyah Island, Oman. The ships, Esmeralda and São Pedro, had been commanded by da Gama's maternal uncles, Vicente and Brás Sodré, respectively. A detailed study and scientific analysis of an artefact assemblage recovered during archaeological excavations conducted in Al Hallaniyah in 2013 and 2014 confirms the location of an early 16th‐century Portuguese wreck‐site, initially discovered in 1998. Esmeralda is proposed as the probable source of the remaining, un‐salved wreckage.     

Polemic,Parliament and History: Michael Foot versus David Owen

Michael Foot had good reasons for resenting Dr David Owen, who played a prominent role in the formation of the breakaway Social Democratic Party (SDP) while Foot was Labour's leader. In Loyalists and Loners (1986), a book of political pen‐portraits, Foot duly delivered a blistering attack on Owen, focusing on two charges – that Owen was consumed by personal ambition from an early stage of his career, and that he was an ideological turncoat who had wilfully misused the word ‘socialism’. The present article examines Foot's allegations in the light of various historical sources, including the private papers of both protagonists. It is argued that, though Foot's charges seem devastating at first sight – and have never been refuted by Owen or his admirers – they cannot be sustained after an impartial review of the evidence. This reappraisal provides new insights into Owen's remarkable and controversial career at two pivotal stages – his initial rise to ministerial office, and his decision to leave Labour.     

Short-Term Migration Responses of Women and Men during Economic Turmoil: Lessons from Kazakhstan

A team of population specialists from the United States and Kazakhstan uses heretofore unpublished data of the Kazakhstan Statistical Agency to assess gender and age differences in the propensity to migrate from Kazakhstan for the period 1991-2001. The interstate character of the population movements analyzed means that Slavic, German, and other non-Kazakh ethnic groups are disproportionately represented among the emigrant population, but the key focus is on identifying the differing migration responses of men and women during economic crisis, in this case the precipitous decline in economic activity following the dissolution of the USSR. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F22, J61, O15. 2 figures, 4 tables, 21 references.     

Early Cotswold woodland

Many “wold” names are derived from the OE wald, meaning “woodland”. In a recent paper Everitt examined the evidence for Kent and suggested that areas of wold downland had been wooded in the Anglo-Saxon period. They had also been territorially linked to river-estates as areas of outlying wood-pasture. The present paper examines the evidence for the Cotswolds. Here the name “wold” is applied to an area which was largely open pasture by the medieval period and the use of the term in its later sense of “high, open country” would not have been out of place. Yet the evidence from early place-names and pre-Conquest charters suggests that a great deal of woodland was present in the Anglo-Saxon period, especially in the valleys dissecting the escarpment and along the scarp face. Although this was a watershed area, divided between adjacent valley-based estates, as in Kent, there is little direct evidence here of an early interest in woodland-pasture. The importance of the area seems to have arisen in the middle and later Anglo-Saxon period as a result of an increased use of the upland for sheep pasture. Nevertheless, the term “wold” seems to date from an earlier period when woodland was indeed extensive.     

The Åker Assemblage — Fit for a King? A New Account and Discussion of a Collection of Treasure of the Norwegian Merovingian Period

IN THE SECOND HALF of the 19th and the early decades of the 20th centuries, an assemblage of stray finds dating to c ad 600 was collected at Åker in south-eastern Norway. The items included a cloisonné-decorated sword-belt buckle of exceptional quality, a pommel from a ring-sword, and various mounts and fittings from a shield, sword belts and hangers. In the early 1990s several metal-detected finds were made at the site, and it was clear that many of those had originally belonged to the same context as the earlier finds. This article presents and discusses the Åker assemblage on the basis of what has been added to the evidence, and of new knowledge about the site of Åker produced by archaeological excavation. The objective is to gain a better understanding of what the assemblage really represents.     

Accounts of early Christian history in the thought of François Guizot,Benjamin Constant and Madame de Staël 1800–c.1833

This article compares different historical accounts of early Christianity written by François Guizot, Benjamin Constant and Madame de Staël and shows that they played a significant role in the construction of their ideas about religious tolerance and political liberty in ancient and modern states. In his 1812 translation of Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Guizot used his editorial footnotes to oppose Gibbon’s sceptical representation of the early Church and to assert that the development of Christianity had been crucial in condemning slavery, establishing religious toleration and fostering individual liberty. Benjamin Constant also opposed Gibbon’s representation of early Church history but he argued in his posthumously published Du polythéisme romain (1833) that the key achievement of the early Christians had been to revive the idea of individual religious sentiment against the anti-individualist Roman state. As Guizot developed his historical research in the 1820s he rejected this view and came to see the early Christians as demonstrating the inherently social nature of all religious practice. Some of these ideas were anticipated by Madame de Staël in De la littérature (1800), but all three thinkers sought to reintegrate religion into their ideas of modern liberty in ways that merit greater attention.     

The Siberian Curse: How Communist Planners Left Russia Out in the Cold. Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy

An American geographer examines the return migration of ethnic Kazakhs from Mongolia to their ancestral homeland of Kazakhstan, and the adjustment problems confronting them upon return. This specific example of "diasporic return migration" is emblematic of a process affecting nearly every state within the former USSR, and is especially acute in Central Asia. The study, based on the author's interviews, explores obstacles to the integration of Mongolian-Kazakhs into Kazakhstani society, and raises the question of whether this process might best be conceptualized as "repatriation" or "patriation." Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F22, J61, O18, R23. 54 references.     

Ethnohistorical geography and aboriginal rights litigation in Canada: memoir of an expert witness

Since the early 1950s, evidence from ethnohistorical geography has played an important role in aboriginal rights claims and litigation in North America. I became involved in Canadian aboriginal and treaty rights litigation over 35 years ago. My participation has included several landmark cases: Regina v. Horseman (treaty rights), Delgamuukw v. Regina (Comprehensive title claim), and Regina v. Powley (Métis rights). Most of the evidence that I have presented over the years has dealt with various aspects of the changing spatial economies of First Nations and Métis communities from Ontario to British Columbia. The Hudson's Bay Company's vast archive has been the primary source for this data.     

A new Ordovician rostroconch mollusc from Kazakhstan

The rostroconch mollusc Eopteria aiteneria sp. nov. is described from the Late Ordovician Angrensor Formation of north-eastern Central Kazakhstan; it is the first and only known representative of this group from the Ordovician of central Asia. By the beginning of the Late Ordovician Eopteria and the family Eopteriidae were on the verge of extinction and the new Kazakhstan species represents the youngest preserved record of the family in the Ordovician. It is likely that the group found a refuge in the diverse, but rather conservative, faunal assemblage of the Hiberno-Salairian type associated with Late Ordovician carbonate algal build-ups and mud mounds which spread widely during the late Caradoc to mid Ashgill across Kazakhstanian volcanic island arcs and microplates.