Cyber Chaikhana Update: Call for contributions!
As most of you will know, we at neweurasia are working on a book drawing its contents from the Stanosphere. Chris Schwartz, the editor of the book, has previously written on the homebase. He introduced the book project here, and gave an update on our progress here. The book’s dedicated blog is available here.
We have sourced a lot of material from within neweurasia (mostly English material) and are now looking for contributions from all other blogs that discuss the region - written in all languages. We are looking for posts that are fitting the preliminary chapter list Chris and I agreed on in Philadelphia two weeks ago. Please send your contributions to us at ben(at)neweurasia(dot)net or te(dot)schwartz(at)gmail(dot)com and read further details on the submission process here.
Please have a look below the jump to see the chapters in their current form. This book needs your input to be representative of the Central Asian blogging community!
The book will be divided into two parts: country-specific and cross-regional. Part 1 will be composed of five chapters, one for each country. Part 2 will be composed of five to seven chapters, each focusing upon a theme or topic that applies to all of Central Asia.
The big challenge of the country-specific chapters is choosing a topic or theme that best encapsulates the country. Because this necessitates leaving out excellent material that doesn’t fit into our framework, we will probably have in Part 2 a “Slices of Life”-type chapter to include all the very cool, beautiful, important, but otherwise miscellaneous articles.
Our main ideas for chapters in Part 1:
- Tajikistan: “Sorrows and Silver Linings” (the hardships of daily life, but also the things in which people find meaning);
- Turkmenistan: “Fathering History” (continuity and discontinuity after Turkmenbashi);
- Kyrgyzstan: “Revolutions and Retrospections” (hopes and bitter reality before, during, and after the “Tulip Revolution”);
- Kazakhstan: “The Transformation of Space” (the massive change in Kazakh society as reflected in urban space);
- Uzbekistan: “The Engima” (perceptions and undercurrents of the situation in Uzbekistan).
Of course, these are subject to change. Also, they are not meant to be exhaustive; many other interesting facets of the countries will appear in the cross-regional chapters.
Our main ideas for chapters in Part 2:
- “The Quest for Identity” (including such varied topics as Borat, the gold teeth ban in Tajikistan, and personality cults, among others);
- “Ivory Towers on Sand” or “Have spellcheck, will work for food” (education);
- “Veils and Motherlands” (women in post-Soviet Central Asia);
- “Saints and Sinners” (religious revival, customs, the Ruhnama, and other religion-related topics);
- “Adam Smith Goes to Tashkent” (the scarcity of staples… and oil);
- “In the Shadows” (minorities of all types, including ethnic-national, sexual, economic, and political);
- “Looking back, looking ahead” (reflections on the end of the Soviet Union, and expectations for the future of Central Asia — most likely to be the final chapter of the book.)
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