http://www.neweurasia.net/politics-and-society/%e2%80%9cwhere-did-you-come-from-to-get-here%e2%80%9d-crossing-the-uzbek-tajik-border/ Thu, 23 May 2013 23:01:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.neweurasia.net/politics-and-society/%e2%80%9cwhere-did-you-come-from-to-get-here%e2%80%9d-crossing-the-uzbek-tajik-border/comment-page-1/#comment-63910 Henrietta Harding Thu, 16 Aug 2012 08:45:56 +0000 http://www.neweurasia.net/?p=19992#comment-63910 We pulled into Ishkashim with no idea how we were continuing our journey or how much farther we actually wanted to go. Somehow, we ended up in the backseat of a Toyota Corolla that would take us to Kakaha Fortress about an hour and a half a way and then a town about 20km past that. We were aware (thanks to the Lonely Planet guide) that Tajik border guards were currently occupying the fortress but that they mainly resided in the upper fortress, so we proceeded cautiously as we snapped shots of the historical site. Inevitably, two border guards showed up – whether they were on their schedulled patrol or just coming out to shoo us away, I’m not sure. I’m also not sure why, but I was more afraid of their reluctance to break a smile or even a grin than I was of their giant guns. I’m not sure what explains my lack of knee-jerk terror at the sight of a machine gun – It’s not like I’ve grown up around guns to be comfortable with them. Perhaps it’s the absence of seeing their effects that leaves me with an underdeveloped sense of caution and fear. Anyway, as we drove on, our drivers made the suggestion of continuing on to stay in a village near the Yamchun Fort and Bibi Fatima springs. Since these were locations we were debating visiting anyway, we figured that we may as well extend our journey. And so our adventure continued – for a total of 7 hours of driving in one day which finished with the ascent of a very steep, very narrow road in the dark, resulting in one frantic evacuation and car pushing at one point. We pulled into Ishkashim with no idea how we were continuing our journey or how much farther we actually wanted to go. Somehow, we ended up in the backseat of a Toyota Corolla that would take us to Kakaha Fortress about an hour and a half a way and then a town about 20km past that. We were aware (thanks to the Lonely Planet guide) that Tajik border guards were currently occupying the fortress but that they mainly resided in the upper fortress, so we proceeded cautiously as we snapped shots of the historical site. Inevitably, two border guards showed up – whether they were on their schedulled patrol or just coming out to shoo us away, I’m not sure. I’m also not sure why, but I was more afraid of their reluctance to break a smile or even a grin than I was of their giant guns. I’m not sure what explains my lack of knee-jerk terror at the sight of a machine gun – It’s not like I’ve grown up around guns to be comfortable with them. Perhaps it’s the absence of seeing their effects that leaves me with an underdeveloped sense of caution and fear. Anyway, as we drove on, our drivers made the suggestion of continuing on to stay in a village near the Yamchun Fort and Bibi Fatima springs. Since these were locations we were debating visiting anyway, we figured that we may as well extend our journey. And so our adventure continued – for a total of 7 hours of driving in one day which finished with the ascent of a very steep, very narrow road in the dark, resulting in one frantic evacuation and car pushing at one point.

]]> http://www.neweurasia.net/politics-and-society/%e2%80%9cwhere-did-you-come-from-to-get-here%e2%80%9d-crossing-the-uzbek-tajik-border/comment-page-1/#comment-63864 Danny Gordon Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:56:32 +0000 http://www.neweurasia.net/?p=19992#comment-63864 <a href="#comment-63854" rel="nofollow">@phil</a>, Thanks buddy - It is an incredibly interesting place!! @phil,
Thanks buddy – It is an incredibly interesting place!!

]]> http://www.neweurasia.net/politics-and-society/%e2%80%9cwhere-did-you-come-from-to-get-here%e2%80%9d-crossing-the-uzbek-tajik-border/comment-page-1/#comment-63854 phil Tue, 14 Aug 2012 09:06:56 +0000 http://www.neweurasia.net/?p=19992#comment-63854 Excellent piece Dan, Ive lived and worked their since 1993 ! I v rarely comment on news from the region, but felt impelled after reading that. Excellent piece Dan, Ive lived and worked their since 1993 !
I v rarely comment on news from the region, but felt impelled after reading that.

]]> http://www.neweurasia.net/politics-and-society/%e2%80%9cwhere-did-you-come-from-to-get-here%e2%80%9d-crossing-the-uzbek-tajik-border/comment-page-1/#comment-63826 Panama Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:49:17 +0000 http://www.neweurasia.net/?p=19992#comment-63826 Where to draw the boundaries was, however, complicated by the fact that if the delimitation were conducted on exclusively ‘national’ lines, the pastoralist Kyrgyz, who moved seasonally between low-lying winter encampments and summer pastures, would end up with a Kyrgyz republic that had no cities of its own: a worrying prospect for a state preoccupied with thrusting ‘backward’ populations into Soviet modernity. In practice, economic imperatives – the needs in particular of an irrigation-dependent cotton monoculture – often trumped the ‘national principle’ when it came to the details of border-drawing. As ‘modernising’ projects were undertaken, farms collectivised, dams and canals built, and herders settled in lower-lying ‘planned villages’, as new land was brought under irrigation and the mountains dotted with mercury mines, the borders between constituent republics were repeatedly moved. In the drive for industrial-scale agriculture, reality diverged increasingly from the Bolshevik vision of ‘national’ republics. Or rather, the ‘national’ principle that had prevailed in the 1920s came increasingly into conflict with the economic imperatives of 1930s collectivisation. Where to draw the boundaries was, however, complicated by the fact that if the delimitation were conducted on exclusively ‘national’ lines, the pastoralist Kyrgyz, who moved seasonally between low-lying winter encampments and summer pastures, would end up with a Kyrgyz republic that had no cities of its own: a worrying prospect for a state preoccupied with thrusting ‘backward’ populations into Soviet modernity. In practice, economic imperatives – the needs in particular of an irrigation-dependent cotton monoculture – often trumped the ‘national principle’ when it came to the details of border-drawing. As ‘modernising’ projects were undertaken, farms collectivised, dams and canals built, and herders settled in lower-lying ‘planned villages’, as new land was brought under irrigation and the mountains dotted with mercury mines, the borders between constituent republics were repeatedly moved. In the drive for industrial-scale agriculture, reality diverged increasingly from the Bolshevik vision of ‘national’ republics. Or rather, the ‘national’ principle that had prevailed in the 1920s came increasingly into conflict with the economic imperatives of 1930s collectivisation.

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