Tribal Nation, The Making of Soviet Turkmenistan (Heftet (myke permer))

Adrienne Lynn Edgar is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She was formerly an editor of "World Policy Journal".

On October 27, 1991, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Hammer and sickle gave way to a flag, a national anthem, and new holidays. Seven decades earlier, Turkmenistan had been a stateless conglomeration of tribes. What brought about this remarkable transformation? "Tribal Nation" addresses this question by examining the Soviet effort in the 1920's and 1930's to create a modern, socialist nation in the Central Asian Republic of Turkmenistan. Adrienne Edgar argues that the recent focus on the Soviet state as a 'maker of nations' overlooks another vital factor in Turkmen nationhood: the complex interaction between Soviet policies and indigenous notions of identity.In particular, the genealogical ideas that defined premodern Turkmen identity were reshaped by Soviet territorial and linguistic ideas of nationhood. The Soviet desire to construct socialist modernity in Turkmenistan conflicted with Moscow's policy of promoting nationhood, since many Turkmen viewed their 'backward customs' as central to Turkmen identity."Tribal Nation" is the first book in any Western language on Soviet Turkmenistan, the first to use both archival and indigenous-language sources to analyze Soviet nation-making in Central Asia, and among the few works to examine the Soviet multinational state from a non-Russian perspective. By investigating Soviet nation-making in one of the most poorly understood regions of the Soviet Union, it also sheds light on broader questions about nationalism and colonialism in the twentieth century.

This is a beautifully written, extremely well researched, and very well argued investigation of nation-making in Soviet Central Asia. Edgar's work goes much further than that of many of her contemporaries and moves in an important new direction. Rather than simply look out from Moscow, from the top down, she begins from Turkmenistan, from the local, and argues that the actual shapes that nations took were the result of a complex negotiation between local traditions and the plans of the Soviets themselves. This is an extraordinarily important refinement of the existing literature. -- Ronald Suny, University of Chicago, author of "The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States" An excellent book. Edgar tackles a big topic with great finesse. She does so in very accessible prose that conveys complex ideas without any jargon. In terms of scope and quality, Tribal Nation ranks among the best historical scholarship in the Russian/Soviet sphere. The making of Soviet Turkmenistan, and the Soviet regime's attempt to build modern socialism through massive intervention in society, is a topic of enormous interest. The book is solidly based on archival research, and displays wonderful mastery of detail. -- Adeeb Khalid, Carleton College, author of "The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jadidism in Central Asia"

LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION xv INTRODUCTION Tribe, Class, and Nation in Turkmenistan 1 PART I: MAKING A NATION CHAPTER ONE Sources of Identity among the Turkmen 17 CHAPTER TWO Assembling the Nation: The Creation of a Turkmen National Republic 41 CHAPTER THREE Ethnic Preferences and Ethnic Conflict: The Rise of a Turkmen National Elite 70 CHAPTER FOUR Helpers, Not Nannies: Moscow and the Turkmen Communist Party 100 CHAPTER FIVE Dueling Dialects: The Creation of a Turkmen Language 129 PART II: CONSTRUCTING SOCIALISM CHAPTER SIX A Nation Divided: Class Struggle and the Assault on "Tribalism" 167 CHAPTER SEVEN Cotton and Collectivization: Rural Resistance in Soviet Turkmenistan 197 CHAPTER EIGHT Emancipation of the Unveiled: Turkmen Women under Soviet Rule 221 CONCLUSION From Soviet Republic to Independent Nation-State 261 GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS 267 BIBLIOGRAPHY 269 INDEX 287