Making Kyrgyz spaces: local history as spatial practice in Murghab (Tajikistan)

Abstract

In the past decade local scholars in Murghab, Tajikistan's easternmost district, have published several books in Kyrgyz on the history and culture of the Eastern Pamirs. In their work, the authors address the region's predominantly Kyrgyz population by emphasizing the ‘kyrgyzness’ of the Eastern Pamirs, which they refer to as Sarykol. The results of these local studies reverberate widely on the ground and have become integrated into everyday interaction. As a consequence, not only the region's history and culture, but also its territory, are perceived through an increasingly ethnicized lens. This paper seeks to explore local history as a way of appropriating space. Following Henri Lefebvre (1974), local history can be defined as an ethno-spatial practice that emphasizes ethnicity. Through an analysis of five works on local history and culture and their embedding in an ethnographic context, this article provides evidence for the significance of local studies in ‘kyrgyzizing’ space. It also demonstrates, moreover, that international non-governmental organizations, through their funding of such research, are entangled with globalized visions of culture, tradition and ethnicity.