Minorities and Education Policies Reform in Central Asia

Abstract

The chapter argues that one of the unresolved issues in educational research on race and ethnicity in Central Asia is a growing ethnic polarisation, differentiation, discrimination and inequality. The role of the state, in confronting and addressing social and psychological origins of prejudice and discrimination, has been one of adopting effective and multicultural in nature educational policies that focus on finding solutions to ethnic discrimination and attempted regulation of subethnic, supraethnic, transnational and multinational identities in Central Asia. The chapter concludes that while ethnic identities such as Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek, formerly citizens of the USSR, do have meaning with reference to regional/kinship-based and supraethnic/subethnic dimensions of national and religious identities, and that an overarching dimension of Muslim supra-identity exists, the question of identity politics needs to reflect competing interests groups in the region, in order to understand and critique the “myriad interests and identities of Central Asians”.