Central Asian Cities Research Articles

Two Foundation Inscriptions for 'Abd-Allah Khan in Buildings of Bukhara

Bukhara is one of the most ancient cities of Central Asia. Most of the historic buildings in this romantic eastern city contain numerous varied inscriptions on many of the architectural elements. The contents of these inscriptions are both religious and secular. Among them are a number of Qur'anic verses and sayings of the Prophet. Additionally, there were construction inscriptions containing many titles, names of khans, dates of completion. Bukharan foundation inscriptions are very short compared with those on Timurid architecture in Samarqand, which are of great historical and archaeological importance. Generally there are few foundation inscriptions known in Bukharan architecture. This fact highlights the importance of two unpublished foundation inscriptions for 'Abd-Allah Khan, one of them inside the northern iwan of the Gaukushon madrasa, and the other above the main entrance portal of the 'Abd-Allah Khan madrasa. These two inscriptions are also significant because they contain many titles that provide evidence of the political and religious circumstances of the rule of 'Abd-Allah Khan. Additionally, the style of the script in the second inscription is unique in its shape, and different from that of the rest of the inscriptions in the Central Asian region.

An overview on the seismic microzonation and site effect studies in Central Asia

<p>During the past centuries, many cities in Central Asia have suffered significant damages caused by earthquakes. A crucial step towards preparedness for future events, the definition of the optimal engineering designs for civil structures and the mitigation of earthquake risks involves the accomplishment of site response studies. To accurately identify local variations of the site response at different locations within the cities, earthquakes recorded by seismic networks as well as measurements of the seismic noise can be used for estimating the resonance frequencies and for evaluating the expected level of ground motion at each site. Additionally, the measurements can help identifying site specific features like more-dimensional resonances and directional effects. This information can be complemented with array measurements of ambient seismic noise in order to estimate local shear-wave velocity profiles, an essential parameter for evaluating the dynamic properties of soil, and to characterize the corresponding sediment layers at each site. The present study gives an overview on the progressive development of the seismic zonation studies in the frame of EMCA carried out in several cities in Central Asia.</p>

Assessment of ozone variations and meteorological influences at a rural site in Northern Xinjiang.

Ozone concentrations and meteorological data were continuously monitored online from June to December 2013 at the Akedala regional atmosphere station in an arid region of Central Asia. We present daily, monthly, and seasonal variations of ozone concentrations in the atmosphere and elucidate possible emission sources. The ozone concentrations of this region varied from 14.7 to 58.6ppb. A remarkable seasonal variation of ozone in aerosols was observed with highest level in summer, followed by autumn and winter. The daily peak value of ozone was observed at 9:00-11:00 a.m. while the lowest was at 17:00-19:00 p.m. The backward trajectories of air masses showed potential emission sources to be from the northwest and south during the measurement period. The backward trajectory also revealed that ozone concentrations during the measurement period were likely attributable to the emission from anthropogenic activities, and medium-range atmospheric transport from cities in central Asia and the northern slope of the Tian Shan Mountains.

Urban Materiality and its Stakes in Southern Kyrgyzstan

Tremendous urban transformations in two Central Asian cities since the early 20th century have resulted in remaking the subjectivity and worldview of its inhabitants. This article explores the connections between urban materiality and human subjectivity, and argues that, while their relationship is complex and mediated by specific socio-historical processes, the former can play a consequential role in producing the latter. The study examines ethnic Uzbeks in the cities of Osh and Jalalabat, located today in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. The analysis traces three historical moments-the Soviet period, the 1990s, and the first decade of the 2000s - when shifts in urbann material conditions were understood to carry great stakes in the shaping of the personhood of city dwellers. This insight may have a bearing on the possible future resolution of the serious inter-ethnic conflict between Kyrgyzs and Uzbeks in those cities, which erupted in 1990 and 2010.

The Place of Memory in Understanding Urban Change in Central Asia: The Cities of Bishkek and Ferghana

This article explores the relationship between memory and place in understandings of urban change in Central Asia. Drawing on narratives of long-term residents of two Central Asian cities we investigate the ways in which positive memories of the Soviet past emerge when people speak about the urban environment of today. We explore why such fondness for the Soviet past has emerged, what elements of the past are most cherished, and which urban communities remember these elements. We ask what these forms of memory reveal about what has been lost and what this tells us about the present anxieties of urban residents.

Xuan Zang’ın Orta Asya izlenimleri

“The Great Tang Records of the Western Regions”, is a report written by the Buddhist monk Xuan Zang (596?-664) was prepared to be presented to the Chinese Emperor Taizong. After his long journey to India, when Xuan Zang came back to China, has completed his work within a year time. This work consists of 12 chapters; the First and the 12th chapters are on Central Asia. The first chapter bears the title of “34 Countries” and includes the records about Central Asian countries and cities which Xuan Zang personelly visited or had knowledge about on his way to India. The 12th chapter has the name of “22 Countries” and also in this chapter he narrates some other countries which he had visited on his way back to China. He travelled through a vast part of Asia and established relations with many local rulers in Central Asia and India. He even visited Gokturk Khan Tong Yabgu in his marquee. His works made it possible for us to have detailed information on Gokturk Khan Tong Yabgu and his elder son and about some different parts of Central Asian countries. Xuan Zang was a Buddhist pilgrim but in the mean time he was an observer, a traveller, a reporter and a translater. In these two chapters he has depicted the people of Central Asia, foods, art crafts, religion, traditions and political structures in detail. Modern scholars studying in this field by referring to his works and some other related documents about him, could shed light on some diputed subjects. So he and his works are of great importance especially for including first hand information.

A Central Asian city on the Silk Road: ancient and medieval Merv

In the 11th century AD, Merv was one of the world's largest and most splendid cities. Today it is a h uge archaeological site, the complexities of which are being unravelled by the International Merv Project (IMP). Here the Director of the IMP charts the succession of cities that have flourished in the Merv oasis and describes the work of the project.

City-Branding of Astana, the Capital of Kazakhstan and the Oasis of Central Asia

Since 1997, Astana, the Capital of Kazakhstan, in the north-central part of the country, is fast growing and becoming a popular centre in Central Asia. Through a literature review and a series of interviews, the authors suggest ways and various strategies in branding the capital city. The model they used in branding this Central Asian city of Astana is simple yet effective. They apply the RAW model... read on!

Yassavi zikr in twenty-first century Central Asia: sound, place and authenticity

This article examines Sufi music, particularly Yassavi zikr (or dhikr) forms, in contemporary Central Asian cities (such as Andijan and Turkestan). The first part of this essay investigates Sufi performance, also exploring the rarely researched practices of local women. The analysis is based on field work undertaken in the Uzbek area of Ferghana Valley, where the flow of local indigenous mystical knowledge is found in female performances. These musical rituals survived despite the interdictions of the Soviet regime. The article combines methods of identifying musical features found in the mystical chanting and ceremonies with the use of the new computer program Audiosculpt. The second part of this work discusses the revival of male Sufism in the Kazakh city Turkestan, exploring how after the collapse of the Soviet Union, music became an identifying principle of zikr within the male community too.

The Philosophy of Music by Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi (review)

Reviewed by: The Philosophy of Music by Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi Inna Naroditskaya (bio) The Philosophy of Music by Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi. Saida Daukeyeva. Alma-Ata: Fond of Soros-Kazakhstan, 2002. 352 pp., in Russian, English; summary and table of contents, 3 colored photographs, Russian-Arabic glossary of terms, diagrams and tables of tones, melodies, modes, and forms; bibliography. ISBN 9965-13-819-2. For eleven hundred years scholars from distant world regions, working in and across scholarly disciplines and writing in different languages, have been allured to the monumental philosophical works of Al-Farabi (870–950). At the roots of the Islamic Renaissance, Al-Farabi navigated and shaped the humanistic thoughts of a period now perceived as the golden age of Eastern literature and sciences. From Turko-Persian historical cultural roots, Al-Farabi and other scholars of Khorosan made a fundamental contribution to Arabic literature, producing Arabic translations and interpretation of Aristotle, Plato, and other ancient classics at a time when Medieval Europe had neither knowledge of the Greek language nor a taste for this culture. Two hundred years later Al- Farabi’s works, translated into Latin, inspired and stirred Europeans toward the Risorgimento and later movements marked by fascination with and appropriation of ancient Greece as the origin of Western cultural history.1 [End Page 133] The discursive, interpretive mode of Al-Farabi’s translation and adaptation of Greek texts was embraced by scholars who translated and annotated his works. A founder of political philosophy, Al-Farabi was a music theorist and a performer, an ud player (praised as the inventor of the 5-string ud). Among his surviving writings on music are treatises on tuning, rhythm, and the philosophy of music (Kitab fi ’l Nuqra, Kitab al ti Ihsa al-iqa, Kitab fi ’l Musiqa) as well as a monumental work, The Grand Book on Music, Kitab al-musiqi al-kabir—the focus of Saida Daukeyeva’s The Philosophy of Music by Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi. Daukeyeva’s monograph belongs to the steadily expanding literature on Al-Farabi’s theory of music and specifically on his masterpiece, reissued in many languages and with multiple commentaries.2 Few scholars have Daukeyeva’s background and capacity to write about Abū Nasr Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Tarkhan ibn Uzlagh al-Farab at-Turku.3 Al-Farabi, an ethnic Turk from the Central Asian city Farab in Persia’s Great Khorasan, traveled and resided in the Arabic cities of Damascus, Aleppo, Cairo, and Baghdad, also spending years of study in Constantinople. Daukeyeva, 11 centuries later, also of Turkic ethnicity and from the Central Asian state of Kazakhstan (formerly a Soviet republic), was trained as a performer and theorist in her native capital and in Moscow (the Moscow State Conservatory of Tchaikovsky), later residing in Damascus and other Arabic urban centers. She completed her book while studying in London (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London). The monograph, engaging her knowledge of Turkish, Arabic, Russian, and English and written in Russian, consists of two parts, her own writing and her translations, the two-part structure mirroring the work she herself examines. In recent decades a number of Russian-language sources on Al-Farabi have been produced in former Soviet republics, now independent Central Asian states, including several volumes on his philosophy, ethics, epistemology, and music issued in Kazakhstan’s capital Alma-Ata (Daukeyeva’s home), where the Kazakh National University bears the name of Al-Farabi.4 To this expanding scholarly field Daukeyeva contributes her firm grasp of Arabic sources, familiarity with Soviet and post-Soviet materials, and an intimate knowledge of Central Asian literature as well as European and American scholarship. In this respect, the reviewed monograph is interesting not only because of its subject, but also as a glimpse into distinct intellectual traditions formed in Central Asia. The three chapters in the first part of the monograph move from a general historical view of the culture and music of Al-Farabi’s times in the first chapter, to the philosophy of knowledge and an epistemological discourse on music in the second, and a discussion of music theory focusing on sound, modes, rhythms, and musical...

Supply chain planning for water distribution in Central Asia

PurposeThe role of business logistics for a water distribution company in Central Asia has become a major concern. As the marketing environment is getting more and more competitive, the company is forced to focus on the efficiency of its supply chain management operations both by improving customer service, increasing its profitability and productivity. The purpose of this paper is to report upon the designing of a responsive supply chain for water distribution in Central Asia.Design/methodology/approachA logistic plan to satisfy customer requirement for water distribution in a Central Asian city subject to satisfactory service levels both in the number of distribution centers (DCs) and truck delivery schedule is outlined in this paper. The logistics plan includes repositioning the DCs in relation to the customer location for efficient distribution. The problem is formulated as truck delivery schedule using a new algorithm where single distribution centre is converted into a multiple warehouse location problem. The problem is solved using WINQSB software. Further, the current DCs are appraised with the software and suggested possible new locations for convenience.FindingsThe application part of this case study consists of identifying water DCs in city limits. By developing improved distribution and logistics management, the study aims at economical operations, convenient zonal distributions, and responsive SCM characteristics. To this end, a spatial distribution plan and route sequencing solution is developed for water distribution.Originality/valueThe paper shows how to improve logistic network that results in cost savings, convenient zonal distributions, and responsive SCM operations. To this end, a spatial distribution plan and route sequencing is developed for water distribution.

Music Alone: On the Poetry of Boris Ryzhy

Trying to identify the factors leading to an individual suicide is almost always senseless: often the causes are insignificant and fleeting, unlike the tragic, permanent result to which they contribute. Ryzhy was young, handsome, successful, and had already achieved considerable literary fame. By no means did he face the kind of objective desperation that led Marina Tsvetaeva to hang herself in the terrible, hungry conditions of wartime following her evacuation from Moscow to the Central Asian city of Elabuga in 1941. Sometimes subjective factors are, however, more important than objective circumstances. Besides, the poet's lifestyle did leave him at risk: alcohol is constantly mentioned in his verse; in the last years of his life an even more sinister means of making peace with the world began to figure in his poems. Boris's persistent efforts to fight his tragic compulsions were not successful.

Археология Среднеазиатских Национализмов Les Mots et Les Choses

SUMMARY: The author explores the “archeology of Central Asian nationalisms” by applying Faucauldian methodology to Russian scholars’ texts on Central Asia. The article surveys a selection of texts written in the last two centuries. First, the author analyzes the text by Filip Efremov, a late 18 th century Russian soldier who spent several years in Bukhara. Efremov describes ethnic diversity of the Central Asian city without stressed references to ethnicity. His classifications of Uzbeks and Bukharians (Tadzhiks) are based on their social status or occupations. Next, the author addresses texts by N. A. Khanykov, a Russian mid-19 th century scholar and diplomat. Unlike Efremov, Khanykov presents a more sophisticated classification of peoples populating Bukhara and makes a clear distinction between Uzbeks and Tadzhiks. Finally, the works by O. A. Sukhareva, Soviet ethographer of 1950s–1970s, are considered. Her analysis, deprived of visibly judgmental connotations, represents a modern stage in the classification of Central Asia nationalities and involves problems of national self-identification of diverse ethnic groups in Bukhara. The author concludes that it is the modern epoch that creates “the ethnic man”.

Air quality data from large cities

This paper presents an assessment of the air quality for the principal cities in developed and developing countries. Part of the vast and widely dispersed information on air quality that is available at this time on the Internet was compiled, thus making possible a comprehensive evaluation of the tendencies that emerged at the end of the 20th century. Likewise, these values are compared to the air quality thresholds recommended by two international organizations: guideline levels of the World Health Organization (WHO) and limit values of the European Union (EU), in order to determine air quality concentration levels in large cities around the world. The current situation of air quality worldwide indicates that SO 2 maintains a downward tendency throughout the world, with the exception of some Central American and Asian cities. NO 2 maintains levels very close to the WHO guideline value around the world. For particulate matter, it is a major problem in almost all of Asia, exceeding 300 μg/m 3 in many cities. Ozone shows average values that exceed the selected guideline values in all of the analyses demonstrating that it is a global problem. In general, the worldwide trend is to a reduction in the concentrations of pollutants because of the increasingly strong restrictions which local governments and international organizations impose. However, in poor countries and those with low average incomes, concentrations of air pollutants remain high and the trend will be the elevation of their ground levels as they develop, making the problem even worse.

Human hair neutron activation analysis: Analysis on population level, mapping

Neutron activation analysis is an outstanding analytical method having very wide applications in various fields. Analysis of human hair within last decades mostly based on neutron activation analysis is a very attractive illustration of the application of nuclear analytical techniques. Very interesting question is how the elemental composition differs in different areas or cities. In this connection the present paper gives average data and maps of various localities in the vicinity of drying-out Aral Sea and of various industrial cities in Central Asia.

A Central Asian city on the Silk Road: ancient and medieval Merv

A Central Asian city on the Silk Road: ancient and medieval Merv

Kandahar of the Arab conquest

Abstract Old Kandahar is a large, impressive ruin field near Afghanistan's modern ‘second’ city, bearing the same name. For years the site has been central to many arguments about the most ancient geography and history of the region. It has been identified with an Alexandria/Alexandropolis, referring to the conquest of Alexander the Great. For the Islamic period the excavations on behalf of the Society for Afghan Studies have revealed some striking new evidence, particularly for the period of the Arab Conquest during the later 7th and early 8th century. This paper outlines some of these emerging new arguments and suggests some tentative additions to the long story of the toponymy of Central Asian cities.

Urban Centers of Early Class Society

The great attention that the Tashkent school of archeology devotes to the study of ancient cities — their topography and internal structure as reflected in specific traits of urban organization and the individual features of their historical development — is one of its characteristic features. Courses on the historical topography of the large urban centers of Central Asia — Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent, and several others — were taught systematically by M. E. Masson in the Department of Archeology, Tashkent State University. Specific methods for the study of Central Asian cities were devised with the aim of the maximum utilization of preserved information for the purposes of historical reconstruction. One of the most important features of this school was the creative approach to the study of the microrelief of large sites, not just through the formal establishment of a horizontal topographic plan but also through a study of the specific archeological remains that reflected, in particular, elements of the ...

Conversations in Tashkent

My wife and I made two trips to Tashkent (and other Central Asian cities) in January and November-December, 1968, both times from Afghanistan, where I was doing fieldwork on the music of the Central Asian peoples of the Afghan North. The first tour served as a reconnaissance so as to test the atmosphere for visiting Western scholars; we scheduled our second, extensive visit after receiving an extremely cordial initial welcome. My interest in these trips was twofold: first, I wanted to shed some light on my Afghan findings through comparative data on the Central Asian peoples, and secondly, I hoped to gain some insight into the process of musical modernization going on in the Central Asian republics, which had intrigued me for some time. It is the latter goal of our visit which forms the subject of this article. As Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan (the Uzbek SSR, 61 per cent of whose population, or five million people, are Uzbeks), I will be dealing largely with Uzbek music.

Cities of Central Asia

Cities of Central Asia