Regionalism and Memory Politics in Central Asia: Common or Competing Histories?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/HiP.2025.027Keywords
Central Asia, memory politics, regionalismAbstract
The paper aims to examine the connection between historical narratives constructed by Central Asian states and the phenomenon of regionalism. It analyses how the elites refer to the shared historical legacy of the region and discusses selected historical disputes between states. Theoretical framework is based on the region-building approach. The concept of memory politics is significant for this study. Memory politics might contribute to the integration of society (or societies) and to the creation of collective identity (also regional). The main research method is discourse analysis. The paper focuses on statements of Kazakh and Uzbek presidents. The comparative method is adapted for the juxtaposition of the official historical narratives.
References
Abashin, S. (2012). Nation-Construction in Post-Soviet Central Asia. In: M. Bassin & C. Kelly (Eds.). Soviet and Post-Soviet Identities (pp. 150–168). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511894732.012.
Allison, R. (2008). Virtual Regionalism, Regional Structures and Regime Security in Central Asia. Central Asian Survey, 27(2), 185–202. DOI: 10.1080/02634930802355121.
Assmann, A. (2015). Dialogic Memory. In: P. Mendes-Flohr (Ed.). Dialogue as a Trans-disciplinary Concept: Martin Buber’s Philosophy of Dialogue and Its Contemporary Reception (pp. 199–212). Berlin: De Gruyter.
Azizov, U. (2017). Regional Integration in Central Asia: From Knowing-That to Knowing-How. Journal of Eurasian Studies, 8(2), 123–135. DOI: 10.1016/j.euras.2017.02.002.
Baydarov, E. (2023, January 16). Barriers and Bridges for the Formation of Regional Identity in Central Asia. CABAR.Asia. Retrieved from: https://cabar.asia/en/barriers-and-bridges-for-the-formation-of-regional-identity-in-central-asia.
Bohr, A. (1998). Uzbekistan: Politics and Foreign Policy. London: Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs.
Bohr, A. (2003). Regional Cooperation in Central Asia: Mission Impossible?. Helsinki Monitor, 14(3), 254–268. DOI: 10.1163/157181403322684735.
Bohr, A. (2019). Relations with Other Central Asian States. In: A. Bohr et al., Kazakhstan: Tested by Transition (pp. 70–85). London: Chatham House.
Central Asia Barometer. (2021). Ob''yedinennaya Tsentral'naya Aziya. Prepyatstviya, Vozmozhnosti, Perspektivy (CAB Research). Retrieved from: https://ca-barometer.org/en/cab-database.
Collins, K. (2009). Economic and Security Regionalism among Patrimonial Authoritarian Regimes: The Case of Central Asia. Europe–Asia Studies, 61(2), 249–281. DOI: 10.1080/09668130802630854.
Costa Buranelli, F. (2021). Central Asian Regionalism or Central Asian Order? Some Reflections. Central Asian Affairs, 8(1), 1–26. DOI: 10.30965/22142290-bja10015.
Dadabaev, T. (2018). Uzbekistan as Central Asian Game Changer? Uzbekistan’s Foreign Policy Construction in the Post-Karimov Era. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 4(2), 162–175. DOI: 10.1177/2057891118775289.
Dadabaev, T. (2019). Developmental State and Foreign Policy in Post-Karimov Uzbekistan. In: T. Inoguchi (Ed.). The SAGE Handbook of Asian Foreign Policy (pp. 893–917). London: SAGE.
Galiev, A. (2015). Natsional’nye istorii Kazakhstana i ikh konfliktogennyi potentsial [National Histories of Kazakhstan and Their Capacity to Conflict]. In: A.V. Owczinnikow (Ed.). Konfliktogennyi potentsial natsional’nykh istorii (pp. 135–149). Kazan: Uniwersum.
Gorshenina, S. (2016, November 26). «Kul'turnoye naslediye» Uzbekistana i
konstruirovaniye «kollektivnoy pamyati» v epokhu nezavisimosti. Alert Heritage. Retrieved from: https://www.alerteheritage.org/tekst-1-sg.
Hahn, H.H. (2008). Pamięć zbiorowa – przedmiot polityki historycznej?. In: B. Korzeniewski (Ed.). Narodowe i europejskie aspekty polityki historycznej (pp. 29–43). Poznań: Instytut Zachodni.
Hyman, A. (1997). Turkestan and Pan‐Turkism Revisited. Central Asian Survey, 16(3), 339–351. DOI: 10.1080/02634939708400995.
Krapohl, S., & Vasileva-Dienes, A. (2020). The Region That Isn’t: China, Russia and the Failure of Regional Integration in Central Asia. Asia Europe Journal, 18(3), 347–366. DOI: 10.1007/s10308-019-00548-0.
Kudaibergenova, D.T. (2014). National Identity Formation in Post-Soviet Central Asia: The Soviet Legacy, Primordialism, and Patterns of Ideological Development since 1991. In: S. Akyildiz & R. Carlson (Eds.). Social and Cultural Change in Central Asia: The Soviet Legacy (pp. 160–173). London: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9780203761977.
Linn, J. (2012). Central Asian Regional Integration and Cooperation: Reality or Mirage?. EDB Eurasian Integration Yearbook 2012, 96–117.
Mälksoo, M. (2015). ‘Memory Must Be Defended’: Beyond the Politics of Mnemonical Security. Security Dialogue, 46(3), 221–237. DOI: 10.1177/0967010614552549.
Matveeva, A. (2007, March). The Regionalist Project in Central Asia: Unwilling Playmates. Crisis States Working Papers Series, 2, 1–23. Retrieved from: https://www.lse.ac.uk/international-development/Assets/Documents/PDFs/csrc-working-papers-phase-two/wp13.2-regionalist-project-in-central-asia.pdf.
Mirziyoyev, S. (2022, July 21). Vystupleniye Prezidenta Respubliki Uzbekistan
Shavkata Mirziyëyeva na chetvertoy Konsul’tativnoy vstreche glav gosudarstv Tsentral’noy Azii. Retrieved from: https://president.uz/ru/lists/view/5360.
Mirziyoyev, S. (2023, September 14). Vystupleniye Prezidenta Respubliki Uzbekistan Shavkata Mirziyëyeva na Konsul’tativnoy vstreche glav gosudarstv Tsentral’noy Azii. Retrieved from: https://president.uz/ru/lists/view/6658.
Mirziyoyev, S. (2024, August 9). Vystupleniye Prezidenta Respubliki Uzbekistan Shavkata Mirziyëyeva na Konsul’tativnoy vstreche glav gosudarstv Tsentral’noy Azii. Retrieved from: https://www.president.uz/ru/lists/view/7456.
Molden, B. (2016). Resistant Pasts versus Mnemonic Hegemony: On the Power Relations of Collective Memory. Memory Studies, 9(2), 125–142. DOI: 10.1177/1750698015596014.
Neumann, I.B. (2003). A Region-Building Approach. In: F. Söderbaum & T.M. Shaw (Eds.). Theories of New Regionalism (pp. 160–178). London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1057/9781403938794_9.
Nijakowski, L. (2008). Polska polityka pamięci. Esej socjologiczny. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Akademickie i Profesjonalne.
Olcott, M.B. (1994). The Myth of “Tsentral’naia Aziia”. Orbis, 38(4), 549–565. DOI: 10.1016/0030-4387(94)90164-3.
Ozod Tanbaev. (2023, September 14). How Uzbekistan Promotes Regional Integration in Central Asia. The Diplomat. Retrieved from: https://thediplomat.com/2023/09/how-uzbekistan-promotes-regional-integration-in-central-asia/.
Rosset, D., & Svarin, D. (2014). The Constraints of the Past and the Failure of Central Asian Regionalism, 1991–2004. Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, 3(2), 245–266. DOI: 10.1353/reg.2014.0011.
Schnirelmann, V. (2009). Ariytsy ili tyurki? Bor’ba za predkov v
Tsentral’noy Azii [Aria People or Turkic People? Fight for Ancestors in Central Asia]. Politicheskaya Kontseptologiya, 4, 192–212.
Tokayev, K.J. (2021, August 6). Vystupleniye Prezidenta Kazakhstana na Konsul’tativnoy vstreche glav gosudarstv Tsentral’noy Azii – Ofitsial’nyy sayt Prezidenta Respubliki Kazakhstan. Retrieved from: https://www.akorda.kz/ru/vystuplenie-prezidenta-kazahstanana-konsultativnoy-vstreche-glav-gosudarstv-centralnoy-azii-672341.
Tokayev, K.J. (2022, July 21). Vystupleniye Prezidenta Kasym-Zhomarta Tokaeva na IV Konsul’tativnoy vstreche glav gosudarstv Tsentral’noy Azii – Ofitsial’nyy sayt Prezidenta Respubliki Kazakhstan. Retrieved from: https://www.akorda.kz/ru/vystuplenie-na-iv-konsultativnoy-vstreche-glav-gosudarstv-centralnoy-azii-2163148.
Tokayev, K.J. (2024, August 8). Renessans Tsentral’noy Azii: Na puti k ustoychivomu razvitiyu i protsvetaniyu. Retrieved from: https://kazpravda.kz/n/renessans-tsentralnoy-azii-na-puti-k-ustoychivomu-razvitiyu-i-protsvetaniyu/.
Tolipov, F. (2006). Central Asia Is a Region of Five Stans: Dispute with Kazakh Eurasianists. Central Asia and the Caucasus, 2, 17–26.
Waśkiel, T. (2020). Central Asia as a Region? Analysis of the Regional Elites Discourse. Społeczeństwo i Polityka, 3, 93–116. DOI: 10.34765/sp.0320.a07.
Waśkiel, T. (2024). Polityka pamięci państw Azji Centralnej i jej znaczenie dla polityki wewnętrznej i zagranicznej. Poznań: Grupa Wydawnicza FNCE.
Włodek, L. (2016). Osiadły Tadżyk vs. Koczowniczy Uzbek. Osiadłość jako wartość w tadżyckiej ideologii narodowej. Studia Migracyjne – Przegląd Polonijny, 42(4), 57–75.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Tomasz Waśkiel
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Nicolaus Copernicus University fully respects the right to privacy and protection of personal data of all authors. The authors’ personal data is not used for commercial and/or marketing purposes.Stats
Number of views and downloads: 59
Number of citations: 0
