Kyrgyzstan and the Legacies of Collectivisation: Under the Soviet Shadow
This book argues that the early twentieth century Soviet Russian occupation and rule of the Central Asian territory that became Kyrgyzstan was made possible by collectivisation and forcible population displacement. The rural transformation brought about by the seizure of private and community owned assets, the ending of pastoralism as a livelihood system, and the corralling of people on to collective and state farms were pivotal strategies of colonisation. Evictions, involuntary resettlement and immigration reconfigured the population and enabled largely non-Kyrgyz rule. As the book describes, the dramatic changes wrought by Sovietisation required force and coercion, which were met with resistance and non-compliance. More than three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, independent Kyrgyzstan continues to struggle with the legacies of Soviet rule. The book explores how the dismantling of collectivisation and the command economy failed to resist the rise of authoritarian, populist and nationalist politics, combined with economic stagnation and ethnic conflict.
Dr Christopher McDowell, Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, is a political anthropologist at City, University of London. He holds a doctorate in ethnology from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, he previously held positions at the University of Oxford and King’s College London. Christopher has more than 20 years of experience in academic research, teaching and consultancy on the social and political aspects of forced population displacement, refugees and involuntary resettlement. He has worked in Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Europe and the Pacific, advising governments, the UN and development banks on the protection and livelihood restoration of those displaced. Christopher has authored, co-authored and edited a number of books and articles on refugees, development-induced displacement, and research ethics, including Risks and Reconstruction (2000, with Michael Cernea), Understanding Impoverishment (1996), A Tamil Asylum Diaspora (1996), Non-Conflict Displacement (2010, with Gareth Morrell), and the Human Costs of Displacement and Resettlement (with Olivia Bennett), for which he was awarded the SOAS Development Book of the Year Prize in 2013.
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