Winding up: Tashkent

After 8 days in Samarkand and Bukhara, where one is surrounded by buildings from the 14th to 17th centuries, Tashkent is strikingly busy and oriented toward the present and future. The handcraft items that seemed to be displayed everywhere in Samarkand and Bukhara have to be deliberately sought out in Tashkent. There is a strong […]

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Bukhara after many years

Some things don’t change. The Samanid mausoleum, for example, built in the 10th century CE or so, looks exactly as it did every previous time that I’ve been to Bukhara. I just made it sound as thought I’ve been to Bukhara often. One visit in 1991, two in 1992-1993, and again in 2003. Things in […]

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The big orchard

This photo shows mulberry trees denuded of their new growth. It is silkworm raising season in Uzbekistan, and we saw many of these on our way through the countryside near Samarkand to visit an orchard at Jomboy. Occasionally we saw men cutting down the newly grown switches with their young leaves, or bundling them and […]

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We made it to Samarqand

The IU study abroad group survived a day of flying on Turkish airlines, and a very early morning arrival in Tashkent. After a suprisingly pleasant hotel, with some sleep and a good breakfast, we took what turned out to be a long and bumpy minibus ride from Tashkent to Samarqand. It was a good opportunity […]

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New finds online–Central Asians in Russian prisons, and Tajik women laborers

Marianne, Sept 18 Thanks to my many fabulous facebook friends, I sometimes become aware of things that might interest some of you and are related to this class. The first is a blog by scholar Rastamjon Urinboyev. He writes about legal and social issues for Central Asian migrants in Russia, and this is his posting […]

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Welcome to the Blog: Labor and Migration in Central Eurasia

Marianne Kamp, Aug 16, 2020 That looks a little different than the Khorgos “Inland Port” today. Since 2000, many factors have contributed to putting millions of people in motion across international borders: wars, economic growth, reduction in visa barriers, investments that make travel cheaper. This class uses examples from Turkey, the Caucasus, and Central Asia […]

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