New Socialities in Central Asia

"Sociality" as a concept has been employed across a broad swathe of scholarly disciplines. It invokes processes and can be defined as "a dynamic relational matrix within which subjects are constantly interacting in ways that are co-productive, and continually plastic and malleable." (Long & Moore, eds., 2013, Sociality: New Directions, Oxford: Berghahn, p. 4) Sociality is the fundamental condition of human beings but the particular ways in which it evinces itself in personhood and other structuring ideas and practices – kinship, identity, economy, religion, or ritual, to name but a few -- are constantly changing. In the following list of presentations, we are particularly interested in "new" or "recent" forms -- or instantiations -- of sociality in contemporary situations of mobility, urbanity, and translocal connections.

This research initiative is supported by Indiana University Foundation and developed in cooperation with our colleagues from Indiana University's School of Global and International Relations. A first workshop took place on 29-31 August on the IU campus in Bloomington and will feature the following contributions from AUCA faculty:

Elena Kim, PhD (Development Studies, Social Science Division)

Sociality of everyday knowledge: Mapping the invisible

Frank G. Karioris, PhD (Sociology, Social Science Division)

A Handshake between friends: Homosociality and its attendants in Bishkek

Georgy Mamedov (MACAS, graduate student)

More than Fun: Spending night in a gay bar in Bishkek

Mohira Suyarkulova, PhD (International Relations, Social Science Division)

 Forms of sociality around Syrdarya river in Khujand, Tajikistan

Asel Myrzabekova (Psychology, graduate student)

Romantic securityscapes of youth in Kyrgyzstan: Day-to-day dating and marriage strategies

Svetlana Jacquesson, PhD (Anthropology, Central Asian Studies Institute)

Clannishness and tribalism as novel forms of sociality

Medet Tiulegenov, MA (Political science, Politics and International/Area Studies Division)

Sociality through xenophobic discourse: Networking among/around Kyrgyz MPs

With the support of Indiana University Foundation, we hope to have the workshop published as a special issue or as a collective volume.