This landmark book provides a comprehensive anthropological introduction to contemporary Central Asia. Established and emerging scholars of the region critically interrogate the idea of a ‘Central Asian World’ at the intersection of post-Soviet, Persianate, East and South Asian worlds. Encompassing chapters on life between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Xinjiang, this volume situates the social, political, economic, ecological and ritual diversity of Central Asia in historical context. The book ethnographically explores key areas such as the growth of Islamic finance, the remaking of urban and sacred spaces, as well as decolonizing and queering approaches to Central Asia. The volume’s discussion of More-than-Human Worlds, Everyday Economies, Material Culture, Migration and Statehood engages core analytical concerns such as globalization, inequality and postcolonialism. Far more than a survey of a ‘world region’, the volume illuminates how people in Central Asia make a life at the intersection of diverse cross-cutting currents and flows of knowledge. In so doing, it stakes out the contribution of an anthropology of and from Central Asia to broader debates within contemporary anthropology. This is an essential reference for anthropologists as well as for scholars from other disciplines with a focus on Central Asia

Guide to Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous country and the heart of the historic Silk Road.

Uzbekistan Travel Guide - Expert advice and holiday tips including Tashkent architecture and hotels, Silk Road history, Islamic art and textiles, museums and culture. Also included are detailed maps, trekking and hiking routes, touring by bike, public transport, archaeological sites like Samarkand and Bukara, Fergana Valley and Kyzylkum Desert.

An examination of the geography, history, government, economy, culture, and peoples of Uzbekistan.

Usually, advertising formulas which fix Uzbekistan in a transfigured oriental past of long ago perfect for the travel industry, prefer to forget that there is also a modern Uzbekistan in which, as some researchers suggest, a new Silk Road is beginning to evolve. The present volume intends to provide an initial insight into these evolving connections and processes, on the one hand to present the textile facets that they encompass and on the other hand to show how, from the perspective of Uzbek researchers, the problem and the current status of textile research and of textile revitalisation are developing.