First published in 1991. Central Asia is a vast sprawling territory with no precise boundaries, no precise geographic definition. There is much detailed, closely focused research that remains to be done on every part of Central Asia. Sometimes, however, it is illuminating to stand back and look at the region as a whole, seeking similarities as well as contrasts. This volume is a collection of papers from a conference on Tradition and Change in Central Asia was held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in April 1987.
Since its independence in 1991 Tajikistan has suffered a painful series of political crises followed by a civil war, still continuing, whose repercussions extend far beyond its borders. This work examines the causes of the turmoil, and analyses, through the case of Tajikistan, social and political dynamics at work throughout Central Asia. The book is the work of eleven Central Asian experts from different disciplinary backgrounds, and provides new insight into questions as varied as clan and local identity, the political construction of ethnicity and the role of peacekeeping forces.
First published in 1987. The aim of this historical and statistical handbook is to answer three basic questions about the Islamic peoples of the USSR: who they are, where they are and how many of them there are. It is convenient to speak of them as 'Soviet Muslims', grouping them all together under a single, collective heading, but they are in fact quite disparate. For this reason it was decided to treat each ethnic group individually here.
Tatars from the Golden Horde settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th-16th centuries. By descent they were Turco-Mongols, by religion Muslim. Within a few generations they lost their native language(s) and spoke only Belarusian and Polish. In order to record and hand on the essentials of their faith they translated essential religious works into Belarusian Polish. These languages were normally written in the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets - 'Christian' scripts and so unsuitable for Islamic texts. The Tatars therefore devised their own system of orthography, using Arabic letters to convey the phonology of the Slav languages. They also created a religious vocabulary that was suited to the expression of Islamic ideas. For general ethical concepts they drew on Belarusian and Polish, but for terms relating to Islamic doctrine and practice they used Arabic loanwords, 'Slavicising' them morphologically and phonetically. This linguistic fusion represents a remarkable cultural monument of Islam in Europe. The first part of the present work traces the six-hundred year history of the Tatars in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - a territory now divided between Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. It draws on a wide range of sources, including contemporary accounts in Latin, Old Russian, medieval French, Polish, Italian and Turkish. The second part consists of a detailed study of a Tatar manuscript (Kitab) held in the British Library. Extracts of such manuscripts have previously appeared in print, but this is the first full-length examination of a Tatar text. The main language is Belarusian (mixed standard and dialect forms), and in places heavily Polonized.A CD-ROM with a Latin-script transliteration of the entire Belarusian-Polish British Library Kitab is included in the sleeve of the book.
This book is the result of a pioneering conference held in Ulaan Baatar in September 1994. The first Conference on the Sustainable Development of Central Asia brought together government officials, development professionals, academics, activists and religious representatives from Central, South and East Asia and the West. The full range of perspectives from this diverse group is presented here on how Central Asia can find paths of development which really serve its long term interests, and what the rest of the world can learn from Central Asians about living in harmony with the environment.
Tibet exerts a powerful fascination far beyond its borders; remoteness and the deeply pervasive character ot Tibetan Buddhism have provided the setting for countless works of romace adventure and fantasy. Resistance and Reform in Tibet reveals the emergence of a distinctive, modern Tibetan society and the sophistication, creativity and resourcefulness of its people`s responses to Chinese domination. Tibet today is neither a socialist idyll nor a regimented gulag but a rich mixture of traditonal and innovative strategies in an ancient nation`s struggle for survival.
Tatars from the Golden Horde settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th-16th centuries. By descent they were Turco-Mongols, by religion Muslim. Within a few generations they lost their native language(s) and spoke only Belarusian and Polish. In order to record and hand on the essentials of their faith they translated essential religious works into Belarusian Polish. These languages were normally written in the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets - 'Christian' scripts and so unsuitable for Islamic texts. The Tatars therefore devised their own system of orthography, using Arabic letters to convey the phonology of the Slav languages. They also created a religious vocabulary that was suited to the expression of Islamic ideas. For general ethical concepts they drew on Belarusian and Polish, but for terms relating to Islamic doctrine and practice they used Arabic loanwords, 'Slavicising' them morphologically and phonetically. This linguistic fusion represents a remarkable cultural monument of Islam in Europe. The first part of the present work traces the six-hundred year history of the Tatars in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - a territory now divided between Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. It draws on a wide range of sources, including contemporary accounts in Latin, Old Russian, medieval French, Polish, Italian and Turkish. The second part consists of a detailed study of a Tatar manuscript (Kitab) held in the British Library. Extracts of such manuscripts have previously appeared in print, but this is the first full-length examination of a Tatar text. The main language is Belarusian (mixed standard and dialect forms), and in places heavily Polonized.A CD-ROM with a Latin-script transliteration of the entire Belarusian-Polish British Library Kitab is included in the sleeve of the book.
Since its independence in 1991 Tajikistan has suffered a painful series of political crises followed by a civil war, still continuing, whose repercussions extend far beyond its borders. This work examines the causes of the turmoil, and analyses, through the case of Tajikistan, social and political dynamics at work throughout Central Asia. The book is the work of eleven Central Asian experts from different disciplinary backgrounds, and provides new insight into questions as varied as clan and local identity, the political construction of ethnicity and the role of peacekeeping forces.
Tibet exerts a powerful fascination far beyond its borders; remoteness and the deeply pervasive character ot Tibetan Buddhism have provided the setting for countless works of romace adventure and fantasy. Resistance and Reform in Tibet reveals the emergence of a distinctive, modern Tibetan society and the sophistication, creativity and resourcefulness of its people`s responses to Chinese domination. Tibet today is neither a socialist idyll nor a regimented gulag but a rich mixture of traditonal and innovative strategies in an ancient nation`s struggle for survival.
This book is the result of a pioneering conference held in Ulaan Baatar in September 1994. The first Conference on the Sustainable Development of Central Asia brought together government officials, development professionals, academics, activists and religious representatives from Central, South and East Asia and the West. The full range of perspectives from this diverse group is presented here on how Central Asia can find paths of development which really serve its long term interests, and what the rest of the world can learn from Central Asians about living in harmony with the environment.
First published in 1991. Central Asia is a vast sprawling territory with no precise boundaries, no precise geographic definition. There is much detailed, closely focused research that remains to be done on every part of Central Asia. Sometimes, however, it is illuminating to stand back and look at the region as a whole, seeking similarities as well as contrasts. This volume is a collection of papers from a conference on Tradition and Change in Central Asia was held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in April 1987.
First published in 1987. The aim of this historical and statistical handbook is to answer three basic questions about the Islamic peoples of the USSR: who they are, where they are and how many of them there are. It is convenient to speak of them as 'Soviet Muslims', grouping them all together under a single, collective heading, but they are in fact quite disparate. For this reason it was decided to treat each ethnic group individually here.
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