Ethnographies of the State in Central Asia

"Ethnographies of the State in Central Asia is the right kind of edited volume. . . . it showcases the richness and diversity of the scholarship that is being carried out at the intersection of anthropology and science. The chapters . . . speak the same conceptual language, address each other's claims, and complement each other's insights. . . . The volume is enjoyable to read and largely jargon-free, meaning that it is suitable for assigning in an undergraduate course, but it is theoretically sophisticated enough that it will serve as a valuable source for graduate research as well."—Russian Review

"It is a rare edited volume that keeps readers moving from chapter to chapter like a single-author book, but that is precisely what Ethnographies of the State in Central Asia accomplishes."—Central Asian Survey

"By moving us away from the stream of commentaries on strong or weak states—categories that rarely question the nature of statehood itself but rather its seemingly uniform and universally perceived capacities—this excellent volume underscores the fact that sovereignty and state power are instead always works-in-progress, continually performed, projected, and morphing across time and space."—Bruce Grant, New York University

"This is the first volume to seriously engage ethnographically with the political in Central Asia. It represents some of the best research ongoing in Central Asia and yields valuable insights into how ethnography contributes not only to understanding what matters to people, but to seeing how the performance of politics creates the state as theater with the population as both actor and audience. As a contribution to the ethnography of Central Asia, it is among the best; as a contribution to understanding politics in Central Asia, it is exceptional."—David Montgomery, University of Pittsburgh