Where Are All Our Sheep? (eBook)

Boris Petric is a Social Anthropologist and a Senior Researcher at the CNRS in Marseilles. His first book Pouvoir, don et réseaux en Ouzbékistan post-soviétique (2002), was awarded the Le Monde prize for university research. He recently edited Democracy at Large: NGO’s, Political Foundations, Think Tanks and International Organisations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).

Acknowledgements
Map of Central Asia
Map of Kyrgyzstan

Introduction: Someone Ate All Our Sheep


On the Kyrgyz Highlands

In Search of a Baseline

Looking Back on a Soviet Economy of Intensive Livestock Farming

From Kolkhoz to Village

The Anthropologist in the Face of Social Change

Some Local Authority Figures


The Former Kolkhoz Chairman: The Bashkarma

The New Official Local Authority: The Ayil Okmotu

The “Biznesman”: Economic Power

The Shepherd: A Prestigious but Powerless Figure

The Moldo or the Affirmation of Religious Authority



The Rise of NGOs and the Development of Private Enterprise

Logics of Power: Appropriation, Plunder, and Capture of Resources


Chapter 1. Manas, Unesco, and the Kyrgyz Fabula


Manas: Political Uses of a Traditional Oral Epic


Indigenization and Nationalization of the Epic

Manas 1000: Political Ritual of the New Kyrgyz Identity

Manas Gumbez: A National Heritage Site

Manas Ayili and the Building of an International Image



UNESCO: Global Entrepreneur of the Kyrgyz National Imaginary

Polysemous Perceptions of the Creation of the New National Imaginary

Democracy, Decentralization, Tribal Identity, and Minorities

Affirmation of Ethnic Identity in the South of the Country

Enhancing “Tribal” Identity in the North

Manas in a Context of Globalization


Chapter 2. Kyrgyzstan and Good Governance Experts


The Ideology of Good Governance: Minimal Government, Private Enterprise and Civil Society

The UNPD: Decline of the State, Promotion of Local and Traditional Political Practices

From an Economic Planning Culture to a Project Culture

Promoting Democracy

The Development of Local Kyrgyz NGOs

Electoral Assistance: Technical Aid or Political Interference


Chapter 3. Elections and the Promotion of Democracy


Ethnography of an Election

IFES and Elections: Democracy@large

Ethnography of an American Political Foundation Training Session

Training and Strategy of Influence


Eligibility: The Demokrat and Kyrgyzness




Chapter 4. The Fall of the Common House


The Soviet Regime or the Ambition to Establish Absolute Control over Human Flows

Askar Akayev’s Common House Ideology and Emigration of the Russian-Speaking Population

Rural Exodus and Urban Sprawl

From Migration to Increased Kyrgyz Mobility

The Russian Perspective: Gastarbeiter

The Political Weight of Remittances in Kyrgyzstan


Chapter 5. The Bazaar: Symbol of a Society of Traders


The Bazaar: The Return to a Natural Economic Order?

The “Bazarkoms”: New Social Figures

Property and Political Protection: The Dordoy Bazaar and Askar Salymbekov


From Dordoy Bazar to Dordoy Associatsia: The Transmission of Capital

Patronage and Political Clientele

Redistribution and Social Legitimacy

Soccer and Kok-boru

Giving to the Dead and to God: Monuments and Jubilees



The Changing Face of the Bazaar: The Labor Market on Avenue Maladoja Guardia


Chapter 6. Civil Society and Election Monitoring


Koalitsia and the National Democratic Institute

Baisalov: Portrait of a Democracy Promotion Icon

Koalitsia and the ENEMO Transnational Network

Intellectual Influences: Non-Violent Movements

Koalitsia’s Hour of Glory: The Tulip Revolution

Participative Observation in an Election Mission

The Election Mission: A Multi-camp Caravan

The Deployment of Observers

Return to the Capital and Debriefing

The Press Conference

Cocktail Hour: The Communion Ritual of Democracy Promoters

Communion of Contentious Actors: Opposition Coalition, Koalitsia, and Kel-Kel


Chapter 7. The Transnationalization of Politics


Anthropology of a Fraudulent Election

Electoral Observation and Local Dynamics

A Changing Political Personnel: From Appointees to Elected Officials

Becoming a Deputat: An Exemplary Political Battle

Political Transhumance, Opposition, Marginalization, and Exile

Political Practices and Regional Factionalism

The New Role of the President and Appointed Political Personnel

From Communism to Keminism

From Keminism to Teyitism

The Political Change in 2005: Revolution, Overthrow, or Coup?


Conclusion: The Kyrgyz Laboratory and the Global Politics
Afterword: From the Kyrgyz Fabula to the Ethnic Apocalypse?

Appendix I: Kyrgyz Republic Timeline
Appendix II: Census of Kyrgyzstan Population

Index