Central Asia as a historical region

  • Viachaslau I. Menkouski Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus
  • Michal Šmigel’ Matej Bel University, 12 Narodna Street, Banska Bystrica 97401, Slovakia
  • Igor L. Zherebtsov Institute of Language, Literature and History Komi Science Centre, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 26 Kommunisticheskaya Street, Syktyvkar 167982, Russia

Abstract

The use of the historical, geographical and geopolitical concept of «historical region» in relation to the newly independent states of Central Asia (the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan) is analysed, as well as the role of the phenomenon of post-Soviet identity in the formation modern nations and states. The term «historical region» is interpreted as a territory that, at a certain historical time, covered a certain political, economic, cultural, ethnographic, linguistic and mental space. It is noted that in Soviet times, many nation-building measures were taken on the former outskirts of the Russian Empire. The features of Central Asian historical politics in social, geographical (geopolitical) and temporal terms are shown. The image of the Soviet past is interpreted in a complex structure of various levels of historical memory as a set of descriptions, ideas and images of the past generated by power discourse, as collective everyday ideas about the past, and as an individual memory that unites a person with the social stratum. It is concluded that regional and global problems do not allow the countries of Central Asia to develop a unified strategy for preserving historical memory. It is noted that attempts to simplify it to a certain general paradigm distort the real situation, since the attitude towards the imperial and Soviet periods of history in each of the Central Asian states has its own specifics.

Author Biographies

Viachaslau I. Menkouski, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

doctor of science (history), full professor; professor at the department of Russian history, faculty of history

 

Michal Šmigel’, Matej Bel University, 12 Narodna Street, Banska Bystrica 97401, Slovakia

PhD (history), docent; associate professor at the faculty of arts

 

Igor L. Zherebtsov, Institute of Language, Literature and History Komi Science Centre, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 26 Kommunisticheskaya Street, Syktyvkar 167982, Russia

doctor of science (history), director

 

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Published
2023-11-11
Keywords: Central Asia, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Republic of Uzbekistan, Soviet past, post-colonial discourse, nation-building
How to Cite
Menkouski V. I., Šmigel’ M., Zherebtsov I. L. Central Asia as a historical region // Journal of the Belarusian State University. History. 2023. 4. PP. 54-62.