Language:
English
Edition:
First published in paperback 2011
Series Statement:
Central Asia Research Forum
Keywords:
Zentral-Asien Kirgisien
;
Geschichte
;
Kolonialismus
;
Kommunismus
;
Marxismus
;
Sozialwissenschaft
;
Soziale Bedingungen
;
Bildungspolitik
Abstract:
There has been great interest and investment in reforming scientific institutions throughout the post-Soviet world. To date however, no thorough analysis of the role of organized intellectual activity in the region is available. Through careful historical and ethnographic research and the extensive use of local scholarly works, this book provides a persuasive and careful analysis of the production of knowledge in Central Asia. The author demonstrates that classical theories of scientific revolution or science and society are inadequate for understanding the science project in Central Asia. Instead, a critical understanding of local science is more appropriate. In the region, the professional and political ethos of Marxismâ??Leninism was incorporated into the logic of science on the periphery of the Soviet empire. Local academics assimilated, negotiated and resisted its priorities in their work. Similarly, after the end of Soviet rule, they interacted with the new post-Soviet "logic of the market"and democratic ethos of science in an effort to refashion a new science for their new society. The scientists' work to establish themselves "between Marx and the market" is therefore creating new political economies of knowledge at the periphery of the scientific world system.
Description / Table of Contents:
Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1. Knowledge and Power in Post-Soviet Space -- 2. The Colonial Logic of Science in Central Asia --3. The Social Science Project in Soviet Kirgizia -- 4. Knowledge and National Identity during Perestroika --5. Social Science after Communism -- 6. Re-disciplining Knowledge in Kyrgyzstan: Alternative Visions of Sociology between Marx and the Market --7. Public Social Science in Central Asia -- 8. Conclusion -- Postscript -- Works Cited -- Notes -- Index
Permalink
