ISBN:
9780822981541
,
0822981548
Language:
English
Pages:
Online Ressource
Series Statement:
Central Eurasia in context
Parallel Title:
Erscheint auch als Beyer, Judith Force of custom
DDC:
390.095843
Keywords:
Ethnology Kyrgyzstan
;
Kyrgyz Ethnic identity
;
History
;
National characteristics, Kyrgyz
;
Ethnology
;
Kyrgyz Ethnic identity
;
History
;
National characteristics, Kyrgyz
;
Ethnology
;
Kyrgyz Ethnic identity
;
History
;
HISTORY / Asia / Central Asia
;
HISTORY ; Asia ; Central Asia
;
SOCIAL SCIENCE ; Anthropology ; Cultural
;
SOCIAL SCIENCE ; Customs & Traditions
;
SOCIAL SCIENCE ; General
;
Ethnology
;
Manners and customs
;
National characteristics, Kyrgyz
;
History
;
Kyrgyzstan Social life and customs
;
Kyrgyzstan Social life and customs
;
Kyrgyzstan Social life and customs
;
Kyrgyzstan
;
Electronic books
Abstract:
"The Force of Custom presents a finely textured ethnographic study that sheds new light on the legal and moral ordering of everyday life in northwestern Kyrgyzstan. Through her extensive fieldwork and firsthand experience, Judith Beyer reveals how Kyrgyz in Talas province negotiate proper behavior and regulate disputes by invoking custom, known to the locals as salt. While salt is presented as age-old tradition, its invocation is shown to be a highly developed and flexible rhetorical strategy that people adapt in order to meet the challenges of contemporary political, legal, economic, and religious environments. Officially, codified state law should take precedence when it comes to dispute resolution, yet the unwritten laws of salt and the increasing importance of Islamic law provide the standards for ordering everyday life. As Beyer further demonstrates, interpretations of both Islamic and state law are also intrinsically linked to salt. By interweaving case studies on kinship, legal negotiations, festive events, mourning rituals, and political and business dealings, Beyer shows how salt is the binding element in rural Kyrgyz social life and how it is used to explain and negotiate moral behavior and to postulate communal identity. In this way, salt provides a time-tested, sustainable source of authentication that defies changes in government and the shifting tides of religious movements"--
Abstract:
"The Force of Custom presents a finely textured ethnographic study that sheds new light on the legal and moral ordering of everyday life in northwestern Kyrgyzstan. Through her extensive fieldwork and firsthand experience, Judith Beyer reveals how Kyrgyz in Talas province negotiate proper behavior and regulate disputes by invoking custom, known to the locals as salt. While salt is presented as age-old tradition, its invocation is shown to be a highly developed and flexible rhetorical strategy that people adapt in order to meet the challenges of contemporary political, legal, economic, and religious environments. Officially, codified state law should take precedence when it comes to dispute resolution, yet the unwritten laws of salt and the increasing importance of Islamic law provide the standards for ordering everyday life. As Beyer further demonstrates, interpretations of both Islamic and state law are also intrinsically linked to salt. By interweaving case studies on kinship, legal negotiations, festive events, mourning rituals, and political and business dealings, Beyer shows how salt is the binding element in rural Kyrgyz social life and how it is used to explain and negotiate moral behavior and to postulate communal identity. In this way, salt provides a time-tested, sustainable source of authentication that defies changes in government and the shifting tides of religious movements"--
Abstract:
Acknowledgments; Preface; Notes on Naming, Addressing, and Fieldwork; Introduction. Invoking Custom; Chapter 1. Histories of Legal Plurality; Chapter 2. Settling Descent; Chapter 3. Imagining the State; Chapter 4. Performing Authority; Chapter 5. Buying and Paying Respect; Chapter 6. Taking and Giving Carpets; Chapter 7. Taming Custom; Conclusion. Ordering Everyday Life in Kyrgyzstan; Notes; Glossary; Bibliography; Index
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index. - Print version record
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