NEW VOICES FROM CENTRAL ASIA Political, Economic, and Societal Challenges and Opportunities VOLUME 2 Marlene Laruelle, editor Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, Central Asia Program, 2018 www.centralasiaprogram.org The second volume “New Voices from Central Asia: Political, Economic, and Societal Challenges and Opportunities” gives the floor to a young generation of experts and scholars from Central Asia and Azerbaijan. They were fellows at GW’s Central Asia-Azerbaijan Fellowship Program, which aims to foster the next generation of thought leaders and policy experts in Central Asia. The Program provides young professionals (policy experts, scholars, and human rights and democracy activists) with opportunities to develop their research, analytical, and communication skills in order to become effective leaders within their communities. The Program serves as a platform for the exchange of ideas and builds lasting intellec- tual networks of exchange between and amongst Central Asians and the U.S. policy, scholarly, and activist communities. It increases and helps disseminate knowledge about Central Asian viewpoints in both the United States and Central Asia. Central Asia Program Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies Elliott School of International Affairs The George Washington University For more on the Central Asia Program, please visit: www.centralasiaprogram.org. © 2018 Central Asia Program, The George Washington University. All Rights Reserved. Cover design: Scythia-Print. Typesetting: Elena Kuzmenok, Scythia-Print. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Central Asia Program. ISBN 978-0-9996214-1-7 Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, Central Asia Program, 2018 Contents PART I. POLITICS AND POLICIES: THE STATE-SOCIETY INTERACTIONS Chapter 1. Contemporary Art as a Public Forum in Kazakhstan Alexandra Tsay 1 Chapter 2. The Northern Region and the Southern People: Migration Policies and Patterns in Kazakhstan Serik Jaxylykov 11 Chapter 3. Ethnic Return Migration in Kazakhstan: Shifting State Dynamics, Changing Media Discourses Berikbol Dukeyev 22 Chapter 4. Countering Extremism vs. Freedom of Online Expression: The Case of Kazakhstan Anna Gussarova 31 PART II. AT THE INTERPLAY OF RELIGION, VALUES, AND MORES Chapter 5. Multimodal Salafi Engagement with Digital Media in Azerbaijan Kamal Gasimov 45 Chapter 6. A Resacralization of Public Space and the Future of (Political) Islam in Azerbaijan: Quo Vadis? Murad Ismayilov 61 Chapter 7. “Spirituality and Enlightenment”: Uzbekistan’s State-Backed Ideological Policy Rafael Sattarov 88 Chapter 8. Overcoming a Taboo: Normalizing Sexuality Education in Kazakhstan Karlygash Kabatova 94 PART III. SOCIOECONOMIC INEQUALITIES AND GOVERNANCE ISSUES Chapter 9. Income Inequality in Kyrgyzstan: The Redistributive Effect of Social Benefits Savia Hasanova 105 Chapter 10. Inequality in Secondary Education and Kazakhstan’s Risk of Becoming a Fragmented Society Daniyar Kussainov 117 Chapter 11. Improving Governance in Kazakhstan’s Mining Towns Dinara Nurusheva 124 Chapter 12. Empowering Local Communities in the Kyrgyz Mining Sector: The Case of Talas Nazik Imanbekova 131 iii PART IV. GRASSROOTS PEACEBUILDING MECHANISMS Chapter 13. Grassroots Peacebuilding: Cross-Border Cooperation in the Ferghana Valley Diana Mamatova 147 Chapter 14. Engaging Youth to Sustain (Inter-Communal) Peace at the Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan Border Jafar Usmanov 161 Chapter 15. Assessing the Impact of NGO Peacebuilding Programs in the South Caucasus: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh Jeyhun Neliyev 181 iv PART I. POLITICS AND POLICIES: THE STATE-SOCIETY INTERACTIONS Chapter 1. Contemporary Art as a Public Forum in Kazakhstan Alexandra Tsay1 (2017) Introduction narratives. In such a situation, contemporary and street art becomes an important arena for free artis- Jurgen Habermas describes the public sphere as a tic expression. As an alternative and affective form of space that can bring individuals together to gener- communication, art transcends the status quo and ate debates about the exercise of power and the rela- the established official discursive framework in less tionship between the governing and the governed.2 If than open societies, creating alternative narratives. freedom of expression is requisite for a public sphere Contemporary and street art thus plays the role of to function, how does the public sphere operate in a public forum. It offers new platforms for dialogue societies with restricted freedom of speech? In 2016, and debates through the cultural production of new Kazakhstan was ranked 160th in the Press Freedom discourses, intervening in urban public space and en- Index produced by Reporters without Borders. It is gaging people in discussion around artwork and art marked by legislative restrictions, censorship, and actions on online platforms and social networks. the absence of strong independent media outlets.3 This article, an empirical study on the role of In closed societies, where governmental control pre- contemporary artistic expression in post-socialist vents the formation of a space for open public de- Kazakhstan and its capacity to generate public de- bate, the public sphere manifests itself in more un- bates, makes reference to the work of a range of con- conventional ways. In this paper, I analyze the role of temporary Kazakh artists, including Said Atabekov contemporary art as a public sphere in Kazakhstan. and art-group “Kyzyl Tractor,” Almagul Menlibayeva, I argue that contemporary art constitutes an arena Saule Suleimenova, Yerbossyn Meldibekov, Yelena for alternative narratives and oppositional meanings, and Viktor Vorobyovy, Pasha Cas, and others. My and contributes to launching new debates on online goal here is to analyze the main narratives of contem- platforms and social networks. porary art in Kazakhstan, which include: (1) reimag- The evident failure of Kazakh traditional media ining nomadism; (2) constructing new identities; (3) to create a public sphere triggers the formation of on- social critique; and (4) debates about current political line and offline countercultural spheres. Due to gov- issues. The research deploys several qualitative meth- ernmental control and censorship, traditional mass ods of analysis: literature review, interviews with local media do not allow for dialogue between society and artists, critical analysis of artwork, and content anal- state. Critical voices therefore have to look for new ysis of online debates and discussions. In addition, I channels of communication and produce alternative am myself a part of an art community in Kazakhstan, 1 Alexandra Tsay is an independent research fellow in cultural studies and an art curator based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She is involved in PaperLab: Public Policy Research Laboratory and Open Mind. Previously, she worked as a Senior Lecturer at International Information Technologies University in Almaty. Alexandra is an alumna of University of Warwick (UK), where she earned an MA in International Cultural Policy and Management, and KIMEP University (Kazakhstan), where she earned a BA in International Journalism and Mass Communication. She was a research fellow at Public Policy Initiative Program of Soros Foundation Kazakhstan in 2014–2015. 2 Jurgen Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989). 3 “2016 World Press Freedom Index,” Reporters without Borders, 2016. 1 Alexandra Tsay and have curated several contemporary art exhibi- The construction of the new man and the new tions involving more than 20 contemporary artists. world required the eradication of past heritage, and the destruction of previous cultural identity. Boris Groys writes that in Russia, the October Revolution Historical Background: Art in the Context of constituted a radical break with the past, destroy- Authoritarianism ing individual and collective heritage.6 In Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the destruction of previous The history of fine art in Kazakhstan started with the cultural identity was even more radical, since the Soviet period, when Russians introduced paintings relationship between Moscow and Alma-Ata was to the region as a new form of cultural product that a relationship between center and periphery, be- aimed to educate the masses and support the Soviet tween dominant and subordinate culture. Art his- ideological worldview.4 Indeed, the first Kazakh torian Aliya Abykayeva-Tiesenhausen describes the painters—such as Abylkhan Kasteev (1904–1973) relationship between Russia and Central Asia using and Kanafiya Telzhanov (1927–2013)—studied in in- concepts from postcolonial theory; she argues that stitutes and art academies in Moscow; many works through Orientalist images, the Communist Party that depicted the region were also created in Moscow. was able “to pursue several of its goals, namely state Kazakh fine art has its origins in socialist real- unification, imperial expansion and the acceleration ism, a movement created by merging ideology, pro- of national differences.”7 The Soviet state used art as a paganda, and aesthetics. Boris Groys argues that, tool for achieving political goals and establishing its “Socialist realism was not supposed to depict life as it dominance through the complete demolition of pre- was, because life was interpreted