1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910465958303321

Autore

Mould David H (David Harley), <1949->

Titolo

Postcards from Stanland : journeys in Central Asia / / David H. Mould

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Athens : , : Ohio University Press, , [2016]

©2016

ISBN

0-8214-4537-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (329 p.)

Disciplina

958/.042

Soggetti

Post-communism - Social aspects - Asia, Central

Electronic books.

Asia, Central Description and travel

Kazakhstan Description and travel

Kyrgyzstan Description and travel

Tajikistan Description and travel

Uzbekistan Description and travel

Asia, Central Social life and customs

Asia, Central Social conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Illustrations; Preface; 1: Travels in "Kyrzakhstan"; 2: Sacred Mountain and Silly Borders; 3: How Do You Say "Rump Roast"?; 4: Kasha, Honor, Dignity, and Revolution; 5: On and Off the Silk Road; 6: To Be a Kazakh Is to Be "Brave and Free"; 7: Father of Apples; 8: The President's Dream City; 9: Coal and Steel; 10: No Polygon, No Problem; 11: Wheat and Oil; 12: The Seven Lessons of Stanland; Notes; Glossary and Acronyms; Acknowledgments; Index

Sommario/riassunto

"Central Asia has long stood at the crossroads of history. It was the staging ground for the armies of the Mongol Empire, for the nineteenth-century struggle between the Russian and British empires, and for the NATO campaign in Afghanistan. Today, multinationals and nations compete for the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian Sea and for control of the pipelines. Yet 'Stanland' is still, to many, a terra incognita, a geographical blank. Beginning in the mid-1990s, academic



and journalist David Mould's career took him to the region on Fulbright Fellowships and contracts as a media trainer and consultant for UNESCO and USAID, among others. In Postcards from Stanland, he takes readers along with him on his encounters with the people, landscapes, and customs of the diverse countries--Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan--he came to love. He talks with teachers, students, politicians, environmental activists, bloggers, cab drivers, merchants, Peace Corps volunteers, and more. Until now, few books for a nonspecialist readership have been written on the region, and while Mould brings his own considerable expertise to bear on his account--for example, he is one of the few scholars to have conducted research on post-Soviet media in the region--the book is above all a tapestry of place and a valuable contribution to our understanding of the post-Soviet world"--