Ainur D. Kormanalieva, PhD, associate professor of Eastern and Islamic Studies
Book Description
As a challenge to these prevailing Western views, the author offers a perspective on Central Asian ethnonational identity which affirms its ´complex unity´ and depth of historical rootedness, recognizing the long-standing intimate connection between the ethnosocial, ethnocultural, ethnolinguistic, ethnoreligious and ethnopolitical dimensions of nationhood in the Central Asian tradition. From this unique, non-Western historical and contextual base, a more indigenous, integral form of ´Central Asian democratic nationhood´ is sought which strives to achieve genuine justice and equality for all ethnonational peoples involved. The author´s experience and insight is founded upon eight years of living and working in Kazakhstan, including a Ph.D. in cultural theory and history from Kazakh National University working entirely in Kazakh under the direction of Kazakh scholars. He draws significantly upon this base of Kazakh scholarship as a central part of the ´challenge to prevailing Western views´ regarding Central Asian nationhood.
