Work

Imperial legacies, nation building, and geopolitics: ethno-regional divides and the Russian language in Central Asia

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Post-imperial ethnic identities and divides are often constructed and construed through direct and indirect references to imperial legacies. In this study, we use nationally representative survey data to examine proficiency, use, and valuation of the Russian language - a major such legacy of the Soviet empire - in Kyrgyzstan, a multiethnic Central Asian nation with a long and complex history of ethnic and regional cleavages. The multivariable analyses produce instructive net variations in Russian proficiency and use across regional subgroups of ethnic Kyrgyz, the titular ethnicity, and between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, a marginalized ethnic minority. The analyses also show that the command and use of Russian increase with community ethnic heterogeneity. Yet, no variations along these axes are found in the perceived importance of Russian language knowledge for success in the domestic labour market. These findings are situated within the interconnected contexts of historical ethnolinguistic legacies, dynamics of nation-building, and geopolitics.

Source: Ethnic and Racial Studies

DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2021.1981966

Authors: Victor Agadjanian, Lesia Nedoluzhko

Institution: University of California, Los Angeles

Language: English

Topic: Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies

Subfield: Linguistics and Language

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, California Center for Population Research, University of California, Los Angeles, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: G3079738593, G556508193, California Center for Population Research (CCPR) at UCLA, California Center for Population Research (CCPR) at UCLA