Books by Laura Adams
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Peer-reviewed writing by Laura Adams
Comparative studies in society and history, Jan 1, 2008
When we think of the globalization of culture, we tend to think of the consumption of cultural go... more When we think of the globalization of culture, we tend to think of the consumption of cultural goods produced in the West and the effects of these goods on the values and practices of non-Western consumers. The literature on the globalization of culture also tends to focus on how Western markets for non-Western cultural goods affect patterns of cultural production in the non-Western world.1 Naturally, this focus on markets tends to draw our theoretical interest toward questions of capitalism. However, when we look at societies without a history of capitalism, new questions come to light. That men wear Western-style suits in both Uzbekistan and Italy, that orchestras use polyphony in both Kazakhstan and Austria, and that King Lear is popular in both Turkmenistan and England cannot be explained by the dynamics of capitalism.
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Journal of Contemporary Etnography, Jan 1, 1999
In this article, the author examines issues of power and situated knowledge in fieldwork by refle... more In this article, the author examines issues of power and situated knowledge in fieldwork by reflecting on her own research experience in Uzbekistan. She argues that playing the mascot researcher role can cause field-workers to feel they have lost control over their identities and the direction of their work. On the other hand, mascots are given special attention and access because of their gender, race, nationality, or guest status. In addition to analyzing the dynamics of the mascot researcher role, she specifies the effects that this role had on her access to information as well as on the conclusions she drew about Uzbek national culture. She concludes that field-workers need to explicitly analyze their knowledge about their research topics in terms of their relationships with informants.
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Slavic Review, Jan 1, 2005
Scholars have argued over the applicability to the Soviet Union of specific definitions and persp... more Scholars have argued over the applicability to the Soviet Union of specific definitions and perspectives coming from studies of British or French colonialism, but the Soviet Union was like other empires in its relationship between the culture of the center and that of the (Russian and non-Russian) periphery. In this article, I examine the use of European theatrical forms in Uzbekistan in light of an emerging literature on post-Soviet space as postcolonial space. Based on secondary historical sources, contemporary articles in the press, attendance at theatrical performances, and interviews with directors and critics, I analyze how European-style theater created certain hierarchies of knowledge and values among culture producers in Uzbekistan. I argue that Soviet policies and practices should be seen as a uniquely nation building and modernizing form of imperialism, and that the Soviet state also served as an important channel for the adoption of internationally legitimated cultural forms, giving post-Soviet states readymade links to the global community. These links have played an important role in defining post-Soviet identities by giving culture producers a frame of reference for what their national culture should look like.
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Europe-Asia Studies, Jan 1, 2009
Scholars often point to the basic similarities between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which both scor... more Scholars often point to the basic similarities between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which both score as ‘not free’ on indexes of political and civil liberties published by organisations such as Freedom House. In spite of rather dramatic differences in the economic policies they have pursued, President Nursultan Nazarbaev of Kazakhstan and President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan are indeed similar. But the leaders diverge in that each president takes a rather different role in relation to his citizens, and thereby cultivates differences in the ways that their respective states relate to their populations and vice versa.
In this article we explore this relationship between state and population that Michel Foucault termed governmentality, in order to highlight what we find to be important differences between the two countries that larger political analyses might overlook.
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European Journal of Cultural Studies, Jan 1, 1999
Accounts of national renewal in the republics of the former Soviet Union tend to present these re... more Accounts of national renewal in the republics of the former Soviet Union tend to present these regions as awakening from a long slumber of cultural repression. In this paper I argue against this notion, examining the ways that Soviet cultural institutions developed some aspects of national culture in Uzbekistan while suppressing others. The effects of Soviet institutions and ways of thinking about culture are examined in the context of contemporary cultural production in Uzbekistan, specifically the production of national holiday spectacles. Based on observation of these events and on interviews with cultural elites, I outline Soviet schemas of culture and trace the effects of these schemas on the elite's conception and presentation of Uzbekistan's national culture today.
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The Transformation of Central Asia: States and …, Jan 1, 2003
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R. Abdelal et al
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This dissertation is about Uzbek national culture during the Soviet period through the mid-1990s.... more This dissertation is about Uzbek national culture during the Soviet period through the mid-1990s. Based on 12 months of fieldwork, I conclude that Soviet understandings of culture remain hegemonic among Tashkent’s cultural elites. This conclusion is puzzling, given that many Uzbek and Western observers charge the Soviet system with cultural imperialism and the repression of traditional culture. Why haven’t Uzbekistan’s cultural elites adopted radically different ways of thinking about and producing culture since independence? Why has there been so little reaction against Soviet discourses about Uzbek national culture?
In order to answer these questions, I look at two aspects of cultural production in Uzbekistan: institutions and schemas. In order to understand the way institutional factors affect cultural change, I examine ways the work of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and various artistic organizations has changed since the 1980s. I also describe a “Soviet schema of culture,” which allowed Uzbek elites to reject Soviet power without rejecting the Soviet institutional logic of culture. The way my informants talk about culture (what it is used for, how it should be produced) points to an enduring Soviet schema that makes alternative ways of producing culture difficult for elites to conceive at this point in time.
I also analyze the form and content of cultural objects produced by these elites, in particular the theatrical spectacles performed on Uzbekistan's major national holidays, Navröz and Independence Day. While socialist content has nearly disappeared since independence, culture producers have retained Soviet forms as the means through which they express Uzbek cultural content. Forms introduced by the Soviets, such as mass theatrical spectacles and women’s dance ensembles, are seen by elites as neutral vehicles through which true national culture can now be expressed. I argue that the use of modern, Western cultural forms for the expression of nationalist sentiments is a part of the post-colonial transformation of nations such as Uzbekistan that want to project an identity embodying aspects of both tradition and modernity.
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Anthropology of East Europe Review, Jan 1, 2010
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Articles/papers by Laura Adams
Central Eurasian Studies Review, Jan 1, 2008
In this essay I argue that it is useful to think about Central Eurasia through the lens of postco... more In this essay I argue that it is useful to think about Central Eurasia through the lens of postcolonial theory, but that we must proceed with caution. I view postcolonialism as a contextually situated discourse generated by the responses (both resistant and collaborative) of formerly colonized peoples to the institutional legacies of and ongoing relationship with the colonizer. The Soviet Union was like an empire in that it crafted political domination over a geographically diverse territory as well as imposing a hierarchical culture (with Moscow at its center) over its ethnically diverse citizens. But the Soviet Union was unlike other European empires in a number of ways, the most significant of which was its emphasis on the modernization and political mobilization of the periphery. Whether or not one wants to label the Soviet Union a colonial empire, I argue that this label is irrelevant for the usefulness of the postcolonial theoretical lens to interpret certain aspects of Central Eurasian societies today. Specifically, it helps us understand postcoloniality in Central Eurasia as marked by critiques of Russian cultural domination that largely reproduce Soviet hierarchies of knowledge and values. It is not the only approach, but it is one that should be in our analytical toolboxes so that we can engage in a broader world of scholarship. Furthermore, study of the societies of Central Eurasia can help to refine postcolonial theory by exposing it to a broader range of imperial projects, especially those that are not based on capitalism as a historical mode of domination.
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Papers by Laura Adams
Europe-Asia Studies, 2009
M ost accounts of politics in C entral A sia are variations on a theme: former Soviet apparatchik... more M ost accounts of politics in C entral A sia are variations on a theme: former Soviet apparatchiks usurped state power and became authoritarian leaders in their respective states (Bunce 1998 5. Bunce, V. 1998.'Regional Differences in Democratization: The East versus the South'. Post-Soviet Affairs, 14 (3)
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Books by Laura Adams
Peer-reviewed writing by Laura Adams
In this article we explore this relationship between state and population that Michel Foucault termed governmentality, in order to highlight what we find to be important differences between the two countries that larger political analyses might overlook.
In order to answer these questions, I look at two aspects of cultural production in Uzbekistan: institutions and schemas. In order to understand the way institutional factors affect cultural change, I examine ways the work of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and various artistic organizations has changed since the 1980s. I also describe a “Soviet schema of culture,” which allowed Uzbek elites to reject Soviet power without rejecting the Soviet institutional logic of culture. The way my informants talk about culture (what it is used for, how it should be produced) points to an enduring Soviet schema that makes alternative ways of producing culture difficult for elites to conceive at this point in time.
I also analyze the form and content of cultural objects produced by these elites, in particular the theatrical spectacles performed on Uzbekistan's major national holidays, Navröz and Independence Day. While socialist content has nearly disappeared since independence, culture producers have retained Soviet forms as the means through which they express Uzbek cultural content. Forms introduced by the Soviets, such as mass theatrical spectacles and women’s dance ensembles, are seen by elites as neutral vehicles through which true national culture can now be expressed. I argue that the use of modern, Western cultural forms for the expression of nationalist sentiments is a part of the post-colonial transformation of nations such as Uzbekistan that want to project an identity embodying aspects of both tradition and modernity.
Articles/papers by Laura Adams
Papers by Laura Adams
In this article we explore this relationship between state and population that Michel Foucault termed governmentality, in order to highlight what we find to be important differences between the two countries that larger political analyses might overlook.
In order to answer these questions, I look at two aspects of cultural production in Uzbekistan: institutions and schemas. In order to understand the way institutional factors affect cultural change, I examine ways the work of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and various artistic organizations has changed since the 1980s. I also describe a “Soviet schema of culture,” which allowed Uzbek elites to reject Soviet power without rejecting the Soviet institutional logic of culture. The way my informants talk about culture (what it is used for, how it should be produced) points to an enduring Soviet schema that makes alternative ways of producing culture difficult for elites to conceive at this point in time.
I also analyze the form and content of cultural objects produced by these elites, in particular the theatrical spectacles performed on Uzbekistan's major national holidays, Navröz and Independence Day. While socialist content has nearly disappeared since independence, culture producers have retained Soviet forms as the means through which they express Uzbek cultural content. Forms introduced by the Soviets, such as mass theatrical spectacles and women’s dance ensembles, are seen by elites as neutral vehicles through which true national culture can now be expressed. I argue that the use of modern, Western cultural forms for the expression of nationalist sentiments is a part of the post-colonial transformation of nations such as Uzbekistan that want to project an identity embodying aspects of both tradition and modernity.