Unsettling Urbanisms: A Reinterpretation of Central Eurasian History Through Three Cities

• In Event: Urban Histories of Central Eurasia: Memory, Mobility, and Modernization

Abstract

Popular histories of Central Eurasia have minimized the role of urban centers, treating cities in the area as a secondary consideration while instead emphasizing romantic narratives about the nomadic pastoralist lifeways which have been practiced in the region. By focusing on the historical development of three cities located in the present day Republic of Kazakhstan: Turkistan, Almaty, and Astana, this paper will attempt to reinterpret the history of the region by looking at the role urban centers have played in structuring the civilizations of the region, focusing specifically on the history of Kazakh civilization as it has been defined and redefined through its engagement with cities. I will argue that these urban centers have played a central role in determining the kind of culture which would prevail in the wider region, and that the urban form has provided unique affordances for cultural redefinition and economic restructuring.

Author

• Rowan Claire Choe Maher