 Basically Central Asian
It is in our benefit to lobby as Central
Eurasians or Central Asians
Maryam Iman
August 20, 2004
iranian.com
In response to "I'm...
Central Asian",
I just spent the last two months
studying Tajik in Samarqand, Uzbekistan, and I can fully agree
that Iran
should
be categorized into CEA (Central Eurasia).
Currently, northern Iran is considered part of CEA geographically, but I think
academics, et all, should start collaborating to categorize the whole
of Iran culturally as part of CEA.
Samarqand was not too different from Esfehan, from the blue domes
to the notorious, mercantile, bozori population (a mercantilism
that not even Communism could not affect much). Ferghana felt
like Qom or Mashad, although Mashhad and Qom are not as poor. Tashkent
felt a whole lot like Tehran, minus the Islamic propaganda (although
instead you had Uzbek propaganda), and minus the black dress. Bukhara
... Bukhara's old town was just empty and very touristy.
Living in a traditional Mahala in Samarqand was pretty much like
living in a very traditional part of Iran. The same basic cultural
norms exist - I was called 'sabok' for having plucked my eyebrows
before marriage, if a guy and girl are talking the old ladies will
assume they are dating, bread is holy, dress is conservative (i.e.
no cleavage and skirts above knees), you burn 'esfand' to
ward off the evil eye, and hospitality rituals are also very similar.
The main difference is religion. In CEA, people are culturally
Muslim but spiritually atheists-- outside of Ferghana (and with
the exception of growing Wahabism) they don't live the lives
of real Muslims. In Iran, well we all know Iran... maybe they aren't
so different religiously?
Samarqand felt a lot like Iran. The Zarafshon river, Sogdiana,
the Registan, the flowers along the boulevard, and the wide eyed
Tajik children playing in the fountains (along side cheshm
tang Uzbek ones of course, Tatars, and Russians). Culturally it's similar,
as is linguistically of course.
To be labeled as Middle East is an improper definition, and it
is in our benefit to lobby for the correct definition, Central
Eurasia or Central Asia.
We would, however, be misguided if we believe that we'd be escaping
all our problems. Terrorism is on the rise in this part of the
world, as are dictatorships. While in the Ferghana Valley, the
US and Israeli embassies in Tashkent were targeted by suicide bombers.
Noruz 2004 in Tashkent experienced a string of terrorist attacks
(see eurasianet.org).
Human
rights is one of the worst in the world. The Soviets left a world
of problems, such as the Aral Sea, draining the land with cotton
production, as well as dividing up the area without much regard
to resources or ethnic composition. So you can want to be included
in CEA because you want to be politically correct, but if you think
you are going to avoid problems associated with the Middle East,
nota bene, that Central Asia is a ticking time bomb.
About
Maryam Iman: School of Foreign Service, 2006, Georgetown University.
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Basically Central Asian