Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number of linkages have been established between newly independent Central Asian states, or populations within them, and diaspora ethnic groups. This book explores the roles that diaspora communities play in the recent and ongoing emergence of national identities in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
The loyalties of these communities are divided between their countries of residence and those states that serve as homeland of their particular ethno-cultural nation, and are further complicated by connections with contested transnational notions of common cultures and 'peoples'. Written by highly respected experts in the field, the book addresses issues such as nationalism, conflict, population movement, global civil society, Muslim communities in China and relations between the new nation-states and Russia.
This innovative book will interest students and researchers of transnationalism and Central Asian studies.

About the Author

Touraj Atabaki is Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute of Social History, Professor of Modern History at the University of Amsterdam and Professor of Iranian and Central Asian studies at the University of Utrecht.
Sanjyot Mehendale is Executive Director of the Caucasus and Central Asia Program at the University of California at Berkeley. She is also the director of the Uzbek-Berkeley Archaeological Mission.

Reviews

'This volume constitutes a welcome addition to the expanding literature on transnationalism and new diasporas, particularly considering that scholarship on post-Soviet Central Asia and the Caucasus is less prominent in diaspora studies.' - International Affairs

'Certainly recommendable to both an academic and a graduate readership for its contrintion to the ongoing debate on multiple and divided loyalties and for the light it sheds on less researched empirical cases.' - International Affairs

Book Information
ISBN 9780415498982
Author Touraj Atabaki
Format Paperback
Page Count 254
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 470g