Learning To Become Turkmen

Learning to Become Turkmen examines the ways in which the iconography of everyday life—in dramatically different alphabets, multiple languages, and shifting education policies—reflects the evolution of Turkmen society in Central Asia over the past century. As Victoria Clement shows, the formal structures of the Russian imperial state did not affect Turkmen cultural formations nearly as much as Russian language and Cyrillic script. Their departure was also as transformative to Turkmen politics and society as their arrival. Complemented by extensive fieldwork, Learning to Become Turkmen is the first book in a Western language to draw on Turkmen archives, as it explores how Eurasia has been shaped historically. Revealing particular ways that Central Asians relate to the rest of the world, this study traces how Turkmen consciously used language and pedagogy to position themselves within global communities such as the Russian/Soviet Empire, the Turkic cultural continuum, and the greater Muslim world.

Learning to Become Turkmen examines the ways in which the iconography of everyday life—in dramatically different alphabets, multiple languages, and shifting education policies—reflects the evolution of Turkmen society in Central Asia over the past century. As Victoria Clement shows, the formal structures of the Russian imperial state did not affect Turkmen cultural formations nearly as much as Russian language and Cyrillic script. Their departure was also as transformative to Turkmen politics and society as their arrival. Complemented by extensive fieldwork, Learning to Become Turkmen is the first book in a Western language to draw on Turkmen archives, as it explores how Eurasia has been shaped historically. Revealing particular ways that Central Asians relate to the rest of the world, this study traces how Turkmen consciously used language and pedagogy to position themselves within global communities such as the Russian/Soviet Empire, the Turkic cultural continuum, and the greater Muslim world.

On October 27, 1991, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Hammer and sickle gave way to a flag, a national anthem, and new holidays. Seven decades earlier, Turkmenistan had been a stateless conglomeration of tribes. What brought about this remarkable transformation? Tribal Nation addresses this question by examining the Soviet effort in the 1920s and 1930s to create a modern, socialist nation in the Central Asian Republic of Turkmenistan. Adrienne Edgar argues that the recent focus on the Soviet state as a "maker of nations" overlooks another vital factor in Turkmen nationhood: the complex interaction between Soviet policies and indigenous notions of identity. In particular, the genealogical ideas that defined premodern Turkmen identity were reshaped by Soviet territorial and linguistic ideas of nationhood. The Soviet desire to construct socialist modernity in Turkmenistan conflicted with Moscow's policy of promoting nationhood, since many Turkmen viewed their "backward customs" as central to Turkmen identity. Tribal Nation is the first book in any Western language on Soviet Turkmenistan, the first to use both archival and indigenous-language sources to analyze Soviet nation-making in Central Asia, and among the few works to examine the Soviet multinational state from a non-Russian perspective. By investigating Soviet nation-making in one of the most poorly understood regions of the Soviet Union, it also sheds light on broader questions about nationalism and colonialism in the twentieth century.

She was a sixty-two-year-old California grandmother, retired program director and college professor when she joined the Peace Corps. Within months, Joan Heron found herself in Turkmenistan, a small, impoverished country born out of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Using meager resources, a beginner’s grasp of the Russian language, tremendous trust in friendship and a can-do will, Ms. Heron embarks on a two-year adventure in an alien, male chauvinist, often obstructionist environment. Her compelling true story, told with humor and immense compassion for the people and their plight, reaches across borders, cultures and politics to illuminate the strength and riches of the human spirit.

In 2004, Sam Tranum moved to Turkmenistan, an isolated, totalitarian petrostate bordering Iran and Afghanistan, to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer. That same year, the Economist magazine predicted his new home would be the worst place in the world to live, despite the fact that its leader, known as Turkmenbashy, insisted that his country was experiencing a Golden Age. This is the story of Tranum's nearly two years in Turkmenistan, dodging secret police, exploring ancient Silk Road cities, covertly teaching classes on democracy and human rights, and learning to appreciate fermented camel's milk.

Translated as "The Book of the Soul" this is the manifesto of Saparmyrat Niyazov Turkmenbasy - the leader of the Turkemen. In this book, volume one of Ruhnama, Turkmenbasy lays out the history and the expected conduct of the Turkmen people. This book had become a cult book in Turkmenistan, leading daily life from schools to job interviews. Dive into the mind of the Turkmen people under the rule of Niyazov in the book- Ruhnama

This catalogue explores extraordinary silver jewellery created by Turkmen tribal craftsmen and urban silversmiths throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. It presents nearly 200 pieces in glorious detail, ranging from crowns and headdresses to armbands and rings, and featuring accents of carnelian, turquoise, and other stones.

Few Westerners have ever laid eyes on these marvelous creatures, but the author was determined to see and ride them, and to spend time with their breeders and trainers.

A collection of photographs depicting the surreal reality of Turkmenistan whilst under the harsh dictatorship of Saparmurat Niyazov.