DGA Student, Assel Rustemova, Co-Authors an Important Piece Comparing Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
Assel Rustemova, Ph.D. Candidate in the Division of Global Affairs, co-authored an article entitled ‘Mass Spectacle and Styles of Governmentality in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.’ The article was published in the academic journal Europe-Asia Studies, which was named Soviet Studies from 1949 until 1993. Rustemova and Harvard University Professor Laura Adams explore the relationship between the state and population that Michel Foucault (1991) termed governmentality. The authors highlight what they found to be important differences between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan that larger political analyses might overlook. They argue that Kazakhstan under President Nazarbaev and Uzbekistan under President Karimov have developed distinct styles of governmentality. This difference exists despite commonalities in formal politics and the fact that stability is the primary end that determines the behavior of both governments. In their analysis, Rustemova and Adams describe how power relations manifest in each country, and to interpret how the differences influence various symbols and practices with a focus on holiday celebrations in particular. The causes of the differences found are tangential to their discussion. They reveal the positive consequences of power, such as how power ‘induces pleasure, forms knowledge, produces discourse . . . [rather than just] as a negative instance whose function is repression’ (Foucault 1980, p. 119). This article should be of interest to a wide variety of people for the innovative theoretical framework and rich ethnographic data.
Assel Rustemova is a Ph.D. Candidate in Global Affairs at Rutgers University-Newark. Her dissertation compares the styles of governmentality in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Assel completed her M.A. in International Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. and her undergraduate studies at the Kazakhstani State National University in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Citation: Adams, Laura L. and Rustemova, Assel (2009) ‘Mass Spectacle and Styles of Governmentality in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan’, Europe-Asia Studies, 61:7, 1249 — 1276
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713414944
Europe-Asia Studies is the principal academic journal in the world focusing on the history and current political, social and economic affairs of the countries of the former ‘communist bloc’ of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Asia. The journal explores the economic, political and social transformation of these countries and the changing character of their relationships with the rest of Europe and Asia.
