Abstract

Before and during Perestroika era, many Soviet Central Asians turned their backs on everything branded as “Soviet”, condemning the conservatism and the “socialist” lifestyles of the generation previous to them, which effectively built the Soviet state. However, with the passage of time (19 years), the majority of these critics have done a volte-face in favour of speaking out on the positive aspects of those times – emphasizing the stability of everyday life, the quality of human relations and social and economic security of the Soviet era. In a very real sense, a phenomenon of reversal is occurring in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan with regard to the assessment of conditions in the Soviet era. This talk will use oral history to answer questions like, what are the reasons for such a turnabout, who are these senior citizens of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, who up until a decade or so ago expressed critical denial of their own history and who now view with such nostalgia? This project is a part of the Islamic Area Studies project from the University of Tokyo and the University of Tsukuba, Japan. Prof. Dadabaev sheds light on the nature of Soviet dissolution.