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9780745315034

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'An impressive account of the drama which is happening in one of the biggest post-Soviet republics unnoticed by the rest of the world.' Boris Kagarlitsky, author of Russia Under Yeltsin and Putin 'Nazpary's brilliant analysis of post-Soviet Kazakhstan reflects the author's deep ethnographic immersion in the everyday life-worlds of those inhabitants of Almaty who have been dispossessed rather than enriched by the new order that they describe as 'chaos'. He offers a detailed acco unting of their human costs, especially for women, while also offering new perspectives on ethnic tensions in urban space on the periphery of the former Soviet Empire. Essential reading for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of what capitalist globalization means for ordinary people, the grim social and political realities analysed in this book resonate far beyond the former USSR.' John Gledhill, Manchester University 'Post-Soviet Chaos has an importance well beyond social anthropology and Central Asian studies. What Rigi describes for Almaty, Kazakhstan is a pattern which is emerging in many parts of the world: a local mafia and their political allies terrorize and dominate a local population while international capital penetrates and consolidates its hold on new open markets. Rigi's account focuses on the strategies adopted by ordinary, but now 'dispossessed', people to survive this ruthless process. People cope through their increased reliance on kin and friendship networks, household economies dependent on barter, theft, sex work and a marriage market dominated by the values and wealth of the new rich. Rigi's attention to the highly gendered aspects of these strategies is one of the many strengths of this work.' Nancy Lindisfarne, SOAS

'The most important book you can read about Central Asia' -- Jonathan Neale, Bookmarks 'A wonderfully vivid account of the 'chaos' people see around them in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. An insightful exploration of the ways and means of the dispossessed in an unpredictable world' -- Caroline Humphrey 'Nazpary's brilliant analysis of post-Soviet Kazakhstan reflects the author's deep ethnographic immersion in the everyday life-worlds of those inhabitants of Almaty' -- John Gledhill, Manchester University

Author Information

Joma Nazpary is a Research Associate at the Department of Anthropology, the University of Manchester. Nazpary was born in Baluchestan, Iran and was a political prisoner in Tehran. He studied in Sweden, 1983-85, gained a BSc in Anthropology, learnt Russian, and completed his PhD in 1998 . He speaks Swedish, English, Russian, Arabic, Baluchi, Farsi and Tadjiki.

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