Stuff of boundaries? Kyrgyz–Russian marriages and the actualization of ethnic difference

Pelkmans, Mathijs ORCID: 0000-0001-5188-3470 and Umetbaeva, Damira (2018) Stuff of boundaries? Kyrgyz–Russian marriages and the actualization of ethnic difference. History and Anthropology, 29 (5). pp. 541-562. ISSN 0275-7206

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Abstract

What are ethnic boundaries made of? How do people come to experience such boundaries? Notwithstanding the formidable analytic attention to the role and effects of boundary drawing in social life, such questions are rarely asked. We look at the apparently stable boundary between Russians and Kyrgyz villagers in the Issyk-Kul region to trace how its dimensions were naturalized through settler colonialism, Soviet modernization, and post-socialist upheaval. But even if naturalized, the boundary behaves as a “presence absence” whose relevance fluctuates and whose momentary features remain unpredictable, as we demonstrate by focusing on transgressive mixed marriages between Russian and Kyrgyz villagers.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ghan20/current
Additional Information:	© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Divisions:	Anthropology
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Date Deposited:	15 Jan 2019 15:22
Last Modified:	13 Sep 2024 13:28
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/91812

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