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Researching Central Asia

Navigating Positionality in the Field

Editors: Jasmin Dall'Agnola, Aijan Sharshenova

Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland

Book Series : SpringerBriefs in Political Science

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Table of Contents

About this book

This open access book explores some of the struggles and challenges that researchers and practitioners face when conducting research in the Central Asian research setting. Written for scholars still in the planning stages of their research, it addresses key questions, including: How shall we problematize and reconceptualize the concept of positionality through lenses of local voices from the region? How does practitioners’ and scholars’ positionality contribute to their experiences of inclusion, exclusion, and access to the field? How do scholars navigate issues of personal safety and mental well-being in the more closely monitored societies of Central Asia?

The book includes contributors from both Central Asia and Western countries, paying particular attention to the ways researchers’ subjectivity shape how they are received in the region, which, in turn, influences how they write about and disseminate their research. In featuring an even greater variety of voices, this book fills an important gap in the literature on field research and knowledge production in and on Central Asia.

Frontmatter

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Chapter 1. The Central Asian Research Setting: An Introduction

Abstract

Researching Central Asia can be interesting, entertaining, life-changing, traumatising and, at the very least, thought provoking. The way we, Central Asians and Central Asianists, experience the region differs, but it certainly impacts our lives in a multitude of small and not-so-small ways. In this chapter, the editors reflect on the reasons why the Central Asian research setting has become more popular, and what this means both for individual researchers and the study area in general. The need to systematise and structure the diverse experiences of insiders and outsiders, the attraction of the region against the background of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the ongoing discussions of Russian colonialism and decolonisation in Central Asia have all contributed to the urgency of this book.

Jasmin Dall’Agnola, Aijan Sharshenova

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Epistemic and Methodological Uncertainty

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Chapter 2. Making Sense of Central Asia Sources of Epistemic Uncertainty

Abstract

Central Asia is in flux, and so are the perspectives and angles of intellectual inquiry, as are the modes of and approaches to the scientific investigation of the region. This paper sets out to discuss the role of academic positionality essential to this flux—caught between modernity and tradition—and reflects on one of its striking effects, epistemic ambiguity. In light of knowledge-related turns in the social sciences, notably, the epistemological twists and turns entailed in postmodernist, postcolonial, decolonial, and feminist critique, the study of academic positionality and its implications in the Central Asian context is a worthwhile pursuit.

Aziz Elmuradov

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Chapter 3. Pitfalls and Promise for Public Opinion Research in Central Asia

Abstract

The Central Asia Barometer (CAB) is one of the most active opinion polling institutions in Central Asia. It conducts large-scale surveys in all countries of Central Asia, including Turkmenistan. As the director of CAB, I coordinate the groups’ various research initiatives, ranging in methodology from phone polls to in-person interviews and focus groups with experts and the wider public. In discussing some of the challenges that my team and I face when collecting public opinion data, I seek to offer useful tips and recommendations for organisations and researchers that plan to conduct public opinion research in Central Asia.

Kasiet Ysmanova

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Chapter 4. ‘Swiping Right’—The Ethics of Using Tinder as a Recruitment Tool in the Field

Abstract

This article delves into the risks and pitfalls of using dating apps as participant recruitment tools in the field. To source people who worked in Kazakhstan’s oil industry for my Ph.D. research in 2018, I made use of various popular social media apps such as Facebook and LinkedIn as well as the dating app Tinder. In an effort to “normalise” heterodox recruiting methods, in this essay, I seek to openly discuss how Tinder helped me recruit women working in the oil sector who, under less informal circumstances, would not have agreed to talk to me for my research.

Paolo Sorbello

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Beyond ‘Outsiders’ and ‘Locals’

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Chapter 5. The Power of a Multi-layered Identity in Central Asian Research

Abstract

Conducting research in the Central Asian context is complex due to the competing historical, cultural, and linguistic narratives of the past(s) and present(s). In this essay, I, as a female Kazakh scholar, discuss how various aspects of my multi-layered positionality (e.g., gender, social status, motherhood, and institutional affiliation) shape my research in/on Central Asia. While critically reflecting on my insider versus outsider position, I also touch on my positionality as a single mother of three underaged children and how this influences the way I experience fieldwork.

Gulzhanat Gafu

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Chapter 6. Being Afghani, French and not Soviet Along the Border Between Tajikistan and Afghanistan

Abstract

How can being a French woman of Afghan origin be an asset and an obstacle in conducting research along the borderlands of Badakhshan between Tajikistan and Afghanistan? This essay draws on field anecdotes which fostered critical thinking about my positionality as a French-Afghani woman. While my French passport symbolized my foreign identity, having personal ties with Badakhshan made me not “just a foreigner” due to my Afghan heritage. I argue that having a plural identity is just as helpful in conducting ethnographic research as it can be difficult to maintain the necessary distance from the object of study and to keep my collaborators safe.

Mélanie Sadozaï

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Chapter 7. A Stranger in the Village: Anti-blackness in the Field

Abstract

In 1951, James Baldwin visited the remote town of Leukerbad, Switzerland, which inspired his essay Stranger in the Village. Baldwin’s reflection of himself as a “first” encounter with Black flesh offers a critical reflection on overlooked discussions of the fatigue that accompanies Black researchers conducting fieldwork in (post)socialist spaces. In this chapter, I reflect on the ways my Black non-binary body becomes fatigued at the intersections of blackness and sexuality in the context of contemporary Kyrgyzstan. Furthermore, I address the sedimented representations of blackness that I embody, and the interactions my embodied (mis)representations invite, pushing us to think beyond the physicality of anti-blackness and to consider its psychological effects.

Alexa Kurmanov

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Doing Research in Closed Contexts

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Chapter 8. Safety, Security, and Self-Censorship as Survival Strategies

Abstract

In this paper, I will discuss concerns of safety and security, and the resulting reluctant self-censorship as one of the many realities associated with the work of a political scientist in Kyrgyzstan. In doing so, I will combine the existing research on self-censorship and working in non-democratic environments with self-reflection as a local political scientist. In particular, this contribution dives into the intangible fear felt by researchers, who find themselves making difficult decisions on a daily basis, where personal security is an object of continuous and sometimes perceived negotiation with an invisible enemy.

Aijan Sharshenova

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Chapter 9. Navigating Academic Repression in Central Asia

Abstract

While much has been written about the risks facing foreign researchers conducting fieldwork under the “watchful eyes” of the local authorities in Central Asia, personal accounts by local scholars are less common. In this chapter, I reflect on attempts by the local organs to suppress and silence my voice, as well as to recruit me to spread government propaganda. While doing so, I examine the various state-led threats to academic freedom and researcher safety. I also discuss how these threats have affected my ability to conduct research and what others can do to avoid or manage them.

Ruslan Norov

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Chapter 10. Performative Heterosexuality: A Gay Researcher Doing Fieldwork in Central Asia

Abstract

This chapter explores the challenges faced by a foreign gay researcher in Central Asia. Drawing on personal experiences, the author reflects on the limited choices available to LGBTQ+ researchers to protect themselves, the practicalities and consequences of hiding one’s sexuality, and the limitations of performing a heterosexual male identity in the field. The author explains the strategies employed to protect their safety and the ethical consequences of silencing their own identity and values. The author also emphasises how choices made by researchers studying Central Asia become permanent features of their professional life due to long-lasting involvement in the region.

Marius Honig

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Chapter 11. From Romantic Advances to Cyberstalking in the Field

Abstract

So far, the implications of sexual advances and cyberstalking on fieldworkers’ personal and professional lives have been rarely discussed in published form. While collecting data for my postdoctoral project in Central Asia, I experienced various forms of sexual harassment, ranging from unwelcomed sexual verbal and physical advances, whistling and catcalling to stalking both off- and online. In being honest and transparent about my personal experiences with unwanted sexual advances in the field, I neither wish to draw generalisations about Central Asian men, nor to discourage other female scholars from conducting fieldwork in the region. By contrast, I hope that my personal reflections will help other researchers mitigate and avoid similar situations.

Jasmin Dall’Agnola

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Title: Researching Central Asia
Editors: Jasmin Dall'Agnola
Aijan Sharshenova
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-39024-1
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-39023-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39024-1