Nick Megoran explores the process of building independent nation-states in post-Soviet Central Asia through the lens of the disputed border territory between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In his rich "biography" of the boundary, he employs a combination of political, cultural, historical, ethnographic, and geographic frames to shed new light on nation-building process in this volatile and geopolitically significant region. Megoran draws on twenty years of extensive research in the borderlands via interviews, observations, participation, and newspaper analysis. He considers the problems of nationalist discourse versus local vernacular, elite struggles versus borderland solidarities, boundary delimitation versus everyday experience, border control versus resistance, and mass violence in 2010, all of which have exacerbated territorial anxieties. Megoran also revisits theories of causation, such as the loss of Soviet control, poorly defined boundaries, natural resource disputes, and historic ethnic clashes, to show that while these all contribute to heightened tensions, political actors and their agendas have clearly driven territorial aspirations and are the overriding source of conflict. As this compelling case study shows, the boundaries of the The Ferghana Valley put in succinct focus larger global and moral questions of what defines a good border.

Nationalism in Central Asia: A Biography of the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan Boundary (Central Eurasia in Context, 26)

Politics & Social Sciences

Megoran, Nick

Politics & Government

University of Pittsburgh Press

Does life have meaning, purpose and value? Can we know whether God exists? If he does, why does he allow bad things to happen? How can we make sense of death, and what lies beyond it? And how can we live life well during a personal, national, or global crisis? Human beings have always asked these big questions. However, crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2007-2008 financial collapse, or the War on Terror following the 9/11 attacks, make them seem more urgent and harder to avoid.This short book is an accessible introduction to these questions. It makes no assumptions about the reader's beliefs but is written for anyone who wants to understand how Christian ideas can help make sense of life and live it well during difficult times.Each chapter is illustrated with examples from the lives of a wide range of people over time, as well as stories from films, novels, and music, to help the reader think through these weighty issues in an engaging way.

Big Questions in an Age of Global Crises: Thinking about Meaning, Purpose, God, Suffering, Death, and Living Well during Pandemics, Wars, Economic Collapse, and Other Disasters

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

Wipf and Stock

From handshakes on the White House lawn to Picasso's iconic dove of peace, the images and stereotypes of peace are powerful, widespread and easily recognizable. Yet if we try to offer a concise definition of peace it is altogether a more complicated exercise. Not only is peace an emotive and value-laden concept, it is also abstract, ambiguous and seemingly inextricably tied to its antithesis: war. And it is war and violence that have been so compellingly studied within critical geography in recent years. This volume offers an attempt to redress that balance, and to think more expansively and critically about what peace means and what geographies of peace may entail. The editors begin with an examination of critical approaches to peace in other disciplines and a helpful genealogy of peace studies within geography. The book is then divided into three sections. The opening section examines how the idea of peace may be variously constructed and interpreted according to different sites and scales. The chapters in the second section explore a remarkably wide range of techniques of peacemaking.This widens the discussion from the archetypical image of top-down, diplomatic state-led initiatives to imperial boundary making practices, grassroots cultural identity assertion, boycotts, self-immolation, ex-paramilitary community activism, and 'protective accompaniment'.The final section shifts the scale and focus to everyday personal relations and a range of practices around the concept of coexistence. In their concluding chapter the editors spell out some of the key questions that they believe a geography of peace must address: What spatial factors have facilitated the success or precipitated the failure of some peace movements or diplomatic negotiations? Why are some ideologies productive of violence in some places but co-operation in others? How have some communities been better able to deal with religious, racial, cultural and class conflict than others? How have creative approaches to sharing sovereignty mitigated or transformed territorial disputes that once seemed intractable? Geographies of Peace is the first book wholly devoted to exploring the geography of peace.Drawing on both recent advances in social and political theory and detailed empirical research covering four continents, it makes a significant intervention into current debates about peace and violence.

Geographies of Peace: New Approaches to Boundaries, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution

McConnell, Fiona

Williams, Philippa

I.B.Tauris

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