Fragile Conviction Fragile Conviction Changing Ideological Landscapes in Urban Kyrgyzstan Mathijs Pelkmans Cornell University Press Ithaca and London Copyright © 2017 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2017 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2017 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Pelkmans, Mathijs, 1973– author. Title: Fragile conviction : changing ideological landscapes in urban Kyrgyzstan / Mathijs Pelkmans. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016038591 (print) | LCCN 2016038725 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501705137 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781501705144 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781501708374 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501708381 (pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Ideology—Kyrgyzstan. | Kyrgyzstan—Intellectual life. | Kyrgyzstan—Religious life. | Post-communism—Kyrgyzstan. | Kyrgyzstan—Politics and government—1991– Classification: LCC DK916 .P45 2017 (print) | LCC DK916 (ebook) | DDC 200.95843—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016038591 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. All photographs are by the author. Cover photograph of abandoned train tracks leading to the former coal mine in Kokjangak, July 2008, courtesy of the author. To my daughters, Sophie, Emma, Sasha Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments x A Note on Transliteration and Translation xiii Introduction: Ideational Power in Times of Turmoil 1 Part I: Uncertain Times and Places 1. Shattered Transition: The Reordering of Kyrgyz Society 17 2. Condition of Uncertainty: Life in an Industrial Wasteland 46 Part II: Dynamics of Conviction 3. What Happened to Soviet Atheism? 77 4. Walking the Truth in Islam with the Tablighi Jamaat 102 5. Pentecostal Miracle Truth on the Frontier 124 6. The Tenacity of Spiritual Healing and Seeing 148 viii Contents Conclusion: Pulsation and the Dynamics of Conviction 170 Notes 185 References 195 Index 209 Illustrations Bishkek’s Ala-Too Square in August 2003, with Lenin statue, soon to be removed, and the National History Museum 19 Bishkek’s Ala-Too Square with the new Manas statue 21 The patched-up Lenin statue in the center of Kokjangak 44 Abandoned train tracks leading to the former coal mine in Kokjangak 47 The five-story apartment buildings in the center of Kokjangak 58 UNDP workers and their local counterparts holding a meeting in Kokjangak 71 The home of Kadyr and his family in the neighborhood K ȯ lm ȯ 78 Aikan and some of her friends on a picnic in the hills outside Kokjangak 139 Mother and son 166 Acknowledgments This book has been in the making for a long time. Initial ethnographic fieldwork was conducted as part of a research project on religious conver - sion, carried out while I was based at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology between 2003 and 2006. But it was only after I took up a po - sition at the London School of Economics and Political Science that the project expanded and slowly morphed into a book about the dynamics of conviction, and for which I conducted additional ethnographic fieldwork in the period between 2008 and 2013. I am heavily indebted and very grateful to those who accompanied me on parts of the fieldwork. Himia Suerkulova was my United Nations Vol - unteers (UNV) counterpart back in 1998 and 1999, and assisted me for a month in 2004 while conducting a series of interviews with specialists and officials; Damira Umetbaeva was an excellent research assistant from 2003 to 2004 when she was still an undergraduate, and has since then become a close friend and colleague; Nurgul introduced me to the spiritual world of clairvoyants and healers, a world that otherwise would have remained Acknowledgments xi largely invisible to me; Emil Nasritdinov collaborated with me in a related research project on former mining towns, and invited me to travel with the Tablighi Jamaat on several of its mission trips. Particular gratitude goes out to Kadyr Osmonov, who, together with his wife, Aziza, was an excel- lent host and became a close friend. It was with great sadness that I learned of his untimely death in 2011. I have benefited from the institutional funding of the Max Planck Insti - tute for Social Anthropology, and am grateful to its director, Chris Hann, for pointing out some of the larger theoretical implications of what was then still a modest project. Most of the writing was conducted during a one-year sabbatical at the LSE. Sections of two chapters have appeared in previous publications. Portions of chapter 4 were published in a much shorter publication titled “Awkward Secularity between Atheism and New Religiosity in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan,” in the volume Atheist Secular- ism and Its Discontents: A Comparative Study of Religion and Communism in Eurasia , edited by T. Ngo and N. Quijada (2015). Parts of chapter 6 appeared in “Mediating Miracle Truth: Permanent Struggle and Fragile Conviction in Kyrgyzstan,” in The Anthropology of Global Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism , edited by S. Coleman and R. Hackett (2015). Early chapter drafts were presented at workshops and departmental seminars: in the UK at Brunel University, SOAS, the University of Kent, University of Oxford, Sussex University, and the University of East Lon- don; in Central Asia at the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University and the American University of Central Asia; and in Germany at the Humboldt University, the Max Planck Institute for Cultural Diversity, and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Special thanks to Julie McBrien, Deniz Kandiyoti, Julie Archambault, David Pratten, Emil Nasritdinov, Damira Umetbaeva, Isak Niehaus, David Henig, Narmala Halstead, Marloes Janson, Jon Mitchell, Svetlana Jacquesson, Philipp Schröder, Yuliya Shapoval, and Manja Stephan-Emmrich for asking per- tinent questions and for offering the possibility to present ideas that were often still embarrassingly underdeveloped. It was a privilege to present three of the book’s chapters at my home department’s Friday Seminar and to receive the thoughtful and critical feedback of my colleagues, including Matthew Engelke, David Graeber, Fennella Cannell, Michael Scott, Alpa Shah, Deborah James, Katy Gardner, Harry Walker, Hans Steinmuller, Stephan Feuchtwang, Maurice Bloch, Laura Bear, Catherine Allerton, Rita xii Acknowledgments Astuti, Charles Stafford, Nick Long, and Gisa Weszkalnys. The detailed comments of the two anonymous reviewers were invaluable for making this book a stronger one, as was the editorial guidance of Roger Malcolm Haydon and Jim Lance at Cornell University Press. I am especially thank- ful to Bruce Grant, for his critical, thoughtful, and detailed comments on the penultimate draft of this book. Finally, my greatest gratitude goes to my partner, Judith Bovensiepen, for her teasing critiques, demands for clarity, and loving support, which not only enabled the completion of this book, but made the writing process so much more enjoyable than it other- wise would have been. A Note on Transliteration and Translation In transliterating Russian from the Cyrillic I have used the Library of Con- gress system. For Kyrgyz I have used the same system with the exception of the following letters: ө = ö and ү = ü. When appropriate I have placed the original terms in parentheses, indicating whether they are Kyrgyz or Russian terms. I have not done this in all instances because several key words are used in both languages and because many of the spiritual and political terms are linked less to a “national” language than to a religious or political tradition. All translations are my own, except where noted. Fragile Conviction Introduction Ideational Power in Times of Turmoil As we marched through the streets, I felt full of energy. It was scary when the riot police attacked us, but we managed to push back. Somehow I felt strong, and then stronger still when other groups joined us. There was a lot of cheering. I was like, Wow, I never knew that so many people were against [President] Akaev. . . . At the time I was convinced [ uveren ] that what we were doing was important. For me it was about democracy and freedom, and about fighting against corruption. I was convinced that if we succeeded, things would be better. . . . When I came home [to the shared flat] that afternoon, I found the other girls sleeping. I was amazed that they were not even aware of what was going on. [Later] they were critical of my involvement because they knew that my parents were against me being involved. But I was just amazed that they didn’t care. . . . At that point I did not have doubts. My first doubt, as you call it, happened the day after the revolution [when shops were being looted]. We formed patrols to protect the shop owners; it was dangerous. Aigerim, who had joined [the youth movement] KelKel 1 at the same time as me, mentioned to me, “This looting was not supposed to happen.” That is when I started to doubt. Also because the atmosphere [in KelKel] had changed; it became clear that many [of its members] had joined for their own interests. For me it had been about discussing ideas and the future of our country. . . . Maybe I was also trying to fill a void in myself; to be part of a group like this felt good. But for many of the others it was about something else, about supporting a family member or about pushing their own careers. We had these meetings [in the weeks after the Tulip Revolution]. The discussions were no longer about ideas. It was all about dividing up the trips [abroad], about who would speak where. . . . I got fed up with it, and left. Later on I started to read about the problems with democracy [as a concept] and about NGOs and how they were financed from the West. And I was disappointed in [the new president] Bakiev. My KelKel acquaintances from back then would say, “Yes, Bakiev is terrible, but still it is good that the revolution happened.” Personally I don’t know if it was good or bad. 2 Intro duction Mirgul’s account 2 of her experiences with the youth movement KelKel and her involvement in the Tulip Revolution of April 2005 provides a brief re- flection on a situation that was at first hopefully embraced as a means to the peaceful displacement of a corrupt government, but ultimately resulted in widespread disillusionment when the prevailing opposition leader, Kur- manbek Bakiev, instated a regime that was even more objectionable than that of his predecessor, Askar Akaev. 3 The intensity of the event, as much as its ephemeral and ultimately disillusioning qualities, is reflective of Kyr - gyzstan’s tumultuous post-Soviet political trajectory, a period in which po- litical and religious movements and prophets thrived, usually only for brief moments. Situated in this turbulent environment, Mirgul’s story directs attention to the mechanisms by which individuals become committed to a cause and gain certainty about the meaning and value of the ideas involved. For several weeks Mirgul had been convinced that the removal of President Akaev from office would result in more freedom and allow for a more democratic form of government, both of which were sacrosanct values to her at the time. Initially uncertain about the prospects for success, she was both surprised and emboldened by the realization that she and her fel- low revolutionaries were supported in this struggle by a mass of people. In those moments she felt great clarity: the goals seemed clear and near, and motivation peaked. However, her certainty, commitment, and clar- ity turned out to be fleeting. When we first spoke about her experiences, three years after the revolution, she saw herself as having been terribly naive—still an undergraduate student—a young woman who had found herself caught up in the moment. In this book I examine ideational power by focusing on the energy and momentum that are built into “flashes of conviction” like the one described by Mirgul. The focus is on the affective dimension of collective ideas, on the energy that both animates and exceeds societal structures. 4 I analyze how ideas gain momentum when shared by a group of like-minded compatriots and the transformative potential these ideas can have when directed toward a clear goal or distinct enemy. The brightness of the flash of conviction should, however, be examined in view of the flickering that came before and the afterglow left in its wake. That is, because conviction unfolds in real time, it needs to be looked at in relation to the doubts and hesitations that may precede or accompany Ideational Power in Times of Turmoil 3 it, and the satisfactions or disillusionments that may succeed such a flash. Mirgul’s conviction was not diminished by her friends’ criticism or her par- ents’ disapproval. On the contrary, her sense of righteousness was intensi- fied by their critique, just as the experience of warding off a police attack emboldened her. In fact, Mirgul’s belief in and commitment to the cause eroded only after an insider (a friend and fellow KelKel member) started to express criticism. This set in motion a series of nagging doubts that were fed by the egotistic attitude of other KelKel members and the disappoint- ing conduct of the new government. In this process, the signifiers “free - dom” and “democracy” changed meaning, now referring to careerism and disagreeable geopolitical agendas. These shifts and changes demonstrate the importance of paying due attention to the social, epistemic, and affec- tive dimensions of the making and unmaking of temporary conviction. By using the concept of conviction I aim to draw attention to the fluc - tuating intensity and quality of attitudes, motivations, and beliefs. So how does this instance of momentary political clarity compare to other forms of conviction? I could equally have started this introduction with some of the other flashes of conviction that feature prominently in this book. For example, the account of a miracle at a Pentecostal church in southern Kyr- gyzstan would have illustrated the affective energies released by collective prayer. A description of the application of rhythmic sound and touch by spiritual healers would have made the bodily sensations experienced by patients palpable. A sketch of the “inspired fellowship” (Turner 2012, back cover) among Tablighi Muslims during their proselytizing trips would have provided insight into how fantastical images become experienced as real. An account of the arrival of international aid workers in a destitute mining town would have illuminated the vital connections between hope, conviction, and disillusionment. These instances of conviction have varying intensities, rhythms, and scopes, the documentation and comparison of which will serve to bring to light the various dimensions of ideational power. But the point is also that the described pattern—the swelling of momentum, the flash of intensity, the release of energy—points at a dynamic that exceeds the particularities of each instance of conviction. Referring to this dynamic as “pulsation,” I theorize how ideational power is produced and released, and with what effects. Pulsation describes the trajectories of collective ideas whose intensity waxes and wanes over time. Moreover, as a sensitizing concept, pulsation