This chapter is an interesting comparison between life in Soviet apartment blocks and mahallas in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Liu shows that those living in the mostly Uzbek mahallas turn more to Islam for moral guidance than those living in the Russian apartment blocs. Sections: Bazaar Nexus; Soviet City; Entering the Mahalla; Conclusion: Two Cities, Two Visions
Comments: 2/2/10
Below are a few quotes relating to Liu's contemporary distinction between Islam in the mahalla and Soviet apartment blocs. An interesting comparison to this is Geiss's "Mahallah and Kinship Relations," which discusses historical distinctions with regard to Islam and Islamic law in mahalla-based and tribal-based social structures.
- "The rest of the city, composed of residential neighborhoods called mahallas and populated mostly by ethnic Uzbeks, is associated variously with Central Asian traditionalism, Islamic mores, patriarchy, close community, and Uzbek territoriality." (p. 66)
- Regarding those living in Soviet apartments: "Very few of these youth are turning to Islam as the key to making sense of present hardship or to effecting desired outcomes. If they turn to religion, they mostly look to evangelical Christianity or Bahaism, which they regard as connected to the outside 'modern world,' in contrast to either Islam or Russian Orthodoxy, which the Central Asian states officially recognise as the indigenous faiths of the region." (p. 76)
- Regarding those living in mahallas: "For these people, Islam is necessary for the proper moral formation of persons (a notion they call tarbiya, the discipline of Islam) that would produce a peaceful and hard-working populace necessary for the political and economic development. It acts as an antidote against rampant post-Soviet ills such as idleness, disrespect for authority, sexual immorality, and alcohol or drug use, criminal activities, official corruption, ethnic violence, etc." (p. 79)
