The Place of Memory in Understanding Urban Change in Central Asia: The Cities of Bishkek and Ferghana

Flynn, Moya; Kosmarskaya, Natalya; Sabirova, Guzel

doi:10.1080/09668136.2014.957926

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Several respondents noted that the propiska was needed for safety issues in the city as ‘criminal acts … were normally done by migrants’ and the system of registration allowed for easier pinpointing of criminals. The linking of criminality to internal migrants chimes with a study by Flynn et al (2014: 1514) on nostalgic memories of Frunze and how ‘long term residents, both Kyrgyz and Russian, tend to view their worsening life conditions through a prism of an invasion by migrants.’…”

Section: The Propiska and Post-socialist Urban Changementioning

confidence: 83%

Institutional transition: Internal migration, the propiska, and post-socialist urban change in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Hatcher

Thieme

2015

Urban Studies

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Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, there has been remarkable enthusiasm for theorising how transitional processes have unfolded in post-socialist cities. In seeking to extend literature that uses the post-socialist condition as a tool for theory building, we draw attention to the ongoing processes of institutional change in post-socialist cities. In doing so, we reject a 'top-down' perspective and examine how these institutional transitions are shaped through processes of 'domestication', negotiation and contestation between different interest groups in the city. We develop our argument, by drawing attention to the local political debates surrounding the propiska in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The propiska developed throughout the Soviet Union to control internal migration and is still used today in a less restrictive form. By discussing our case study, we hope to foster attention towards the ongoing contested processes of institutional transition in post-socialist cities.

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Section: The Propiska and Post-socialist Urban Changementioning

confidence: 83%

Institutional transition: Internal migration, the propiska, and post-socialist urban change in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Hatcher

Thieme

2015

Urban Studies

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“…As Schröder (2016a) points out, the memories that generate feeling are nostalgia for a past urban aesthetic of neighbourhoods, order, cleanliness and urbane sensibilities. For Flynn et al (2014) Bishkek’s post-Soviet landscape generates nostalgia for a return to how the city looked aesthetically in the late Soviet era when known as Frunze. At one point (2008–2010) the mayor proposed reconstructing the city based on photos from the 1970s (Flynn et al, 2014: 1515).…”

Section: Ludic Lives Of Bishkek’s Memoryscapementioning

confidence: 99%

The ludic lives of memoryscapes: Skateboarding post-Soviet peripheries

McDuie‐Ra

2021

Memory Studies

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Post-Soviet cities vary dramatically yet share common elements desired by skateboarders and filmers as ‘spots’; assemblages of objects, obstacles and surfaces offering the chance to perform difficult skateboard tricks in public space. Memoryscapes are desired as spots for their scale, smooth surfaces, in-built obstacles and aesthetic appeal on video. As more skateboarders travel to post-Soviet cities in Central Asia and the Caucuses, their reinterpretation of memoryscapes reveal the ludic lives of memoryscapes, the interplay between memory and place, and the tension between hegemonic memory practices of state and state-like agents and the seemingly apolitical reinterpretation by skaters. This article explores two contrasting post-Soviet memoryscapes as seen on skate video, Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) and Sukhumi (Abkhazia) to make three arguments. First, while battles are fought over public memory online and offline, skaters approach the landscape as ludic space; as playgrounds for unsanctioned performance, capture and circulation. Second, these memoryscapes are enrolled in global circulations of skate culture, giving memoryscapes an adjacent existence online detached from their intended meanings and counter-meanings. Third, in some cases the friction between ludic approaches and the power of memory unravels the singular focus on spots, even for skaters with limited knowledge of the context.

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“…This is perhaps of particular resonance in areas of urban sprawl in which architectural amnesia can create a nostalgic longing for a past place-real or imagined (Farrar 2011). 2 Specific studies examining the rapid rate of urban growth across Asia have sought to emphasize the increased importance of gaining access to historical memories of place and the continual role that such a process plays in the making of "community" Flynn et al 2014;Li et al 2010;Pan 2003;Zhu et al 2009Zhu et al , 2014. Recent research, specifically within China, has focused upon the manner through which old place names and memorial landscapes-inscribed with collective memories-aid in the construction of place based identities and attachment to specific urban neighborhoods (Li et al 2010;Zhu et al 2009).…”

Section: Memory Nostalgia and Affectmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent research, specifically within China, has focused upon the manner through which old place names and memorial landscapes-inscribed with collective memories-aid in the construction of place based identities and attachment to specific urban neighborhoods (Li et al 2010;Zhu et al 2009). Despite focusing upon notions of neighborhood identity, the recalling of past memories and reflections upon former urban communities and everyday lives has become increasingly overlooked, with emphasis instead placed upon the (re)symbolization of space and (re)branding of cities, an approach that avoids acknowledging the collective viewpoints of ordinary citizens and how they have responded to the rapid and continual alteration of differing urban landscapes (Flynn et al 2014). Moreover, there have been few studies that have evoked methodologies that can understand how places and sites of memory-beyond their forms as authored representations of the past-are experienced affectively by individuals and social groups (Till 2012).…”

Section: Memory Nostalgia and Affectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remembering the City: Changing Conceptions of Community in Urban China

Manley

Silk

2019

City & Community

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Adopting complimentary integrative research methodologies, this article examines changing conceptions of community among urban residents within the city of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China. Through local residents’ past memories, “everyday” experiences of (former) urban communities, and reflections on a particular way of life, we focus upon the subjective/affective meanings and memories attached to processes of urban change. We place emphasis on the manner in which residents make sense of sociospatial transformations in relation to the (re)making of community, local social interaction, and a sense of belonging. Discussion centers on the affective and embodied notions of a particular way of life in (older) communities; sensory performances that were deemed difficult to replicate within modern development zones and the broader field of contemporary Chinese society.

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The Place of Memory in Understanding Urban Change in Central Asia: The Cities of Bishkek and Ferghana

Cited by 13 publications

References 29 publications

Institutional transition: Internal migration, the propiska, and post-socialist urban change in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Institutional transition: Internal migration, the propiska, and post-socialist urban change in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

The ludic lives of memoryscapes: Skateboarding post-Soviet peripheries

Remembering the City: Changing Conceptions of Community in Urban China

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