Postcards from Stanland: Journeys in Central Asia

by David H. Mould

Overview

Central Asia has long stood at the crossroads of history. It was the staging ground for the armies of the Mongol Empire, for the nineteenth-century struggle between the Russian and British empires, and for the NATO campaign in Afghanistan. Today, multinationals and nations compete for the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian Sea and for control of the pipelines. Yet "Stanland" is still, to many, a terra incognita, a geographical blank.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, academic and journalist David Mould's career took him to the region on Fulbright Fellowships and contracts as a media trainer and consultant for UNESCO and USAID, among others. In Postcards from Stanland, he takes readers along with him on his encounters with the people, landscapes, and customs of the diverse countries-Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan-he came to love. He talks with teachers, students, politicians, environmental activists, bloggers, cab drivers, merchants, Peace Corps volunteers, and more.

Until now, few books for a nonspecialist readership have been written on the region, and while Mould brings his own considerable expertise to bear on his account-for example, he is one of the few scholars to have conducted research on post-Soviet media in the region-the book is above all a tapestry of place and a valuable contribution to our understanding of the post-Soviet world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821421765
Publisher:	Ohio University Press
Publication date:	01/31/2016
Pages:	324
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

David H. Mould, professor emeritus of media arts and studies at Ohio University, has traveled widely in Asia and southern Africa as a trainer, consultant, and researcher. He has written articles and essays for many print and online publications. Born in the United Kingdom, he worked as a newspaper and TV journalist before moving to the United States in 1978.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Preface xi

1 Travels in "Kyrzakhstan" 1

2 Sacred Mountain and Silly Borders 14

3 How Do You Say "Rump Roast"? 41

4 Kasha, Honor, Dignity, and Revolution 63

5 On and Off the Silk Road 94

6 To Be a Kazakh Is to Be "Brave and Free" 131

7 Father of Apples 160

8 The President's Dream City 181

9 Coal and Steel 211

10 No Polygon, No Problem 233

11 Wheat and Oil 258

12 The Seven Lessons from Stanland 278

Notes 289

Glossary and Acronyms 295

Acknowledgments 299

Index 303

Editorial Reviews

“An illuminating travelogue through Central Asia…. As a genial travel guide, Mould, an academic who doesn’t write like an academic, shows how one should resist the temptations to stereotype a culture too easily and understand it too quickly.”—Kirkus Reviews


“Mould is the ideal author to demystify the region and its people…. (An) accomplished tome that covers topics ranging from culture and politics to history, the environment, economics, and human rights. Of particular interest are sections that probe national identity; the literary landscape of Semay, Kyrgyzstan; and his overall impression of Central Asia. VERDICT: With a sense of humor, Mould’s memoir will…stimulate interest in this lesser-known region.”—Library Journal


“Books providing
 a stimulating, readable survey of the five countries that straddle Europe and Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan—targeted at those with little or no existing knowledge are few and far between. David H. Mould’s Postcards from Stanland promises to be a notable exception. …The western traveler to Central Asia is rare. One with the patience, enthusiasm and attention to detail to provide a considered and mostly vivid portrait…is rarer still. For that reason, Postcards from Stanland is a valuable contribution to the literature on the region.”—New Eastern Europe


“Postcards from Stanland is an ambitious undertaking, encompassing the history, politics, sociology and local color of a part of the world almost unknown and often misunderstood outside the territory. We would all do well to study and learn more from Mould’s observations.”—Book Reporter


“Postcards from Stanland is strongest when it discusses the subtleties of national and ethnic identity and the way the past affects the present.”—The Asian Review of Books


“The book’s mixture of personal anecdotes, political analysis, historical background, and cultural commentary makes it both an enjoyable and instructive read. … With its rich depiction of life in Central Asia and authoritative yet accessible style, Postcards deserves a wide audience, from high school students to secretaries of state.” —EurasiaNet


“Books providing a stimulating, readable survey of the five countries that straddle Europe and Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan—targeted at those with little or no existing knowledge are few and far between. David H. Mould’s Postcards from Stanland promises to be a notable exception. …The western traveler to Central Asia is rare. One with the patience, enthusiasm and attention to detail to provide a considered and mostly vivid portrait…is rarer still. For that reason, Postcards from Stanland is a valuable contribution to the literature on the region.” —New Eastern Europe

From the Publisher

01/01/2016
When U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry mistakenly called "Kyrgyzstan" "Kyrzakhstan" in 2013, he surely was not alone in misidentifying one of the smaller "stanland" countries of central Asia. Mould (professor emeritus, media studies, Ohio Univ.; American Newsfilm 1914–1919) is the ideal author to demystify the region and its people as, since the mid-1990s, he has returned to Kyrgyzstan and central Asia many times to work and teach journalism. His account informs readers of nepotism, corruption, and bureaucracy in government and academia in the region. His travels provide further exposure to spectacular scenery and the lives of the ordinary people throughout central Asia. Although the author humbly admits that his writing is "offbeat and non-academic," he nevertheless delivers an accomplished tome that covers topics ranging from culture and politics to history, the environment, economics, and human rights. Of particular interest are sections that probe national identity; the literary landscape of Semay, Kyrgyzstan; and his overall impression (Mould calls it "seven lessons learned") of central Asia. VERDICT With a sense of humor, Mould's memoir will ameliorate the reader's likely ignorance of Kyrgyzstan and stimulate interest in this lesser-known region.—Victor Or, Surrey Libs., BC

Library Journal

2015-11-29
An illuminating travelogue through Central Asia. Born in England, where he worked as a journalist, Mould (Dividing Lines: Canals, Railroads and Urban Rivalry in Ohio's Hocking Valley, 1825-1875, 1994, etc.) came to America in 1978 for graduate school and became a faculty member at Ohio University, where he is now a professor emeritus of media studies. His background thus provides contrast with the experiences that inform the book. "Since the mid-1990s," he writes, "I've traveled to Central Asia, mostly to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, more than a dozen times to teach at universities, lead workshops for journalists and educators, consult with TV and radio stations, and conduct research." The author recognizes that the two countries he names will be unfamiliar to a general readership. Yet these and other nations that have arisen in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union are among the world's largest, though subject to name changes within the cities of their blurring borders and shifting perspectives to the legacies of Lenin, Stalin, and Soviet repression. Mould plainly feels considerable affection for the people he brings to life here, while his extended experiences in "Stanland" are marked by a tension between illumination and frustration. "I don't deliberately stay in rundown Soviet-era hotels so I can write about them later," he writes. "Sometimes, there's just no alternative." The author covers a lot of ground, historically and geographically, taking readers from rural areas to industrial regions to sites contaminated by nuclear testing that its natives refuse to leave. He provides some educational direction in cultures where professors generally teach by lecturing, rather than working with prospective journalists on how to practice their craft, where students and professors alike admit to engaging in bribery, and where officials believe "the goal of journalism education should be to prepare students to work in government media and corporate public relations." As a genial travel guide, Mould, an academic who doesn't write like an academic, shows how one should resist the temptations to stereotype a culture too easily and understand it too quickly.

Kirkus Reviews