Essay Questions #2.

Choose two questions in the first category.  Choose two more questions from the other categories—each one from a different category.  Write no more than 1.5 pages double spaced for each answer. Papers are due no later than Thursday, June 12^th. Please leave your paper in a box outside my office in SST 565. I will not accept papers by email.

1.  Central Asia in general:

• How did the Afghan war influence domestic politics in the Soviet Union, including in Central Asia?
• Describe how the fall of the Soviet Union impacted one Central Asian country?
• Discuss the culture, history and politics of one Central Asian country since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
• Discuss the expansion of the Turkic languages and cultures in Central Asia.  [delete--Any residual bad feelings over this assimilation?]
• Describe the differences between the nomadic and non-nomadic peoples of Central Asia and the challenges the Soviets had governing the nomads?
• Compare Uzbekistan’s and Tajikistan’s political problems and resulting social problems?
• How did Soviet soldiers fighting in Afghanistan talk about who they were fighting and how did they see themselves and their role in that war?
• Describe the role of gender in Central Asian cultures.  How is this role different from general roles in western cultures?
• Describe the lasting influences of the Soviet era on a specific country in post-Soviet Central Asia.
• What is the legacy of Islam in the Central Asian countries?
• Describe the environmental problems that have occurred in Central Asia .
• What are the similarities between the Caucasus and Central Asian countries?
• How does the destruction of the Aral Sea represent environmental problems in the Central Asian territories under the Soviet government?
• Compare sedentary and nomadic communities and how these different lifestyles affected the people and cultures of the region.

2.  Uzbekistan:

• What were the eating habits of the Uzbeks before and after the fall of the USSR?  Have western eating habits influenced the Uzbeks?
• Give an in-depth look at Uzbekistan and how Russians influenced/took advantage of them in pre- and post- Soviet Union.
• [delete--In what way has Uzbekistan’s African history affected the country today?]

3.  Tajikistan:

• [delete--Describe the civil war in Tajikistan.]
• How was the civil war in Tajikistan different from the wars of the Caucasus that began after the breakup of the Soviet Union?  How was this war resolved and what can we learn from it?
• The origins of Tajikistan are explained in Everyday Life… in Central Asia.  Summarize the creation of Tajikistan into what it has become today.
• Discuss the causes and effects of the civil war in Tajikistan.
• How is Tajikistan impacted by [delete--responding to] its gradual Turkization?

4.  Turkmenistan:

• What was nomadic life like for the Turkmen before the Soviet era?  How did it change during the Soviet era, and what is it like now?

5.  Kazakhstan:

• [delete--What happened regarding nuclear testing?]  What was the aftermath of nuclear testing above ground in Kazakhstan?
• Talk about the nuclear testing above ground in Kazakhstan and describe how it was involved in the cold war.
• Describe the conflicts/crises of the Aral Sea and nuclear situation in Kazakhstan.  Explain why these crises were important and the type of behaviors that caused these grave and life-claiming situations.  Use examples from the class lectures and readings.

6.  Kyrghyzstan:

• Describe the main issues that led to the Tulip Revolution and the results of that movement in Kyrghyzstan today.

Updated June 3, 2008