Download - AUCA Magazine Fall 2012
the
Kyrgyz
Family
Tree
American University of Central Asia
AUCA MagazineSeptember 2012
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AUCA Magazine
You may send your correspondence and subscription inquiries to: AUCA Magazine | American University of Central Asia, 205 Abdymomunov St., Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic 720040 | Tel./Fax: (996 312) 66-45-64, E-mail: [email protected], www.auca.kg
CONTENTS
05Editor’s Note
06Message from the President
07-15University Update
30-37Alumni Spotlight
39Class Notes
AUCA Magazine Feature:Research
16Patronage and Democracy
20Modesty in Marijuana
23Building a Research Hub
28Profile: Svetlana Jaquesson
American University of Central Asia, founded in 1993, is dedicated to educating leaders for the democratic transformation of the region. It is the most dynamic and student-empowering education available, and is the only university in Central Asia with the authority to grant degrees accredited in the United States. AUCA equips its graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary to solve problems and open doors in this rapidly changing and
developing region and the world beyond...
Contributors:Natali AnarbaevaMichelle LeightonKasiet Okenaeva
Altynai UsubalievaSven Stafford
Pictures: AUCA Archives
Aaron ChoiEmil Akhmatbekov
Design and Layout:Emil Akhmatbekov
Publication teamEditor-in-Chief:
Altynai Usubalieva
Copy Editor:Sven Stafford
On the cover: "The Kyrgyz Family Tree" by Aaron Choi
Dear friends,
Fall always arrives earlier at AUCA with freshmen arriving for their first rendezvous with the university. It feels strange to walk through crowded and noisy halls after a quiet summer. But AUCA was working hard to improve while students were off on summer break.
AUCA’s new international dormitory will be ready to meet fresh New Generation Academy Students as well as international freshmen and students on scholarship.
One of the reforms initiated by AUCA President Andrew Wachtel is to develop AUCA into a leading research university in Central Asia. His reasons and the vision are discussed in detail in an interview with the President, Professor Zarylbek Kudabaev of the Economics Department and Professor Alex Cigale, a senior instructor of the Foreign Language Program.
AUCA alumni are also active researching. This Magazine features two alumni research projects: one about Marijuana production in the Kyrgyz Republic, the other about Patronage and Democracy.
This August AUCA opened the doors of the New Generation Academy, and this issue features profiles of six of the 70 new students joining us from the regions of the country. NGA grants students with great talent from low-income families the opportunity to enter top universities after completing a rigorous, year-long curriculum in English, Math, Science, and Arts.
The Tian Shan Policy Center and Fulbright Alumni Association of Kyrgyzstan held an event to launch a new book entitled “Contemporary International Law Materials and Cases” in June 2012. The book, which was edited and published by law professors from three universities in the Kyrgyz Republic, is the first resource book to help modernize Kyrgyz legal education on human rights.
The AUCA administration has been very active in working on AUCA’s image throughout the country, and special effort was given towards reaching the Kyrgyz-speaking audience. We have made the articles and TV reports available for you at our website (www.auca.kg), on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/myauca), on Youtube (aucapubrel) and on twitter (Myauca).
With the hope for an even more fruitful fall season,
editor's note
Altynai UsubalievaPublic Relations Director
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5AUCA Magazine*August 2012
What is the appropriate relationship between teaching and research at a
21st century liberal arts university? This vexed question gets to the very heart of
the university’s mission and has been debated at length both in the United States
and abroad. In the post-Soviet space, the question takes on added significance
because the tradition of combining undergraduate teaching and academic
research is for the most part a new one. For in the Soviet period, knowledge
creation (research) was the function of specialized institutes. Knowledge
transmission (teaching) was the job of universities where the results of research
trickled down to faculty, who themselves generally did not actively engage in the
research enterprise, and were then passed on by them to students.
AUCA, when it began, was almost exclusively a teaching institution, whose
mission was to open the minds of a new generation of students. Increasingly,
however, two things have become clear: the separation between knowledge
creation and knowledge transmission is neither economically sustainable nor
intellectually justifiable. Practically no state (and particularly not the resource
constrained Kyrgyz state) has the resources or the desire to support a large cadre
of scholars who produce abstract research that has no clear connection to the
practical needs of the state and its citizens. And, given the extraordinary pace
of change in the world today, faculty who do not participate actively in research
become hopelessly out of date quite quickly and are therefore unable to teach
their students what they need to know. This is especially true when, as is the
case in Kyrgyzstan, substantial research, which must be supervised by the
faculty, is supposed to be produced by students as a prerequisite for graduation.
As a result, AUCA has come to appreciate that we need to encourage
and invigorate the research of our faculty, and to connect that research both
with the needs of the Kyrgyz Republic and Central Asia and to the needs and
intellectual curiosity of our students. To be sure, AUCA will remain a university
whose primary goal is excellent liberal arts teaching, but we recognize that
such teaching cannot be successful unless it is underpinned by a high-quality
research enterprise. We have already created a number of institutes and centers
within the university to encourage research in which AUCA can become a
serious international player, and we expect to expand these through a series
of partnerships that will incorporate an ever-growing percentage of our faculty
as well as our best undergraduate students. This issue of the AUCA magazine
highlights our current research efforts, which will undoubtedly grow as our
faculty and students become more ambitious and successful. I hope you will be
as excited about the knowledge creation activities of AUCA faculty, alumni and
students as I am.
President's Column
Andrew B. WachtelPresident
6 AUCA Magazine*August 2012
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NewGenerationAcademy
Students at NGA will complete
a year-long rigorous course
of study in English, Kyrgyz,
Russian, Math, History and Science
oriented toward developing critical
thinking. Building on AUCA’s
experience of running its existing
Preparatory Program, NGA will provide
students with a foundation to access
quality university education.
70 full-funded scholarships
were granted to those with strong
academic potential who may not have
benefited from a full range of teaching
in high school and whose families
cannot afford high quality education.
Scholarships cover the cost of tuition,
room and board as well as academic
materials. In addition, for students
who successfully complete the NGA
program, and who demonstrate
financial need, up to 30 fully-funded
scholarships for study for four-year
degrees at AUCA will be available
beginning in 2013 and 2014.
The establishment of NGA is
another important step towards the
realization of AUCA’s goal to create
opportunities for deserving students
from all of the regions of the Kyrgyz
Republic regardless of their financial
means.
We are pleased to introduce a
few of the students and their thoughts
on being in the inaugural class.
Adilet Dubaev:
“I will do my best
studying now that I
don’t have to think
about money.”
After graduating from
Balykchy Technological
Lyceum №22, I chose to apply to
American University of Central Asia,
but did not score high enough on the
entrance exams. I started thinking
that I would not able to fulfill my
dreams, but then my friends told me
about NGA. I learned more about it
and found out that NGA recruits high
school graduates to help them prepare
for university. My family advised me
to apply instead of letting go of my
dreams.
How did the entrance exams go?
First I filled in a questionnaire. I
also had to write an essay about my
plans for the future. My competitors
came from all around the Kyrgyz
Republic. Then in May I learned that
I had passed to the second round and
headed to Karakol where the semi-
finals were held. There our English
language skills were tested and we
did an interview in English. I think
the interview played a large part in the
decision making. Within one week
I received the great news about my
acceptance. I talked to my parents
and they agreed, after hearing about
all of the benefits that NGA provides,
and I signed the agreement.
Syrgak Elemanov:
“I will make every
effort to become one of
the top 15 students.”
I graduated from
Kirgshelk High School
in the Issyk-Ata District.
While attending high school I also
worked as a volunteer for the Ministry
of Youth Affairs, where I learned about
NGA. After getting more information
about the goals of NGA, I decided to
test my knowledge. The results of the
first round were announced a little
bit late, and I was nervous that I had
been denied acceptance. I was so
happy to be notified about passing to
the second round. There were a lot
of psychological questions during the
interview. When I learned about my
acceptance I immediately shared the
news with my friends and relatives.
AUCA has finished the selection
process for the first class of 70 students
to attend the New Generation Academy.
The students come from all the regions
of the Kyrgyz Republic and started their
program on August 26, 2012.
WELCOME tO
NGA
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7AUCA Magazine*August 2012
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I have been attending English
language courses since second grade.
My 9-year old brother is also very
eager to learn English. We lost our
father when I was 8 years old, and
since then my mother was the one
who took care of my brother and I.
My biggest desire is to become one
of the top 15 students at NGA, which
would allow me to receive full financial
support to study at AUCA for 4
years. NGA accepts true leaders from
different schools across the country. I
believe that at NGA we will become
each other’s greatest motivation to do
our best.
Viktoria Mustafina:
“I still cannot believe
that I am one of the
scholarship winners.”
I graduated from
Bishkek School №9
this year. I heard
about NGA from my sister, who goes
to AUCA. We discussed it with my
parents and decided to try to win
the scholarship. The interview was
not easy for me. There were a lot of
people sitting in the room who made
me even more nervous. I still don’t
believe I am one of the lucky NGA
scholarship winners. NGA also takes
into account the financial situation of
every family. I am from a common
family where my father is a teacher
and my mother is a housewife. I
believe that the experience, skills, and
knowledge that I will receive during
my study at NGA will be a big step for
me.
Alina Adylbek kyzy:
“My dream is to
become an AUCA
student.”
I studied at Kyrgyz-
Turkish Anadolu
Lyceum. I’ve always wanted to study
at AUCA as it is the best university
in the country. I plan to become
a businesswoman in the future. I
decided to enter NGA to reach
my goals. NGA will assist us in
developing our analytical skills and
teach us how to see the essence of
different things.
I am the oldest of 5 siblings in
my family, and that means I have to
be an example for my siblings. My
parents were happy to hear about my
acceptance to NGA. Now I have a
chance to strengthen the knowledge I
got at my Turkish Lyceum. Last year
I was planning to enter AUCA, but
after hearing about NGA, I decided to
spend a year enhancing my knowledge
and skills. This will be the best time
investment in my future.
Myrza turatbekov:
“I would like to help
people in need.”
I graduated from
Asankul Akaev
School of Kyzyl-
Bairak Village, Kemin
District. I learned about NGA from
AUCA representatives that visited our
school. I was the only one from our
district that was chosen. I am from
an ordinary family, but my parents
got divorced when I was little and
I was raised by my grandmother. I
have one older sister. There would be
absolutely no chance for me to study
at a place like NGA financially, so the
opportunity provided by NGA to study
for free is the best thing. I could not be
happier.
Meerim Aliaskarova:
“I was in a hurry to
enter the Academy.”
I have lived at the
Meerim Bulagy
(Source of happiness) Orphanage in
Issyk-Kul since I was 6. I studied
there until 9th grade, after which I
studied at the №5 School in Kant. As
soon as I learned about NGA enrolling
talented kids from low income
families, I was in a hurry to enter. I
did not think that I would have any
opportunities to enter one of the top
universities, and was happy to find out
that NGA was offering scholarships.
I have worked on my English since
grade 6. Even though it was not easy
to enter NGA, I was confident in my
level of knowledge. My competitors
were tough. I cannot describe the
happiness I felt when they told me
I was accepted. I will try hard, and
I want to continue my education at
AUCA in psychology. I think that this
profession is in demand right now
and I would like to make a difference
in preserving friendship between
nationalities in the Kyrgyz Republic.
All NGA students reside at the
brand new AUCA International
Dormitory. The building, opened
in 2012, has room for 140
students and resident assistants
to live comfortably. The dormitory
also features a full computer lab
and entertainment area, WiFi
throughout the building, shared
kitchen and laundry rooms, and
an outdoor patio area for games
and hanging out. To find out
more about the dormitory or
applying to AUCA, please email [email protected].
8 AUCA Magazine*August 2012
On Thursday, May 31st,
with the help of AUCA
students, faculty, alumni,
board of trustees, sponsors, and U.S.
Ambassador Pamela Spratlen, a time
capsule was laid in the foundation of
the new AUCA campus building to
signify the beginning of construction.
During the first week of June concrete
started pouring the foundation for
what will become a state-of-the-art,
green campus, and an example for
sustainable living in Central Asia.
The occasion was marked with
words from AUCA President Andrew
Wachtel, Ambassador Spratlen, and
Chair of the AUCA Board of Trustees
William Newton-Smith. Dr. Newton-
Smith said that the 50-year capsule
gave much too short a time horizon,
and that he would prefer to have it
be opened in 3012, or better yet, to
merely place an infinity sign on the
capstone. The capsule, he said, would
then serve as motivation for all future
generations of AUCA students and
faculty.
Ambassador Spratlen thanked the
Kyrgyz government for their support of
the university through their generosity
regarding the current AUCA campus,
and was equally excited about the US
government's support of AUCA and its
move to a new, modern facility.
President Wachtel shared that in
50 years, he hopes that students will
talk about the new campus as the "old
campus building," and that by 2062
AUCA will have multiple buildings and
campuses, and be not only the best
university in Central Asia, but one of
the best in the world.
The time capsule was laid in
cement, and contained issues of the
New Star student newspaper, the
AUCA Magazine, several business
cards from current staff, faculty,
sponsors and board members, several
library cards from graduating students,
and AUCA paraphernalia. The capsule
also included letters from the alumni,
student senate, president, as well as a
compact disc of AUCA events, which
we sincerely hope will be able to be
played in 2062.
tiME CApSuLECAMpuS upDAtE:
university uPdate
by Natali Anarbaeva
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The publication is available in both Russian and English, and accessible for free on CD and web formats through a grant by the United States Emabssy and Fulbright Alumni Association.
EDuCAtiONCASE StuDy:LAW
university uPdate
by Michelle Leighton
10 AUCA Magazine*August 2012
C ontemporary International
Law, which was edited and
published by law professors
from three universities in Kyrgyzstan,
American University of Central Asia,
Kyrgyz National University, and
Kyrgyz State Academy of Law, was
celebrated as the first such resource
book to help modernize Kyrgyz
legal education. It will be made
available for free in Russian and in
English to help support teachers, and
allow students to gain access to the
international materials, documents,
and norms being taught and applied
in European, U.S., and other
advanced Asian countries. It can also
serve as a major supplement to the
Kyrgyz law curriculum, and a teaching
and learning guide for the subjects of
law, international relations, business,
and other fields. Policy-makers,
lawyers, and judges may also find the
book helpful in analyzing key global
issues and jurisprudence that affects
Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian
Countries.
At the ceremony, honorary
copies of the book in Russian and
English, and a CD containing both
editions, were presented to Ms. Asiya
Sasykbaeva,Vice Speaker of the
Parliament, Jogorku Kenesh, who is
member of the Parliament’s Committee
on Human Rights, Constitutional
Legislation and State Governance,
and former Head of “Interbilim
Center”, a human rights and education
organization. The Jogorku Kenesh has
also requested copies of the book for
the Speaker and for each Committee
of Parliament. These will be provided
as requested. At the event, honorary
copies of the book in both languages
were also presented to Mr. Christian
Wright, Public Affairs Officer for the
United States Embassy. In accepting
the books on behalf of the Embassy
and his office, which
supported the publication
of the book, Mr. Wright
thanked the working
group of professors
and the Fulbright
Alumni Association. He
welcomed the publication
and anticipation of the
next steps to distribute
the book and raise
awareness among
teachers of this new
resource. During the
ceremony, students who dedicated
their time to assisting in the research
and publication of the book were
provided a Certificate of appreciation
and acknowledgement for their
dedication and contribution. At the
close of the ceremony, the working
group of professors from the three
universities, AUCA’s Tian Shan
Policy Center, and Fulbright Alumni
Association of Kyrgyzstan identified
the need to find resources in order
to realize translation of the book into
the Kyrgyz language and to facilitate
additional trainings that members
of the working group can undertake
with teachers and students in other
parts of Kyrgyzstan on using this new
resource as a teaching supplement.
They urged participants and donors to
help collaborate on these next steps of
activity.
usefulness of the international Law
Guide
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11AUCA Magazine*August 2012
As the issues society faces
become more closely interlinked,
global governance mechanisms
and international law play an
ever increasing role in domestic
life. Scholars share a common
understanding that the sources,
even subjects, of international
law are expanding as the world
becomes interlinked and ever more
globalized, and as domestic relations
affect international relations. Those
engaged in navigating this ever
changing terrain or seeking to
promote better international relations
must continually keep current on
the evolution of law created by new
multilateral treaties, global regulatory
bodies, and the jurisprudence of
international tribunals. As experts,
we never cease to be students of
this evolutionary process. The
Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic
is one of the most progressive in
its recognition that “international
treaties to which the Kyrgyz Republic
is a party…and also the universally
recognized principles and norms
of international law shall be the
constituent part of the legal system of
the Kyrgyz Republic.”
The actors with the heaviest
influence on trends in international
trade and investment priorities,
economic development, and rules
of equitable governance and
human freedoms are more often
intergovernmental bodies and non-
state actors, such as businesses,
trade associations, humanitarian
and human rights agencies, and
other civil society organizations. The
implementation of new international
practices and standards at the national
level helps countries to strengthen
their business relations, domestic
investment, the rule of law, and
understanding of global foreign affairs.
Please follow the link to get access to the book: www.tspc.auca.kg
This new book prepared
especially for Kyrgyzstan seeks
to capture both the foundational
principles on which our international
legal system depends, and normative
frameworks representing future legal
trends. The cases and materials were
selected to provide a distinct focus
on issues relevant to Kyrgyzstan and
Central Asian countries. In this way,
the book can be a useful resource
to support university teachers and
students in their studies related to
international law, foreign affairs,
business, and other fields.
Zhumgalbek uulu Rakhatbek, American Studies - '13
What was the purpose of the internship? What responsibilities did
you have?
The program provided students with an opportunity for professional development and to infuse the public sector of the Kyrgyz Republic with the enthusiasm, energy, and skills of future leaders of the country. The internships concluded with students submitting a 10-to-12 page, professional-quality academic report
On June 29, 15 AUCA juniors
and seniors finished their
internship in key parliamentary
committees of the Jogorku Kenesh, and
were awarded with certificates.
The event was hosted by
committee supervisors, staff of the DAI
Parliamentary Strengthening Project,
representatives from USAID, and OSCE
donors, who worked on placing the
students in parliamentary committees.
Ross Brown, the Head of the
Military Political Unit of OSCE, began
with a speech, and then awarded
AUCA interns with certificates. After
that, successful interns gave speeches
giving gratitude to the program and
internship supervisors.
Diana Durusbek and Jumgalbek
Rahat, two of the interns, were pleased
to share their experiences.
BRiGHtiNtERNSHip
FutuRE
LEADS tO
on a topic related to the intern’s field of study/scope of work at the Jogorku Kenesh.
Most of my assignments were connected with providing background information for the members of my department. Since I was working in the Department of the Committee for Regulations of the Jogorku Kenesh and Ethics, I was writing background statements for legislative bills, writing comparative analysis based on local and international experiences, translating documents (Kyrgyz, Russian, and English), and identifying gaps in the functioning of the Jogorku Kenesh. I also participated in different parliamentarian meetings, conferences, seminars and worked with many projects.
How were you selected?
From December 2011-January 2012, I participated in a two-tier selection process. First, I submitted my CV and a one-page statement of
purpose essay explaining why I wanted to intern in the Jogorku Kenesh. Later, I was invited to the interview where I tried to show and prove my desire to work in the Parliament of Kyrgyz Republic. Then, I was selected.
Was it helpful for you? Why?
I developed writing skills that allowed me to write important documents both in Kyrgyz and Russian languages. Using new computer programs helped me to write in Kyrgyz properly. Also, organizing events and managing projects gave me new organizational skills. I learned to be more responsible and it helped me to work in the department and deal with different projects at the same time.
What knowledge gained at AuCA helped you?
I consider my communication skills as the main contribution of AUCA in this program. I developed these communication skills at the university
university uPdate
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12 AUCA Magazine*August 2012
and it helped me reach to people on different levels, in different languages, and in different contexts. It also helped me to keep balance and be objective during conflict situations. I understood that the ability to communicate properly played a significant role when building a career in the public sector. Also interns from AUCA were friendly and responsible, which allowed us to work as a team while implementing different projects. And finally, during some university courses I got specific information about the parliamentary system that helped me to understand the functioning of our Parliament.
Would you like to continue to work in this sphere? What plans do you have?
The internship gave me the real image of how the legislative branch of the Kyrgyz Republic works. The functioning of the Jogorku Kenesh has an impact on all spheres of the country. My experience in the Jogorku Kenesh was useful and will contribute
to my development.
During the internship I understood that it is quite possible to build a career in the Jogorku Kenesh. However, I also got appropriate knowledge and skills to continue a career in other parts of the public sector. My patriotic attitude, hardworking approach, and leadership qualities give me an advantage if I choose to work in the public sector.
Diana Durusbek, international and Comparative politics - '12
What did you learn from this internship?
This internship contributed to the development of my communication skills, and enhanced my awareness of the importance of working as a team based on social consensus.
How did your AuCA education help you during your work?
I am sure my critical thinking and analytical skills gained at AUCA helped me face challenges throughout the internship. One of the most interesting classes that I took at AUCA was Public Policy Analysis, where each student was required to write a policy brief by the end of the semester. I got to contribute to many such papers during my internship. In addition, in the middle of the semester a role model game was initiated, where each student got to play the role of a certain decision-maker concerning a particular legislative project. Although by the end of the course my knowledge of the public sector was more theoretical, I understood how the decision-making process worked, what was needed, and how to come to a consensus with so many various opinions. After the internship I truly appreciate how complicated the decision making process can be.
What kind of knowledge did you get?
I wrote a lot of official letters and statements, provided analysis based on logically structured arguments and reliable information, working with legal documents, and asking reliable and well-thought, well-structured questions. These are the most important skills I gained during the internship. It was a lively learning experience and I left with a new perspective.
How has this internship influenced your future plans?
Being a foreign policy maker here is my career goal. This professional experience in the public sector of the Kyrgyz Republic is vital for getting this kind of job. For example, the state's public policy as regards to migration questions is certainly reflected in its foreign relations with other states. Immigration of Kyrgyz citizens to Russia is one of the key factors influencing Russia-Kyrgyz Republic relations. Therefore, I do see my future career closely connected with the public sector.
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ALuMNiREuNiON
On May 26, 2012, the 15th Alumni Reunion took place at the Jannat Hotel in Bishkek. All in all, 140 alumni participated in this memorable event, including the first president of the AUCA, John Clark, who attended as an honorable guest speaker. Current President Andrew Wachtel also delivered a speech concerning last year’s developments and spoke about the construction of the new campus. The Alumni Council representatives presented the Unity Fund with the James Wade Emison III Alumni Leadership Award in recognition of their leadership qualities in public service and individual integrity. Jenny Jie received the award on behalf of the Unity Fund. Following the awards and speeches, the guests enjoyed an evening entertainment program and listened to live music which this year was hosted by Marat Yusupov. In addition, the organizers accompanied the entertainment with a new raffle that will become a tradition in future alumni reunions. The event organizers would like to express their gratitude to all of the event sponsors who courteously provided this year’s raffle prizes. Thos sponsors include: Turkish Airlines, Jannat Hotel, Life Fitness Sports Club, Continuing Education Centre at AUCA, Kapriz Issyk-Kul, Karven Club, Karven Restaurant, Prego Restaurant, Evromoda, Mia, Levi’s, Colin’s, Moulin Rouge, and Megacom. Turkish Airlines kindly provided a prize of 2 roundtrip tickets to Istanbul, and Jannat Hotel awarded an inclusive wedding package that offered a one night stay at their luxury suite, an outdoor wedding chapel, and a 10% banquet discount. All proceeds from the raffle went toward the AUCA Alumni Scholarship.
researCH
Rahim was from Bulak,
a village in the Chui
Valley. Rahim was
widely respected in his community as
a result of the success he found after
the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He graduated with distinction from
the Kyrgyz Academy of Medicine
in Bishkek in 1998, and over the
course of the next ten years built
several successful businesses.
Rahim, encouraged by his
relative Turgunbek, then Minister
of Public Health, entered politics
DEMOCRACy&pAtRONAGE by Sven Stafford
16 AUCA Magazine*August 2012
researCH
and was appointed to several
governmental positions. He was
eventually appointed president
of a fund to provide credit to
entrepreneurs in the Kyrgyz Republic.
In this capacity, Rahim was able
to raise KGS 3.4 million (about
$100,000 adjusted for inflation) for
investment.
Rahim had more going for
him than his talent for business and
politics. He was descended from a
Kyrgyz aristocratic line, Ak-Jol (or ak
söök, meaning the descendants of
the nobles), and traced his patrilineal
descent back to Nurmanbet, one of
the most ancient Kyrgyz lines.
The Ak-Jol line today comprises
over seventy households throughout
the Kyrgyz Republic. Although
Rahim was young to be a leader with
such a powerful community position,
he used his lineage to expand the
network of relations and supporters
around him. Eventually he was given
the name öz ball (own son), which
helped him to maintain his honored
position without violating the rules
and norms of the community.
In 2007 Rahim mobilized
this community and was elected
to parliament as a member of the
Social Democratic Party of the
Kyrgyz Republic. His grandmother
had always reminded Rahim to be
with the people, and Rahim took
the advice to heart. In parliament
he used his position to encourage
business and provide jobs and to
build schools and hospitals. In the
community he supported culture and
put on lavish celebrations.
Rahim's one disadvantage was
that he had nobody to whom he
could pass on his success. His lack
of 'appropriate brothers' stemmed
from the fact that Rahim had no
sons, just one sister, and two male
cousins who were considered his
closest kin. This mattered a lot
when, in 2008, Rahim disappeared
and was never heard from again.
Aksana Ismailbekova
(AUCA Anthropology '05)
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17AUCA Magazine*August 2012
interviewed Rahim for her dissertation,
"The Native Son and Blood Ties:
Kinship and Poetics of Patronage in
Rural Kyrgyzstan." Aksana submitted
her thesis last year at the Martin
Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg,
and when we sat down in Bishkek to
talk last summer she was on her way
down to Osh to complete research on
the June 2010 events.
Over the past twenty years
Aksana has watched as a debate in
the Kyrgyz Republic has taken place
over what comes first: kin or law. In
most places around the country, the
answer depends on the strength of the
kin present. In Bishkek you will find
many people who understand that
the rule of law is desirable, but find
nobody who is willing to enforce it.
The collapse of the Soviet
Union left people expecting the same
level of service from a government
that, to this day, does not have the
resources to provide it. A vacuum
of power never exists for very
long, and to cope with the lack of
state-provided support, people in
the Kyrgyz Republic began to rely
on traditional relationships and
patronage systems.
Some areas of the country
experience little to no influence
of large family relationships. In
research done by former AUCA
Professor Gulzat Botaeva (Article,
pg. 20) there is little evidence of a
patronage system in an Issyk-Kul
village where people make their
living by selling marijuana. This
contrasts greatly with the case of
Rahim, who used his family network
to dominate his village and take over
surrounding villages.
Rahim routinely used the
power of his patronage
to enlarge his family and fatten his
coffers. His family connections in
Kazakhstan opened up the possibility
for him to export milk. These
profits allowed him to buy up former
collective farms under suspicious
conditions. Rahim then replaced
many of the experienced farmers with
family members, and forced others
living on the farms into a sort of
indentured servitude, making them
completely reliant on the patron's
largesse.
Rahim also used public funds
that he directed at the time to make
infrastructure improvements and
investments on his properties and
for his businesses. Not even religion
could get in the way of his business
prospects, as he used his position
as a local administrator to block the
construction of a local mosque in
favor of a community health center
that in which he had a personal
stake.
In that altercation, Rahim used
his connections within the state
apparatus to delay efforts being made
to construct the mosque. Rahim also
colluded with those same people to
secure funding for the future clinic.
Publicly Rahim used his community
influence to question the motivation
for the mosque, and the foreign
source of funding. Rahim was able
to legitimize his position through
a vote that took place at a village
meeting, taking steps to make sure
that opposition was limited.
The Kyrgyz Republic is singled
out for its adoption of democracy in
a region known for strong autocrats,
but does a democracy built on a
combination of rule of law as well
as patronage qualify as democratic?
Aksana says that it does.
In the case of the 2007
parliamentary elections, Rahim's
hometown of Bulak serves as an
example of what Aksana considers a
localized Kyrgyz democratic process.
It is common knowledge in the
country that politicians pay for votes
during the election process. In 2007
community elders came together to
demand the purchase and renovation
of an old store into a cafe that could
be used for weddings and events.
This kind of patronage, Aksana
argues, is a democratic process that
allows people to participate in village
decisions. Before the election took
place Rahim took the demands of
the village into consideration before
providing the younger people with a
stadium, the elderly with a traditional
yurt, and the poor with a horse. This
endeared him to three sectors of
the population, and convinced the
villagers that electing Rahim was in
their long-term interest.
Rahim was running under for
Social Democratic Part (СДПК),
which opposed the party of
then President Bakiyev (Ak-Jol).
Despite the pressure to support the
presidential party, who retained
a majority of the seats in the
parliament, villagers routinely asked
local campaigners for Ak-Jol to stop,
and did not distribute flyers that were
given to them.
On election day Rahim's
chief of staff Oroz used all of his
connections to get out the vote,
helping students travel back to
the village, picking up elderly and
helping obtain the proper documents.
At the end of the day 700 of the
eligible 1000 had voted, leaving 300
unused ballots. Instead of destroying
the ballots, as was mandated by law,
Oroz suggested to the central election
commission monitor that the ballots
be distributed instead among party
members.
The party members filled out
the remaining ballots, including 50
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18 AUCA Magazine*August 2012
The people justified the violation of the election
rules by organizing their election in a way that took into account local
practices as well as democratic ideas of equal
representation.
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that were filled out by the election
monitor, who ended up voting neither
for Ak-Jol, her party, or the Social
Democrats, but for a third, neutral
party. In the end 90% of the votes
came in for Rahim.
State authorities declared
the election a success, while
international observers showed
corruption to be everywhere, and
called for the vote to be annulled.
Aksana says that the truth lies
somewhere in between. There was
indeed corruption with bought votes,
and corrupt officials. The people,
however, chose to participate in
the flawed process because they
benefitted from participating.
The people in Bulak justified
the violation of the election rules by
organizing their election in a way
that took into account local practices
as well as democratic ideas of equal
representation. In the end the
community was more upset about 10
legitimate votes cast for Ak-Jol from
unknown citizens than the 300 that
were cast fraudulently.
It is unclear why, after a little
over a year in office, Rahim
was disappeared. It is possible that
because of his membership in the
opposition that he was seen as an
obstacle that had to be removed. The
perpetrator also could have been local,
as Rahim collected several enemies
over the time he was distributing
profits to only those in his admittedly
extended circle.
What is certain is that Rahim
was quickly forgotten. Rahim's
grandmother told Aksana that lines
of people used to come and see her
every day to ask a favor of Rahim, or
to invite Rahim to a birthday party
or celebration. After he disappeared
only a few families came by to
give their condolences for her loss,
and she was no longer invited to
participate in community life.
Rahim's lack of sons and
brothers meant that there were
no strong patrilineal lines to carry
on his work after he passed. The
hundreds of family members that
Rahim brought into his circle through
extensive ancestral research and
family tree fidgeting were accepted
by the community because of the
strength of Rahim. With his passing
Rahim's strongest patrilineal ties,
to his father's brother's sons, were
irresponsible and not accepted by the
community as 'appropriate' brothers.
Some of the businesses still
remain in the hands of those who
were close to Rahim, while others
have passed on to new patrons. It
is unclear whether a new partron
will be able to consolidate economic
and political power the same way
Rahim was able to. Changes to the
way the parliament is elected seem
to make it less likely of a Rahim
repeat. Current parliamentarians
are put forth on party lists, which do
not necessarily correlate to specific
districts of the country. But it is not
clear yet if this change has weakened
or simply shifted patronage in the
country.
Aksana says that the villagers
are not blind to the excesses and
manipulations of patrons like
Rahim, but they also feel that it is
better to have a patron than to have
nothing. As long as the federal and
local governments remain weak and
unable to provide the most basic
of services, patrons such as Rahim
will come and go with various levels
of strength and influence. Even
if it were the case today that the
government could provide, it is
unlikely that the Kyrgyz people would
submit to a democratic system with
no regard for the Kyrgyz family tree.
Aksana is married and has
a child. Her husband Rufat, who
is also a Kyrgyz citizen, has just
completed his masters degree in water
management, and Akbar (6 years
old) attends school in Halle but has
become a fan of Dusseldorf football
club, who were just promoted to the
Bundesliga this year.
During the week Aksana
commutes to her institute in Berlin
to work on her research and teach
classes. She has written her
dissertation and conducts her research
in English. And despite only having
two semesters of German at AUCA
prior to leaving for Germany, she has
advanced enough to co-teach upper
level anthropology courses.
Although she travels back to
the Kyrgyz Republic frequently to
conduct surveys and interviews, she
and her husband hope to move back
permanently to the Kyrgyz Republic
as soon as they can find the right
opportunity.
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MARijuANAMODESty iN
by Sven Stafford
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Lake Issyk-Kul is typically booming in late July and early August. Tourists from
surrounding Central Asian countries and the entire city of Bishkek descend on the mountain lake for fresh air, cool water, and a break from civilization. While some locals earn their entire living from the summer economy surrounding the lake, for lakeside communities located outside the main tourist belt July and August, like most of the other months of the year, getting by can be a struggle.
Except for the months directly following the harvest in autumn, finding the money to support a family in these agricultural areas is hard. With no futures market or government insurance program to speak of, families must front all the costs of their harvest. Profits only come in September/October assuming that the harvest is good. That success is not only important for survival, but also to be an active member of the community, attending weddings, birthday parties, and local meetings.
As the costs of daily life mount, families in the region are not without options. Relatives that work in nearby Kazakhstan or Russia may send remittances. UNDP data show that in 2010 remittances made up about 27% of GDP, with 88% of those remittances coming from Russia. 2011 UNDP estimates have remittances growing by 33% year on year.
If there are no family members sending cash home, they definitely have access to a burgeoning microfinance industry. Over the past 10 years over 200 microfinance agencies have appeared in the country offering loans from as little as KGS 2000 ($42.4) to as much as $110,000. Kompanion, one such company, has over 164 offices throughout the country, with an average loan size of $468. The industry is estimated to reach about 500,000 people, or 10% of the country.
Despite its reach and its reputation for decreasing poverty, it is unclear that microfinance has been a boon to the farmers around Issyk-Kul. In many cases the microfinance institutions are unable to reach the
poorest section of the population, and have little interest in doing so. Microcredit is also unsuited to agriculture, since loan payments are collected every month, but profits only come in during the harvest. For these reasons many people along the lake do not avail themselves of the loans available to them.
Even when the revenue does come in, it is often paltry. Potatoes sell for 5 KGS/kg ($.10), while milk sells for 6 KGS/l ($.12). It is possible to get higher prices in Bishkek, the capital, but transporting the produce 7-8 hours on bad roads wipes out any added value. There is no mechanism in the country to guarantee a price, and no insurance against a bad harvest or drought.
So if a family does not have an earner abroad, or is not willing to take the financial risk of a mircrofinance loan, what are they to do? The options are limited. The government does not have the resources or creativity to provide solutions. The private sector is not willing. Yet some communities around Issyk Kul have discovered an alternative sector. They are selling marijuana.
Marijuana grows wild around Issyk Kul in an
area estimated from 7,000 to 26,000 hectares. During the Soviet Union cannabis from Issyk Kul was considered the highest quality available, and was known among drug users from Belarus to Siberia as "ruchnik." Although there have been many efforts by Soviet and Kyrgyz governments to rid the valley of the drug, it comes back every year as potent as before.
July and August are the months when the plants start to produce the resin (the most compact form of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that produces the drugs narcotic effects) that the valley is famous for. The hashish picked around the lake can be so potent that a piece the size of a sunflower seed added to a cigarette can produce the desired effect. Although there are many forms of marijuana that can be produced, the cheapest and easiest form is to simply cut the buds, dry them out, and sell them in matchboxes as "grass."
After the initial collapse of the
Soviet Union, these matchboxes became a type of currency. People would give matchboxes as gifts at weddings, and use them for payments for services. Twenty years hence the local economy is stronger and some government services have returned. In many cases, the people no longer need the sales of marijuana to survive.
But there is no sign of production slowing down. The plant is ubiquitous so access is easy. Police are unable to monitor even a small percentage of drug harvesting. When police do happen upon someone in the trade, as little as KGS 1000 ($21) can turn their heads. For larger infractions, the bribes can grow up to KGS 100,000 ($2,100).
The communities understand the dangers of drug use, and there is little sympathy for those who get caught dealing. Yet the fact that marijuana is still sold (The Kyrgyz government estimates around 10-20 tonnes per year), even when it is no longer necessary for survival, raises several questions about the economic dynamics of these communities and how they have developed over the past twenty years.
I talked with Gulzat Botoeva, an AUCA lecturer from 1999-
2008, to discuss her research on marijuana production around Issyk-Kul. Gulzat is completing her sociology Ph.D. from Essex University in the United Kingdom, where she also earned her masters in 2005. She is very composed and measured when talking about her research, which she will submit in October.
Marijuana production was the topic of Gulzat's thesis, and she has been doing research on communities that surround the lake for the past 4 years. She says that the biggest change that has occurred in the communities she has studied is that the idea of selling marijuana has become normalized. That is, selling marijuana, once a survival tool, became ingrained culturally and economically, and is now accepted as a normal practice for supplementing income.
Soviet rule also played a role in the normalization process. From 1916 to 1974 Issyk-Kul was the
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center of legal Soviet medicinal opium production. Hemp was also produced in the region starting from 1933, and some researchers believe that the cannabis consumed toady is a byproduct of mutated seeds from the hemp factory. Elderly along the lake can still recall fields full of blooming poppies and generations of family who made their livelihood off of the drugs.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, so did the social contract that existed between the state and the workers. However, part of that contract was built on the hemp and medicinal opium industry, which helped shape community norms surrounding marijuana.
The people in these particular communities around the lake, therefore, do not view selling marijuana as breaking the law, they see it as a sort of quasi-right that they obtained when the state abandoned its responsibility. In many ways today, marijuana sales have replaced the government as the backbone of the society, providing security in times of need. The communities are also careful not to abuse their safety net. ‘Modesty in Marijuana’ could be the name for their unusual safety net.
In the early years after the collapse men, women, and children would go out to harvest the crop and sell it to anyone on the street. Things are not so freewheeling these days, as both the authorities and communities have matured. Young men are the main harvesters, but women also participate and take the risk of getting caught. If you are a stranger you will find marijuana hard to buy, as most marijuana toady is only sold to trusted vendors, who then resell it in Kazakhstan and Russia.
Although the communities have not arranged themselves into anything approaching a cartel, they do aid each other to avoid problems with law enforcement. This lack of a central organization or head family has seemed to work to their benefit. Families do not fight over resources, no family is indebted to another family, and the low profile keeps a lot of police attention focused elsewhere.
There are some natural reasons for this arrangement. One is that the plant does not grow in one concentrated area, so it is nearly impossible for one person or group to control. Second, because the plant grows wild it is impossible to rid the region of the plant without doing irreparable harm to the surrounding lake environment, especially important to the summer tourism industry. Third, domestically cultivated crops are destroyed by police, who are given rewards for busting large cultivated plantations. Police are given bonuses, higher ranks, and in some cases cars for large busts, but there are too few of them and they are easily corrupted.
Most importantly, however, is the natural way in which selling the drug has become not a way to exploit the market or each other, but as a way to protect each other from the danger of the market.
The fact that other people are exploiting the market and
getting rich off of their land does not seem to bother them. The community prohibits drug use, and almost all of the drugs are consumed outside the region. According to UN and government officials between 75-90% of the marijuana production leaves the country. That means, conservatively, profits of around $50 million dollars for the exporters, who mark up the marijuana anywhere from 500% to 2200%.
Felix Kulov, a former vice president, once put forward a measure to legalize the drug in the hope of taxing the profits. Under a national scheme, or even one in which the people tried to capture more of the secondary market gains, it is not clear that it would better the communities, drastically changing economic and social constructs that have emerged over the past twenty years.
The limited production and use of marijuana have insulated people from the problems that often accompany increased drug trafficking. According to UNODC, Kazakhstan, a resource-rich neighbor to the north, has seen an increase in drug addicts, as well as an almost 100% increase since 2009 in the incidence of HIV, mostly through
injection. The Kyrgyz Republic has seen increases in addiction and HIV rates as well, but mostly concentrated along the main heroine trafficking corridors, and not around the marijuana producing regions of the country.
The people’s cognitive dissonance is not without limits. They understand that drugs are illegal and for some good reasons. They are also willing to stop producing the drug, as long as there is something to replace the income and security it provides. Many think that the government should provide that support. But seeing as how the government barely has the money to police the drug trade, it does not seem likely that they will soon be able to replace a fully functioning social safety net.
There is little support for making the production of marijuana legal among the communities. Although it would certainly lead to higher incomes, the people appreciate the uncertainty of change, and that all change has its advantages and disadvantages. Legalizing the crop would disrupt the normalized economy of the communities, whose livelihoods are now insured by the illegality of the drug. A cash strapped government might also have an interest in legalizing the drug, but that would mean foregoing Western international assistance, which currently makes up about 16% of GDP.
This new normal, whereby marijuana is illegal but still produced and distributed in modest quantities, is likely to stay for the immediate future. If the plant were not grown here the people would be pushed even further towards the microfinance industry, to send earners to bigger cities or abroad, or to simply be even more at the whim of Mother Nature and the random inequality she dishes out. Families would suffer, and the whole community as a result.
Marijuana gives the freedom and security to remain in the community they know and understand. The modesty they practice protects the community from higher scrutiny and jealous, greedy officials. Ironically, the market for marijuana has eased the transition to the free market, man.
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RESEARCH HuBBuiLDiNG A by Altynai Usubalieva
Dr. Wachtel, why is it important
for the university to do more research?
What is the rationale behind this
transition?
A university in the modern world
cannot simply be a place of knowledge
diffusion from faculty to students. It
also must be a place of knowledge
creation, if only because faculty who
are not involved in creating knowledge
in their fields will very soon find
that the knowledge they acquired as
graduate students is obsolete. The
way to ensure that faculty are aware
of changes in their disciplines and
surrounding areas is to encourage
them to participate actively in the life
of their disciplines, which means to
make the effort to advance knowledge
in that area. For the institution as a
whole there is another goal: for better
or worse, institutions measure each
other not by the quality of the teaching
but by the research produced by their
faculty. By producing meaningful
research in key area, most obviously but
not exclusively in Central Asian Studies,
AUCA makes itself visible on the world
stage in a way that cannot be achieved
only by good undergraduate teaching.
This in its turn brings a higher quality
and quantity of visitors to campus,
enriching the lives of our students, staff
and faculty, and can serve as a way of
attracting resources of various kinds.
To be sure, this can be overdone and
we would not want the AUCA faculty
to become so focused on research that
they forget the primary mission of the
Recently AUCA President Dr. Andrew Wachtel announced a framework through which AUCA will become a university
hub for research. To find out what this will mean for the university, its faculty and its students, we interviewed 3 people directly
involved in this initiative: President Wachtel, economics professor Zarylbek Kudabaev, and foreign language professor Alex Cigale.w
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university, which is to prepare the future
leaders of Central Asia. There must
be a balance between research and
teaching, therefore. But nevertheless,
a certain amount of significant research
needs to be produced by our faculty if
we are to make the university a more
exciting intellectual place for faculty and
students.
What are the steps that need to be
taken within the strategic plan? What steps
have been already taken?
The most important thing
necessary to allow faculty to produce
significant research (assuming they are
individuals who are interested in so
doing) is to provide resources, which
come in two forms—time and money.
For the most part, time is the biggest
problem. Teaching is an intensive and
mentally exhausting activity if it is done
well, and teaching 12 credits a semester
is not compatible with having the time
or mental energy to produce knowledge,
which is an equally mentally exhausting
task. That is why already this year
we made it relatively easy for faculty
members to reduce their teaching
load to 9 credits. The other question
revolves around money, of course.
The advent of the web and of various
technologies has made it easier to follow
what is happening around the world in
academic fields as well as to interact
with colleagues. Nevertheless, at the
outset of a research project, face to face
contact with like-minded colleagues and
the availability of good library collections
is a key driver of research success.
The program we have put together that
allows faculty to spend up to a year in
the U.S. doing research and working
with colleagues at other universities, is a
big step toward creating the conditions
that allow faculty to initiate significant
research projects. However, we still
need to find funding to allow our faculty
to attend major research conferences in
their fields as well as to work up their
articles and books for publication by
leading academic journals and presses.
Where do you see AUCA in 10-15 years?
I hope that in 10-15 years time
all faculty at AUCA will be engaged
at least to some extent in research in
their academic fields. In addition, I
expect that there will be some areas,
Central Asian Studies in particular but
others as decided on by our faculty, in
which AUCA as a whole is perceived
to be a world-class institution from the
standpoint of research.
Mr. Kudabaev, do you support Dr.
Wachtel’s plan to make AUCA a research
university?
The president has my full support
on this matter. I am sure that this long-
term plan requires hard work, but at the
end of the day we are not reforming just
for the sake of the reforms, I strongly
believe that in the end the teaching will
be improved as well.
As the main goal of studying is
looking for truth, I think that we should
also engage students in research as
deeply as possible. We are already
working in this direction, requiring
students to complete a thesis paper
during their senior year.
What further steps need to be taken to
achieve this goal?
I think there are two. First of all,
professors need to engage students in
their research where they can, thus
developing good research habits in the
students, and expanding a professor’s
capacity to do research at the same
time. We also should publish the
outstanding research papers.
Second, there is a solid group of
young instructors and professors that
see their future linked with AUCA, not
just a stop on the way to something
better. I propose that AUCA provide
this group with a sabbatocal once
every 5 years for 1-2 semesters. It is
already being done, but I hope it will
be made permanent. I believe it’s a
big and necessary investment in the
experience and research opportunities
for instructors. The decision taken to
reduce the workload of instructors will
definitely benefit our staff and you can
already see some good results.
I strongly believe that we should
open more masters level programs.
Students studying masters courses could
help instructors and professors out with
research and seminar classes to help
reduce the workload of staff.
In the longer term I see AUCA
having postgraduate programs and
inviting professors from all over the
world. We could invite those who are
already retired, but still full of energy,
experienced, and ready to share their
skills and knowledge.
Mr. Cigale, what brought you to
Kyrgyzstan?
I hope you’ll forgive me for
waxing poetic: As a poet and as a
human being I have always believed
we must trust and act on our sense
of intuition, that “fate” requires us to
complete some as yet unknown but
already existing thing, our “self”. I
suppose that we all have an innate
need to find out where we came from,
in a spiritual sense, how we were
formed and what formed us. Both of
my parents spent the years of WW II as
children in evacuation in Tashkent (my
father, born in St. Petersburg/Leningrad
in 1939, was evacuated, and my
mother was actually born in Tashkent).
I have always known that I would be
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“returning” to Central Asia one day.
Q: What got you interested in the
Fergana School of poetry?
I started thinking about coming
here some 10 years ago, when I met
Shamshad Abdullaev, former poetry
editor of Zvezda Vostoka, in New York.
When we met, I felt as though I had
known him my whole life, and indeed I
got to know his work and some mutual
poetry friends earlier, in the mid-90s,
when I spent two summers in Moscow
and Petersburg working on an anthology
of the last quarter century of unofficial
Russian poetry in English translation.
(I myself was born in Western Ukraine
and lived in Leningrad until emigrating
with my family to America during
the 70s). It’s a common occurrence
in Russian literature that it is the
people who come from the provinces
to the capital who enrich the culture
with something new, and something
old. It seems to me that culture, or
“progress” in art, has always consisted
in some interesting melding of old and
new, in the process of synthesizing
experimentation with tradition. I was
immediately attracted by the poets of
Fergana for their melding of Western,
post-modern influences with traditional,
local themes. This provincial capital
that straddles the border of Kyrgyzstan
and Uzbekistan has a surprisingly lively
cultural scene, with galleries, cafes,
etc., not unlike the provincial capital
where I was born (Chernovtsy).
Q: Do you believe that it is a good idea
to provide faculty with opportunities to not only
teach but also to do scientific/research work?
Why?
My answer to this is of course a
resounding “Yes.” As teachers, I believe
the most influential role we play is as
models to our students. More than that,
my success as a teacher stems directly
from my ability to continue to develop
my own interests, and this is true for all
professors. The reputation of a university
is directly enhanced by the publishing,
participation in conferences, and other
academic work that professors do that is
not directly evident in the classroom. But
of course that is exactly what we bring to
the classroom – our “self”.
Q: How do you see the grants program
for faculty at AUCA playing a role in this
context?
I will speak for myself first. As
a recipient in the first semester of its
existence of the 3 credit teaching relief
grant, I can say that it has already
in a very short time began to bear
fruit. I have been able to set aside the
mornings on Monday and Tuesday (3
weekly credit hours translate into 45-50
of semester class-time, which in reality,
including preparation, grading, office
hours, is easily 150-200 hours that
would otherwise be unavailable.) While
that is not enough time to undertake
much new work, I have been able to
consolidate what I have already done
through publishing and planning. My
translations of Shamshad Abdullaev’s
poems have just appeared in two of
the world’s leading literary journals,
Oxford University’s Literary Imagination
and King’s College’s Modern Poetry in
Translation, both in London, and are
forthcoming in New York City, in The
St. Petersburg and The Manhattan
Reviews.
I will be presenting my work
on the Fergana School in Professor
Valeri Hardin’s course on Central Asian
Literature in English translation. And
with my partner and collaborator, Dana
Golin, I have undertaken a translation
of the poetry of our AUCA colleague
and friend Jamby Djusubalieva’s father,
the noted Kyrgyz writer, journalist, and
film scenarist Kubatbek Djusubaliev.
We have already presented some of this
at his 70th year jubilee, at the Kyrgyz
National Public Library and at the State
Opera and Ballet. And, April being
the official American Poetry Month,
Dana and I will be presenting our own
poetry (my English, her Russian) and
our translations of Kubatbek at the
American Library as part of the U. S.
Embassy series of cultural programs.
Lastly, the University grant will allow
me time to apply for a U.S. Fulbright
Specialist grant, so that I may be able to
continue this work this summer.
I would add that, in the small
circle of my own AUCA Foreign
Languages department, various faculty
members are using the grant to work on
course books, French in the context of
Bishkek (Kolesnikova and Mamasheva)
and implementing European Spanish
language standards (Guillermo Bravo).
I have also had the personal pleasure
to assist professor Zarylbek Kudabaev
in his grant-writing efforts to develop a
textbook on Economic Development of
Kyrgyzstan and, through the University
Academic Senate, to enunciate his
vision for the importance of supporting
Faculty Development. I would like to,
in closing, voice my gratitude to the
President of our University, Andrew
Wachtel, and to our Board of Trustees,
for their foresighted and bold investment
in the future of our university, in its
transition from liberal arts college, the
best in Central Asia, to the research
University it is to become.
Links to the translated poems by
Alex Cigale
http://litimag.oxfordjournals.org/
content/early/2011/12/14/litimag.
imr142.full?keytype=ref&ijkey=lfTsLYf
dys1iDvU
http://www.exacteditions.com/
exact/browse/487/580/9610/1/1
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27AUCA Magazine*August 2012
by Natali Anarbaeva
jAquESSONSVEtLANA
pROFiLE
researCH
What is exciting for you about the
opportunity at CASI and AUCA?
It would not be exaggerated to
say that my interest in anthropology
and Central Asia put me “on the move”.
Maybe I contracted the “nomadic virus”
in Mongolia, maybe I caught it later,
here, in Kyrgyzstan. As I realized it
recently, I have been moving regularly,
approximately each three years. When
it comes to my new position at CASI
and AUCA, one can jokingly note that
it was time for me, “as a nomad”, to
move again. More seriously, let me
notice that, for me, being on the move
for the sake of being on the move does
not make much sense. I moved because
I chose to be faithful to my scholarly
vocations - anthropology and Central
Asia – instead of being faithful to an
institution or a country. I have never
hesitated to head to a “foreign place”
and a “foreign institution”, if they offered
favorable conditions for my scholarly
pursuits. Besides, for whatever reasons,
I tend to be bored with traditional and
age-old institutions and I feel more
stimulated by creation, innovation and
development.
Is it surprising then that I was
thrilled with the possibility to act as
a director of the newly created CASI
within the young and dynamic AUCA?
In Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the country
to which I have dedicated most of my
research? Thanks to Andrew Wachtel,
AUCA is being reshaped into a major
center for teaching and learning about
Central Asia. CASI has a key role to
play in this process, by stirring and
supporting innovative research projects
on Central Asia among the AUCA faculty
members and the AUCA students, by
networking the scholarly community
devoted to the study of Central Asia, in
all its diversity. For years I have been
moving from one place to another, and
from one institution to another, in the
search of the most favorable conditions
to conduct research on Central Asia.
At times I have been happy and, at
times, I have been frustrated. Now I
myself am given the opportunity to help
design research on Central Asia. Isn’t it
exciting?
What do you hope to accomplish in your
time as CASI director?
I believe that the strategic goals
of both the AUCA as a whole and the
CASI in particular are rightly set. I fully
subscribe to them, I feel like fighting for
them. As a director of CASI then, I take
the challenge of looking for and finding
some of the best and the speediest
What got you interested in Central Asia originally?
I have no simple answer to this question. I mean, it is not
as if I woke up early one morning, a happy Bulgarian teenager,
with the clear-cut idea that Central Asian studies were my
vocation. It was rather a lengthy trial-and-error process. I started
Turkic studies at the National University in Sofia, the capital of
Bulgaria, to soon discover that, as I used to put it then, I did not
feel like studying “dusty Ottoman archives”. Instead I wanted to
be in touch with living people and, as most youngsters, I wanted
to travel and discover new people and new places. I took up
additional courses in Mongolian and Tibetan and seized the
opportunity of a one-year study abroad at the National University
in Ulan Bator, in Mongolia, one of the countries easily accessible
for a Bulgarian at the end of the 1980s. I think that it was
during my stay in Ulan Bator that I identified anthropology as
the academic discipline which suited me best and Central and
Inner Asia as the regions where I wished to pursue research in
the future.
28 AUCA Magazine*August 2012
researCH
ways to achieve them. I hope I will be
able to do it. I think so. I have plenty
of ideas of how to do it. But since it is
my first week of work here, let me be
modest and keep my ideas secret for
the moment. I am sure I will be given
the chance to develop them in the very
close future.
Can you tell us one thing about yourself
that nobody else knows?
Strangely enough, few people,
if anyone, besides my closest family,
are aware of the fact that I have spent
half of my life “on the move”. I adapt
easily and pick up local languages,
customs and manners quickly. Rapidly
enough, I am considered “local” which
in fact is rarely, if ever, the case. Let
me prove it. From Ulan Bator I went
back to Sofia in 1990, for a year, then
moved to Bonn, in (former Western)
Germany, for some months and finally
ended in Paris, where I stayed from
1992 until 1996, in order to complete
my MA in Turkic studies and enlist
for a PhD in ethnology. and learned
French, as well. In 1996, I came for
the first time to Kyrgyzstan and carried
out my first fieldwork on hunting with
birds (münüshkörlük), for two years,
until 1998. I went back to Paris to write
up my PhD. Six days after my PhD
defense, in September 2000, I headed
to Tashkent, with a new contract as a
research fellow at the French Institute
for Central Asian Studies. I went back
to Paris in 2003, because Paris has
become for me a “home away from
home”. Paris is a great place for
anthropology but, well, Central Asia is
not really on the top of research and
funding agendas. In 2006, I left Paris
for Halle, in Germany, or rather in the
former GDR. Believe me, this was not
an easy move. But at the Max Planck
Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle
there was, and there still is, a sustained
interest and focus on Central Asia. Sure,
I stayed in Halle for five long years but
after three years with the Max Planck
Institute I moved to Martin-Luther
University with a Volkswagen project.
Not bad, is it? Of course, people read
my CV but I think few if any know what
it means to be “on the move”.
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29AUCA Magazine*August 2012
HealtH
LAWtHE LONG WAy tO
by Natali Anarbaeva
alumni sPotligHt
This AUCA law department alumnus shocked his
friends by joining the army right after graduation, got
himself a position in a legal company in the U.S. by offering
cleaning services in return for the experience, then returned
to the Kyrgyz Republic as a military volunteer when he
found out about the riots in 2010. In the past year and a
half he has established a flourishing legal company with the
capacity to work abroad, opened a training center for the
professional development of lawyers, and dreams of having
enough time to teach. Meet Joomart Joldoshev (Law 04).w
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31AUCA Magazine*august 2012
What did you do right after AuCA?
I joined the army. It shocked a lot of people. The main reason I joined was because of my family. My father is a colonel, and my brother serves in a special missions unit. The dinner conversation in the family is about military service. My family was proud of me and I do not regret the decision. After the army I left for China where I studied International Common Law for a year. Upon my return to the Kyrgyz Republic I worked for a short while in an insurance company.
After that, as i understood, you went to the u.S.?
I wanted to study their legal
system. I attended community college there studying public law, and was trying for quite a long time to get any kind of job in a law firm. I was coming in and offering any help in return for access to cases. I would always get rejected and I had lost hope until, when going to the gym, I met a lawyer, to whom I offered the same things I had offered others before: cleaning, running errands, including pizza delivery if necessary, in return for the opportunity to gain some experience and access to real cases. While he was listening to me he started smiling and I felt offended; I thought he was mocking me. But, it turned out that he had done the same thing when he was younger. Thus, I got in as an intern for a probationary period and after demonstrating my abilities I
became a lawyer’s assistant.
What were your plans for the future? Why did you return?
I wanted to get a degree there and acquire a license to practice in New York. But when the riots of 2010 took place I decided to return. I came here and left for Osh immediately to sign up as a volunteer for the military. After that tour ended I established my company Joldoshev and Partners, and here I am. I should note that after 4 years spent in U.S. I feel a greater affinity for it than other countries, but Kyrgyzstan is still my homeland.
Does your company already have international experience?
I have experience with court appearances in the USA, the Emirates and Turkey. My team members do not have it yet, but we are working on it. I think the biggest obstacle for lawyers here is overcoming fear and developing confidence.
So the main problem is in the limitations we set for ourselves?
I believe that we limit ourselves mostly due to the mentality of our Soviet upringing. We have all the potential, the only thing lacking is adequate training. At the moment, for example, I am working on signing agreements with a number of foreign legal companies on information sharing, access to databases, experience sharing and so on. They are as interested in this collaboration as we are. So, the key issue was not the lack of opportunities, it’s just that nobody has really engaged this way internationally before.
I am confident that if you take 10-15 young lawyers per year and train them to perform at the international level, we should be doing it.
In our company we concentrate on encouraging young specialists to think globally and be creative.
Does your company focus on particular types of cases?
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32 AUCA Magazine*August 2012
In the beginning, when we were developing relationships with clients, we would take any case offered. Later on that became impossible. You have to prioritize and concentrate on something specific to be professional. At the moment we concentrate on debt, intellectual property, corporate and banking law. We do take court cases, but rarely due to the corrupted system.
We try not to take criminal cases, although we do have licensed specialists for that purpose. This market is quite small in the Kyrgyz Republic, plus the system is corrupted inside and out. It has come so far that there is a price-list for settling cases. Experienced lawyers can say with accuracy how much it will cost to avoid/commute punishment. All of this is incredibly demotivating to young lawyers.
I would love to have a system more like the U.S, if anything because practicing jurisprudence in that environment is fun. Representatives of the profession there are treated with respect, and success depends on professional competence. This is the system we were exposed to when we first started studying law at AUCA. Here in the Kyrgyz Republic, when you say that you are lawyer, people usually respond, “I am a lawyer myself with an honors diploma. Plus I am also an economist.” While in U.S. lawyers are elite, people that have manners, look good, and follow professional ethics.
What are the dynamics of the intellectual property rights cases you deal with here?
At the moment there isn't much going on. But I think this will be really important for the future. In general our current cases relate to copyrighting works of art, works of authorship, etc. Quite a lot of show business stars request our services in settling disputes or safeguarding their products.
Are there any other interesting projects you are working on at the moment?
Right now we are working on
developing a project on mediation and pretrial settlement. It is practiced widely in the West, allowing people to save money, time, and nerves. When using mediation services, both parties are aware that the decision proposed by the mediator is the one most likely to be delivered in court.
I think that mediation could become a wonderful alternative to the court system. It would take some time for people to understand and accept mediation, but as the sense of justice provided by traditional courts continues to decline, I think mediation will become more popular.
i remember that you did not speak Russian when you came to AuCA but now you speak it fluently. Does speaking in 3 languages help in work?
Actually, once I started practicing law I realized that there are few lawyers with good Kyrgyz here. Maybe it is due to the fact that jurisprudence is taught mostly in Russian.
There were a couple of cases in my practice when being multilingual was advantageous. One was a significant claim amount, where the company took the case all the way to the Supreme Court and had to hire me because their lawyer did not speak Kyrgyz. In the other case the defendant was a company with foreign management. I was representing the plaintiff and the hearings were in Kyrgyz. The other party had to have 2 interpreters – one from English to Russian and a second from Russian to Kyrgyz. I was hearing everything in English and had lots of time to think through my next steps while the other side figured out what had been said.
please tell me a little bit about your team.
Our team mostly consists of young lawyers, and then a collection of older lawyers with more specific experience. Of course I am staking my future on the younger generation and on the opportunity for international expansion. I don’t like to talk about my team too much, because we invest great effort in
time and money and I would not want to help out our competitors.
you have also thought about teaching?
Oh, that has been my dream since I was little. I was always interested in history and wanted to become a teacher. Actually, I wanted to become a policeman when I was very young because of my dad. Then I was accepted to AUCA and started to study law, but I still dream about teaching. I am not able to dedicate my time to it right now, because a lot of my time goes into the company and development of the staff. But we are opening a training center for lawyers on professional development, so I will be doing some teaching through that center.
What memories do you have of AuCA?
The best memories of my life, that’s for sure. All the basics of jurisprudence I acquired at AUCA, and I never regretted my choice of university. All of my closest friends come from AUCA as well. I still remember my professors, for example the case studies of Mr. Tulegenov in criminal law. Plus, the unforgettable and legendary social life you get only at AUCA, with all the colorful and diverse events that take place almost every week.
What is your life credo?
Move only forward, but never to forget your roots. Right now I am scrutinizing the history of Kyrgyz people, because I believe that in order to move forward you have to know your past first. And another thing: never give in without a good fight!
Where do you see yourself in 5 -10 years?
I vision myself here in the Kyrgyz Republic, my company has branches abroad with its head office in Bishkek, and has become a recognizable brand. I will also have time to teach.
alumni sPotligHt
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33AUCA Magazine*August 2012
iF NOt uS, WHO? tHERE iS NOBODy ELSE
by Natali Anarbaeva
alumni sPotligHt
34 AUCA Magazine*August 2012
His dream was to create something of his own. The first
step towards that dream was founding Promo Tank, a market
research company serving the region. AUCA alum, professor, and
business entrepreneur Azamat Akeleev shares his thoughts on his
company, AUCA, and his secrets to success.
iF NOt uS, WHO? tHERE iS NOBODy ELSE
alumni sPotligHt
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35AUCA Magazine*August 2012
First, tell us a little about your company.
Our company is called Promo Tank, and it was founded in 2007. The company has two main services: market reserach and advertising. We work with private companies, NGO’s, and international organizations. We completed a wide variety of projects including one on federal budget transparency, internet penetration in the Kyrgyz Republic, and everything else from financial planning to human rights. Now we are engaged in promoting the Oimo Festival, and working with Bosch. Most of our team is comprised of AUCA alumni and current AUCA students.
How was promo tank founded?
From 2006 to 2007 I ran the MBA program at AUCA where we established a business clinic. We began to work on small research projects. I also conducted some workshops for different companies. We consulted entrepreneurs and made local market surveys.Soon there was more demand, and I realized that there was a lack of analysis, data, and market information. Thus, we decided to establish Promo Tank to respond to that need. The mission of our company is to collect and analyze all the necessary information to help our clients in decision making.
How has AuCA helped you in building your company?
AUCA taught me to think rationally, to analyze, and to think critically. I also learned research methods and the basics of marketing and economics. Now I put these skills into practice every day.
What difficulties did you face at the beginning?
We had lots of difficulties at the beginning: renting, recruiting, logistics, and nobody knew who we were. All of these things caused some problems, but we overcame them all, and now it is much easier.
you were not originally a
business student, can you tell us about that change?
I started in the journalism department, but after a year I understood that journalism was not for me. I was probably one of the only students to transfer from journalism to business administration. For three days I followed John Clark, the first president of AUCA, trying to persuade him to approve my transfer. He heard me out, but found all of my arguments unconvincing. The thing that finally changed his mind was when he asked me what I had done the previous summer. I told him how my friends and I opened a café, how we earned some money, and after that he agreed and I transferred.
Honestly, I always had a dream to be my own master, to create something of my own and earn money on it. To be free. That is why I decided to choose business administration.
What is your secret for success?
You should always have an idea. You need to be enthusiastic about this idea and follow it. You need to have a competitive advantage. You need to know something other people do not know well, or you need to have access to those resources to which other people do not. You need to be ready to give all
of your energy to work, to sacrifice your time. You need to have courage and persistence and you’ll make it.
Do you have any plans and projects for the near future?
We want to work with all Central Asian markets. We have already worked with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and I think that we have great possibilities. Also we want the Kyrgyz Republic to be transparent. We want more information to be accessible to all. We want to create a database of economic and financial information and make it accessible by subscription, which will cover our expenses. We really want the work we do to contribute to making a difference in our country.
And now some questions about your alma mater. Do you miss the good old days of student life?
I miss my KVN team. I participated in the Kyrgyz language KVN, and I will never forget how we won the championship. I also really miss the atmosphere of AUCA, the courses, the high-quality professors who shared their knowledge with students, the extracurricular activities, the guest lectures, the cafeterias, and the AUCA library.
alumni sPotligHt
36 AUCA Magazine*August 2012
How does AuCA differ from other universities?
AUCA is a place of constant innovative and progressive ideas. AUCA students are creative, hard-working, and have endless ambitions. The combination of global, critical, and rational thinking creates a particular mentality. That is how AUCA differs from other universities.
tell us about your time as an AuCA professor?
I graduated from the MBA program at Indiana State University and then came back and taught marketing, strategic management and rebranding. It is interesting to work with AUCA students. The American system of education induces students to think in a unique way to work more in class. I always tried to make students lead the process of a course by themselves in order to achieve their own development. To achieve this, you need to give a student the right direction and give him or her the opportunity to think freely.
After you studied in the united States, why did you decide to return to the Kyrgyz Republic?
I came back because we have more opportunities for development and professional growth. In the United States running a business is in many ways harder because there is so much competition. Also the Kyrgyz Republic is the place where my relatives live, with whom I feel wonderful and free.
What do you do in your free time?
I spend time with my family and I also do some sports, such as swimming and soccer. And, of course, as every person, I hang out with my friends.
What values are most important for you?
Family, society, and country.
What is your dream now that you have achieved so much?
I want to develop and enrich my community. I want to live in a fair, transparent, and progressive society. There are lots of opportunities in the Kyrgyz Republic. Everything is in our hands.
to whom are you thankful?
I am thankful to my parents, my professors, and my friends. I am thankful to different people, who, during different periods of my life, helped me and positively influenced me during important decisions. It is very important to find these kinds of people and learn from them.
What would you like to advise to AuCA students?
Go for your dreams and think big, know who you want to be and what you want to achieve. Set higher goals than you can achieve, and you will get more than you ever imagined.
alumni sPotligHt
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37AUCA Magazine*August 2012
Gifts and Grants2011-2012
Friends of AUCAJohn and Joan Von Leesen
John O'KeefeJoe and Margaret Flanagen
Mary SchweitzerMartha MerrillEllen HurwitzHelen Smith
Sharon Bailey Gulnara Dreier
Madeleine ReevesHersh Chadha
Henry MyerbergTatiana GfoellerRodger McGrailEugene Huskey
Emita HillMary Ford
Maeberta BobbMatha TaylorBridget Morris
Frank and Sallie PullanoAmy Sturrock
Board of TrusteesIshenbai Abdurazakov
Jonathan BeckerAlmas Chukin
Stanislav KarpovichWilliam Newton-Smith
Matt Nimetz
AlumniElnura Djenish
Kamila MuslimovaLilia Muslimova
Vyacheslav AkimenkoTemerlan Moldogaziev
Elina KarakulovaAziz Soltobaev
Erina KadyralievaSeyitbek UsmanovSanjar TursalievRinat Aksianov
Nazgul CholponbaevaAzamat Akeleev
Felix TsoyMelis Turgunbaev
Amina HiraniMamatkhalil RazaevMaksat Korooluev
Corporate PartnersMina Group
Kumtor Operating CompanyCoca-Cola Bishkek BottlersDemir International Bank
Nazgul Albanova, BA 09, Magna Cum LaudeAfter graduating from AUCA Nazgul
planned to continue her education and obtain an MBA. Not even her impending marriage deterred her from this goal. In October 2011 she started the MBA program at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, located in the financial center of Europe. Nazgul recently completed her MBA, and thanks to the solid base she got at AUCA she was able to become a competitive student who was among top 10% in the class. Now back in Bishkek, she looks back on the year with no regrets about a fascinating and exciting journey with valuable professional and interpersonal experience. Nazgul discovered new countries, new cultures, new people and most importantly, new sides of herself. Though she misses her new friends a lot, she is happy to start a new chapter of her life with her family in her home country.
Rashid Daurov, BA 04Rashid attended a Master's program
in Management from the University of Bristol (UK), where he studied on the Kazakhstani government scholarship "Bolashak". He earned his Certified Public Accountant (USA) accreditation as well. He has worked as an auditor at Ernst&Young and a transaction support consultant at Deloitte. Currently he is Chief Financial Officer at HSBC Kazakhstan. He is happily married to his lovely wife Katya and they have a wonderful 2-year-old son Denis.
Bektur Chynaliev, ECO 10After graduating from AUCA Bektur
devoted himself to entrepreneurship. He moved to Almaty, Kazakhstan, and started his own business. The past 2 years he has been turning theory into practice. He attracted investors to his business through connections to other AUCA graduates. Now he can say that AUCA is not only one of the best universities in Central Asia, but also a place to network for success.
Abdujalil Abdurasulov, iCp 04 Abdujalil covered the Euro 2012
football tournament for BBC News in Ukraine. Recently, he also covered breaking news stories in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Syria (from the Turkish border) as a producer/cameraman. Abdujalil is a BBC producer based in Almaty.
Kurman Otorbaev, BA 2006Kurman works at Colgate-Palmolive
(Kazakhstan) as a brand manager and is responsible for the Kazakh and Kyrgyz markets. He is responsible for all marketing campaigns in both countries.
ildar yunusov, BA 06 Ildar works for Nestle Food Company
in the sales department. He can honestly say that he uses his AUCA degree every day. He gives great thanks to his professors and classmates, as he could have not gotten through without their support and friendship.
CLASS NOtES