CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Kuziev, Faruh |
|---|---|
| Title | Sharora a Soviet microworld: Internationalism of Everyday Life in Soviet Tajikistan (1930s-1990s) |
| Summary | This dissertation explores the history of Sharora, a Soviet locality in Tajikistan’s Ghissar Valley, as a microcosm of Soviet modernity and as a reflection of Soviet imperial dynamism. It examines the interplay of everyday life, Soviet institutions governing economic, social, and cultural activity, and internationalism, as a goal of Soviet interventions and an unintended fruit of everyday life innovations. Originally settled by former kulaks, exiles, and deportees, Sharora was envisioned as a socialist experiment to transform the “Valley of Death” into a thriving provincial hub for scientists. During the Cold War Sharora evolved into an ethnically and culturally complex community whose history illuminates the contradictory nature of the Soviet formation that struggled the reconcile imperial mode of governance with national aspirations. The dissertation also uncovers unintended outcomes of Soviet policies, such as the transconfessional coexistence of Muslims and Christians in a space where religion, though suppressed, remained central to everyday life. Finally, the Sharora Earthquake of 1989 exposed the fragility of Soviet solidarity, as rebuilding efforts failed to restore the interethnic peace once emblematic of the community. |
| Supervisor | Shaw, Charles |
| Department | History PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/kuziev_faruh.pdf |
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