TATAR ENOUGH: CULTURAL IDENTITY COMPENSATION STRATEGIES AMONGST TATARS IN TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN

Year 2025, Volume: 7 Issue: 3, 298 - 321, 30.07.2025

Mizuki Sakurama Nakamura

Abstract

This ethnographic study examines how Tatar diaspora communities in Tashkent, Uzbekistan maintain distinctive ethnic identity despite significant heritage language decline. Based on intermittent ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2013-2024, the research reveals that rather than experiencing straightforward assimilation, Tashkent Tatars engage in processes of cultural identity compensation: strategically investing heightened symbolic significance in culinary practices, personal naming traditions, and adapted festivals as language use diminishes. The study introduces the concept of polycentric authenticity, demonstrating how diaspora communities function as independent centres of cultural authority rather than merely reproducing homeland norms. Through analysis of intergenerational negotiations of authenticity, the research challenges binary frameworks of cultural preservation versus loss, revealing instead dynamic processes of creative adaptation. These findings contest official narratives of ‘voluntary assimilation’ and highlight the agency exercised by minority communities in reconfiguring ethnic identity within post-Soviet Central Asia.

Keywords

Diaspora , Ethnicity , Authenticity , Central Asia , Cultural identity , Language shift , Tatars , Uzbekistan

Ethical Statement

This study involving human participants has completed and fulfilled the ethical guidelines requirements. The participants provided written informed consent before taking part in the study and were informed about its objectives.

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