Visions of Development in Central Asia
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Visions of Development in Central Asia: Revitalizing the Culture Concept reflects on the current anthropologic methods of theorizing about culture. Noor O'Neill Borbieva focuses on the intellectually and politically problematic discourse of “culture matters thinking,” or CMT. CMT asserts that cultures are homogeneous and that the dominant values of a culture determine a state’s socioeconomic and political trajectories. Drawing on practice theory, ecological psychology, complexity science, and poststructuralism, Borbieva urges anthropologists to reconsider the culture concept in order to combat the impact of simplistic formulations such as CMT. Through an examination of ethnographic material from Kyrgyzstan—and drawing on the many years she lived in the region, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer and later as an ethnographer—Borbieva creates a clear picture of what is at stake if anthropologic debates about culture remain unchanged. She argues that such narratives not only misunderstand the cultural basis of human diversity, but also threaten that diversity by promoting a one-size-fits-all vision of well-being. Borbieva suggests an alternative vision, one that recognizes the profound complexity of human sociality and that embraces the many forms of human thriving that grow out of our cultural differences.
Noor O’Neill Borbieva is associate professor of anthropology at Purdue University Fort Wayne.