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Anthropology Club of the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) invites you to the talk by Dr. Olivier Ferrando: "Soviet Population Transfers and Interethnic Relations. Assessing the Concept of Ethnicity in Central Asia"SynopsisThis presentation explores a key event in the recent history of Central Asia: the 1950s Soviet policy of forced transfers of highlanders down to cotton kolkhozes in the Ferghana Valley, in particular from Macha district to Nau and Proletar districts in North Tajikistan. From both a historical and sociological perspective, it analyses how the displaced population was received in the areas of destination. It sheds light on the concept of ethnicity, in the sense that these transfers were most often analysed in ethnic terms, Tajik highlanders vs. Uzbek farmers in our case study. This approach does not allow for the perception of a complex range of identities based on a nation, a region, a lineage, a religion or a language. The concept of ethnicity seems therefore limited to explain the social dynamics of nation-state formation in a region where identity appears to be multiple, changing and constantly renegotiated.SpeakerOlivier Ferrando holds a PhD of political science from Sciences Po Paris on minority identities in the Ferghana valley (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan).He is currently director of the French Institute for Central Asian Studies in Bishkek.VenueAmerican University of Central Asia205 Abdymomunov, BishkekWednesday 3 December 2014 at 5:30 pmRoom 220