Essay Questions #2.

Choose two questions in the first category.� Choose two more questions from the other categories�each one from a different category.� Write no more than 1.5 pages double spaced for each answer. Papers are due no later than Thursday, June 12^th. Please leave your paper in a box outside my office in SST 565. I will not accept papers by email.

1.� Central Asia in general:

• How did the Afghan war influence domestic politics in the Soviet Union, including in Central Asia?
• Describe how the fall of the Soviet Union impacted one Central Asian country?
• Discuss the culture, history and politics of one Central Asian country since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
• Discuss the expansion of the Turkic languages and cultures in Central Asia.� [delete--Any residual bad feelings over this assimilation?]
• Describe the differences between the nomadic and non-nomadic peoples of Central Asia and the challenges the Soviets had governing the nomads?
• Compare Uzbekistan�s and Tajikistan�s political problems and resulting social problems?
• How did Soviet soldiers fighting in Afghanistan talk about who they were fighting and how did they see themselves and their role in that war?
• Describe the role of gender in Central Asian cultures.� How is this role different from general roles in western cultures?
• Describe the lasting influences of the Soviet era on a specific country in post-Soviet Central Asia.
• What is the legacy of Islam in the Central Asian countries?
• Describe the environmental problems that have occurred in Central Asia .
• What are the similarities between the Caucasus and Central Asian countries?
• How does the destruction of the Aral Sea represent environmental problems in the Central Asian territories under the Soviet government?
• Compare sedentary and nomadic communities and how these different lifestyles affected the people and cultures of the region.

2.� Uzbekistan:

• What were the eating habits of the Uzbeks before and after the fall of the USSR?� Have western eating habits influenced the Uzbeks?
• Give an in-depth look at Uzbekistan and how Russians influenced/took advantage of them in pre- and post- Soviet Union.
• [delete--In what way has Uzbekistan�s African history affected the country today?]

3.� Tajikistan:

• [delete--Describe the civil war in Tajikistan.]
• How was the civil war in Tajikistan different from the wars of the Caucasus that began after the breakup of the Soviet Union?� How was this war resolved and what can we learn from it?
• The origins of Tajikistan are explained in Everyday Life� in Central Asia.� Summarize the creation of Tajikistan into what it has become today.
• Discuss the causes and effects of the civil war in Tajikistan.
• How is Tajikistan impacted by [delete--responding to] its gradual Turkization?

4.� Turkmenistan:

• What was nomadic life like for the Turkmen before the Soviet era?� How did it change during the Soviet era, and what is it like now?

5.� Kazakhstan:

• [delete--What happened regarding nuclear testing?]� What was the aftermath of nuclear testing above ground in Kazakhstan?
• Talk about the nuclear testing above ground in Kazakhstan and describe how it was involved in the cold war.
• Describe the conflicts/crises of the Aral Sea and nuclear situation in Kazakhstan.� Explain why these crises were important and the type of behaviors that caused these grave and life-claiming situations.� Use examples from the class lectures and readings.

6.� Kyrghyzstan:

• Describe the main issues that led to the Tulip Revolution and the results of that movement in Kyrghyzstan today.

Updated June 3, 2008