Between Myth and Minefield
Historiography in Tajikistan
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Tajikistan’s post-Soviet historiography is based on a re-interpretation of Soviet-era historical narratives. The official reconstruction of “authentic” Tajik identity is based on a far distant, mythical past that has little in common with the present. At the same time, the government is trying to secure its prerogative of interpretation over the memory of the devastating civil war (1992-1997). After a period of suppression, during which the rhetoric of national unity dominated, President Emomalii Rahmon since the mid-2000s has increasingly cast himself as the civil war’s victor. Recently, independent media have challenged this development.
(Osteuropa 3/2012, pp. 137–150)