(English) Coming home from Kyrgyzstan – three months later

It has now almost been three months since me and Emma arrived back in Sweden, after spending four months in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Previously when I’ve spent some time abroad, I’ve marvelled at the fact that your life just goes back to normal so quickly; you meet up with old friends, walk the same streets as you’ve always walked before, go back to work or school – and all of a sudden it’s like you forget that you’ve just spent the last four or six months in a foreign country – with new friends and different streets – and that...

(English) Part 1. Women’s Roles in the Construction of Identity in Kyrgyzstan: What is Kyrgyz National Identity?

Welcome to the first blogpost in the miniseries about the roles of women in Kyrgyz national identity! This post will be dedicated to clarify some concepts, such as national identity and gender, and shortly explain how and why they relate to each other. I will present a few theories of how national identity is constructed and maintained, to elaborate on my first out of three questions presented in my introductory post: What has been central in the construction of Kyrgyz national identity post-independence? What is National Identity? The understanding of a nation can be manifold. Several scholars from many...

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(English) Vernacular design in Central Asia – A showcase of handmade objects from Kyrgyzstan

A man tends to his shop of babies’ cradles at Osh Bazaar, Kyrgyzstan Note to readers: this post was originally published on the author’s Medium account. Check this link to read it from the original source. Central Asia is regarded as a region of excellence when it comes to the production of artifacts such as carpets, textiles and felt. This traditions have been deeply explored and rightfully celebrated, however very little can be found on the design of everyday things in the region. The Southern part of Kyrgyzstan, a rather small country of 5 million, is especially interesting because...

Ved i Centralasien

I maj gjorde vi i Ved en turné/musikresa genom Centralasien. Under resans gång genomförde vi konserter, improvisationsworkshops och jamsessions. Ungefär såhär gick det till : Kazakstan 1/5 Biker Festival, Almaty – 1/5 Guns & Roses Pub, Almaty – 1/5 Chukotka, Almaty – 2/5 Kazakh museum of folk instruments, Almaty – jamsession med kazakiska nomadiska folkmusiker – 2/5 Mad Murphys bar, Almaty Almaty och Kazakstan blev en hektisk inledning, vi gjorde tre spelningar på en dag och dagen efter träffade vi några fantastiska nomadmusiker, som spelar musik på traditionella instrument. De gav oss en konsert och sedan spelade vi hop med...

VED i Centralasien

Jag har spelat musik tillsammans med Gustaf i snart femton år. Under den här tiden har jag nära följt hans passion för de Centralasiatiska länderna och hans arbete där. För något år sedan började vi fantisera lite lätt om att vi nog skulle åka dit tillsammans en gång och spela musik. Om drygt en vecka (närmare bestämt den 29 april) ska vi göra det. Men vi åker inte själva utan tillsammans med en grupp personer som jag hyser stor respekt för, och som de här åren vi har spelat musik tillsammans som gruppen VED blivit som en familj. Vi insåg alla...