Troubles with Islam and “ecstasy or self-oblivion”

Much was said and written by Sovietologists about the divided character of the Uzbek social order during the twentieth century, in the sense that Russians long occupied positions of (urban) prestige while local Uzbeks neither had nor sought such standing with any great enthusiasm. This may be true of the Kyrgyz, for example, but probably not Uzbeks, who can both trace lengthy (pre-Russian) genealogies and enjoyed significant professional/political success. The first few years after 1991 altered this scenario in two ways; both were initially tied to the wishes of post-Soviet Uzbekistan to improve cultural relations with Turkey or Iran rather than Western Europe.