ABSTRACT
While the notion of the city implies the presence of certain distinctionsgeographical, administrative, social, linguistic, and so forth-the idea of cosmopolitanism suggests mediations or engagements across various boundaries (ethnic, cultural, geographic, and political) (Breckenridge et al. 1-14; Cheah and Robbins). This chapter is an attempt to conceptualize and document ethnographically the mediations that occur within and across the boundaries of present-day Bukhara, Uzbekistan. It describes different aspects of coexistence in Bukhara, a city very much in dialogue with the diversity of its pasts, and inquires what can be learned from them about the cosmopolitan dynamics of its social morphology.
