ABSTRACT
Suchanundertaking,althoughextremelydifficultunderthecurrentresearch environmentinpost-SovietCentralAsia,wouldrequire,ataminimum,aserious examinationandexplicationofrelationsamongthefollowingcloselylinked historicalandsociologicalrealities:(1)thenatureoftheSovietcolonialsystem anditsuniqueculturalandpoliticallegaciesinMuslimCentralAsia;(2)the unprecedentedcircumstancesleadingtothedeclarationsof"independence"from SovietcolonialrulebyCentralAsianMuslimssincethesummerof1991;(3)the scopeandlimitationsoftheirnewlyfound"freedoms";(4)thepost-SovietmanifestationsoftheCentralAsianMuslims'"consciousnessoftheirowncolonizationandthecolonizationoftheirconsciousness"3;andultimately(5)theeffects ofallthesefactorsonthedynamicprocessesofredefinitionofpersonaland collectiveidentities,expressionofinterpersonalandcommunalrelationships, reconstructionoflocalandnationalhistories,relationswithotherstates(Muslim andnon-Muslim),andexcavationoftherootsoftheir"Muslim"andnational politicalcultures.Wenowturntoabriefdiscussionofsomeoftheseimportant issues.
