This project explores state-society relations in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan through the prism of Long Postsocialism. This perspective is useful for exposing the effects of long-term socio-economic processes of transition on contemporary societal understandings of ideal state institutions, political systems, and social cohesion. Empirically, the research focuses on Central Asia – a region largely ignored in theoretical debates on Postsocialism but highly relevant given the enduring and varied collective memories of state socialism and Soviet nostalgia that circulate there. The project investigates the multi-sited and multi-scalar production of collective memories and their co-existence with official discourses of past history and contemporary development trajectories. It asks whether and how memories of state socialism constitute a source of affective support for ‘strong-man’ rule and regime stability.

• How, and through which mechanisms/structures/processes, do collective memories of state socialism circulate in the societies of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan?
• Who participates in the creation and circulation of various post-socialist narratives and at which sites and scales?
• What notions of ideal state-society relations are implicit in these different post-socialist narratives?
• Under which circumstances do post-socialist collective memories become re-activated in these societies?

• Analysis of official discourses and policies in education, culture and history
• Qualitative interviews with societal actors
• Mass media analysis