Pre-colonial Central Asia was politically fragmented, characterized by a patchwork of competing tribal loyalties, kingdoms, and city-states. Nevertheless, territories now encompassed by modern states such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and India shared a common Islamic sect (Sunnism) as well as Persian high culture. Islamic scholars (the ulama) invested in a consistently eclectic skillset – Islamic law, poetry, sufism, astrology, etc. – to traverse a social continuum that permeated even the colonial borders established starting in the 1860s. Individuals enacted these competencies in the service of Turkic dynasties, thereby establishing family dynasties that persisted into the twentieth century.
James Pickett, of Princeton University, was a 2011-2012 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) [9] fellow.
