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- Author or Editor: Marc von Boemcken x
This conceptual chapter situates the theoretical and empirical approach adopted here within the wider body of literature on security and danger in Central Asia. It is, in this sense, in parts a literature review. Moreover, it explains the concept of securityscapes in terms of combining two established analytical perspectives in (Critical) Security Studies, namely a focus on the individual human being as principal referent-object ('deepening' of security) and an understanding of security as a social practice rather than an objectively measurable condition of existence (praxeology of security). All the subsequent empirical chapters proceed from the conceptual clarifications presented here.
The introduction outlines the main purpose and objective of this volume. It compares the conceptual approach adopted here to other writings on security in Kyrgyzstan and locates its particular take on the issue within the wider academic landscape. The introduction provides a brief overview of each chapter and shows how all the contributions are conceptually related to one another. Finally, it explains the overall research project, of which this volume is a result, details the methods applied by the involved scholars and reflects on methodological shortcomings and limitations that became apparent during field research.
Moving beyond state-centric and elitist perspectives, this volume examines everyday security in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and written by scholars from Central Asia and beyond, it shows how insecurity is experienced, what people consider existential threats, and how they go about securing themselves.
It concentrates on individuals who feel threatened because of their ethnic belonging, gender or sexual orientation. It develops the concept of ‘securityscapes’, which draws attention to the more subtle means that people take to secure themselves – practices bent on invisibility and avoidance, on disguise and trickery, and on continually adapting to shifting circumstances. By broadening the concept of security practice, this book is an important contribution to debates in Critical Security Studies as well as to Central Asian and Area Studies.
