Redefining national identity in Uzbekistan: symbolic tensions in Tashkent’s official public landscape

Abstract

The official public landscape of Tashkent constitutes a strategic medium in the reconstitution of contemporary Uzbek national identity. In this regard, Tashkent resembles numerous capital cities across Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. However, unlike in more democratized societies, the reinscription of Tashkent’s public landscape has remained almost exclusively the provenance of ruling political elites. To date, the transformation of Tashkent’s official public landscape has been measured and gradual. Political elites have hesitated to unravel the intricate iconography of Uzbek state- and nationhood designed by Soviet-era architects. This article focuses on the evolving relationship between Uzbekistan’s political elite and Tashkent’s symbolic landscape. The embeddedness of Soviet-era architectural icons illuminates the inertia that has defined contemporary efforts to reinscribe the narrative of Uzbek nationhood. The link between Tashkent’s past and present public landscapes also highlights the tension between public landscapes that reify state-centred definitions of Uzbekness and those, such as the mosque, that manifest alternative visions of Uzbek identity.