Steppe and sown: Eurasianism, soil and the mapping of Bukhara in the light of soviet ethnographic accounts

Abstract

This chapter reveals how ecological zones and their division into steppe and sown, nomadic and sedentary people, helped Russian ethnographers to understand the heritage and urban neighbourhood principles of Bukhara. It charts the launch and significance of ethnographic enquiry into this former oasis city within the context of Eurasianism, and illuminates the notion of soil inRussian thought, together with the central role it played in the study of the interrelationship between environmental factors and socio-cultural changes. The evidence will be used to present ethnographic accounts as a way of transferring knowledge between Asia and Europe, and argue in favour of a flexible approach negotiating between nature and culture, and as a process of hybridization, whereby cultures come together and, by learning from each other, create a pathway towards Eurasian integration and global intellectual interaction.