The Successful Life of Qurbon Amirqulov: Memories of Leadership in the Southern Periphery of UzbekistanIngeborg Baldauf

ASIEN – Nr. 129 (2013) pp. 115–36

Autobiographical stories, which are a favorite literary genre in Central Asia today, provide rich source material for a yet-to-be-written cultural history of the region in Soviet and post-Soviet times. “Destiny” is the extended life story of Qurbon Amirqulov, a manager and entrepreneur from the periphery of Uzbekistan who in synopsis rates his lifetime struggles and achievements as a thorough success. Investigating the author’s account and interpretation, this paper points out the societal and economic ideals of the man, many of which collided with Soviet and to a lesser extent post-Soviet ideals and realities, and his strategies — in real life and in life-writing — for coming to terms with problematic aspects of the past and for coping with the ever-changing challenges of the present.

Manuscript received on 2013-06-07, accepted on 2013-09-22
Keywords: Uzbekistan, 20th-century history, autobiography, life writing, political culture