Mobilisations sociales, politique et société dans le Kirghizistan contemporain, par Asel Doolotkeldieva (podcast)

Vous écoutez Histoires de mobilité, une série de podcasts produite par la Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme. Histoires de mobilité racontent les expériences internationales de chercheurs et chercheuses que la Fondation soutient. Nous nous retrouvons pour ce nouvel épisode avec Asel Doolotkeldieva, chercheuse kirghize, venue conduire une partie de ses recherches postdoctorales en France grâce au soutien de la FMSH et de l'IFEAC, l’Institut français des études sur l'Asie centrale. Asel enseigne les sciences politiques et étudie plus précisément les mobilisations sociales dans l'espace postsoviétique. Elle évoque le poids du passé autoritaire des sociétés d'Asie centrale qui entrave les transitions politiques et ce, malgré les soulèvements populaires. Pour en savoir plus sur sa trajectoire de chercheuse, sur sa méthodologie et sur son séjour en France en 2019, dans le cadre du programme de mobilité Atlas, nous vous invitons aujourd'hui à écouter ce podcast qui lui est dédié.

    You're listening to Histoires de Mobilité, a series of podcasts produced by the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme. Histoires de Mobilité shares the international experiences of researchers supported by the Foundation. In this latest episode, we're here with Asel Doolotkeldieva, Kyrgyz researcher, who came to France to conduct part of her postdoctoral research, thanks to the support of the FMSH and IFEAC, the French Institute for Central Asian Studies. Asel teaches political science and studies more specifically social mobilisation in the post-Soviet region. She talks about the weight of the authoritarian past in Central Asian societies which hinders political transitions, despite popular uprisings. To learn more about her career as a researcher, about her methodology and her stay in France in 2019, within the framework of the Atlas Mobility Programme, we invite you to listen to this podcast dedicated to her. I started my PhD thesis in 2010, when there was a second popular revolt in Kyrgyzstan, just five years after the first revolt. My name is Asel Doolotkeldieva, I come from Kyrgyzstan. I've a PhD in Political Science and I'm currently an associate researcher at the OSCE Academy, in Bishkek. It's important to understand that in the post-Soviet Central Asian region, where all the neighbouring countries have been under authoritarian regimes, since independence, since the end of the USSR, this political dynamism in Kyrgyzstan has been a unique and fascinating phenomenon. Hence my interest in social mobilisations, their origins, their nature and their structure. As we speak, there has been a third revolt in Kyrgyzstan, just a month ago, which led to a change of government, but with disturbing results and consequences. My doctoral thesis examined the conditions under which social mobilisations were made possible, despite the semi-authoritarian regime. In other words, I demonstrate that Kyrgyz society is mobile, unlike Tajik, Kazakh or Turkmen societies. But it succeeds only to overthrow the regime, the mobilisations don't lead to any deep reforms of the political domain. Moreover, Kyrgyz society shares these traits with other societies, in the Maghreb and in the Middle East, which were affected by the Arab Spring at the same time. Why can't we make deep reforms? We have to look for the reasons why in the authoritarian legacy which is very deep-rooted: corruption of elites, co-option of the opposition and the undemocratic rules of the game. The relative ease, when compared to studies on Kyrgyzstan, is explained by better access to the elites, political organisations and communities. But that doesn't at all mean that problems don't exist; as a woman, we are more exposed to verbal and emotional abuse than others. As soon as you show interest in issues such as religion or nationalism, or even, for example, the development of gold mines, like everywhere in the world, it's much more difficult for women to have a career, especially in a society as patriarchal as Kyrgyzstan. There is a sanction, especially on controversial topics like nationalism or religion, there's a tendency to use more neutral words; we say, for example, patriotism instead of nationalism. But compared to the situation in Russia, Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan, or even in our country before 2010, when there was a very authoritarian regime in place, freedom of expression in educational institutions and in research is of course much better now. Efforts are always being made by the government to strengthen control over the media or over the Internet, but I can say that the scientists have been spared, for the time being, from such repressive policy. For the most part, science has no influence on decision making which is why I think we have a little bit more freedom of speech than the media has, for example. I'm rather privileged compared to my other colleagues in the country, because I speak several foreign languages and I have international scientific networks as a result of my studies in Europe. I think it's so important to maintain these international programmes, even if it's just for short stays, because it really balances the possibilities for local researchers to be able to leave their authoritarian and repressive environment, even if it's for just a few months, to find some peace, and stability, to be able to write and to be intellectually engaged. I've published three articles since my return to Kyrgyzstan; the second was the result of my stay in France, where I met sociologists who worked on social mobilisation in Russia, in Belarus, in Maghreb and other countries. These intellectual exchanges allowed me to progress and I've been able to maintain contact with these colleagues for future conferences, for joint projects. And thirdly, I've a book project that I'm going to start in Paris, which is still work in progress, with the third revolt that took place just a month ago, which demonstrates how topical this research is on social mobilisation. It's an idea that touches on the political economy in Central Asia which is based on natural resources. The Central Asian states have put a lot of effort into developing resource extraction; it's either oil in Kazakhstan, or gold and other precious metals in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and gas in Uzbekistan. I'm interested in how these economic models allow for capitalist advancement nowadays, in this space which is surrounded by socialists; how do these development models, which are rather exclusive, because they enrich the elites of today and not the ordinary citizens, manage to create a politics of resistance at the local community level? It was quite an ambitious project because it looks outside of the Kyrgyz borders and more at the global level, at the advance of extractive capitalism. In Central Asia, we have a data problem; there are very few available statistics, so, to make a proper analysis that can generalise social and political trends, is almost impossible. I criticise my Western political scientists who come to Kyrgyzstan only to spend a few weeks in the capital, thinking that they can simply interview some of the elites; that's a very partial analysis. While we all know that the elites have their own agenda, to manipulate the citizens, to organize their own demonstrations. Yes, it happens in Central Asia. These demonstrations are not always an authentic expression, of the citizens. Elites and government have the power to organise their own mobilisations to advance their interests. I use all sorts of methods; I spend a lot of time in the villages, with the communities that sometimes take part in this kind of popular revolt, in order to get access to ordinary citizens, to get their opinion, their point of view, to find out their motivations for taking part in these kinds of critical events; I also take part in the events myself. So I'm using, so to speak, an anthropological method, participant or non-participant observation. When you are inside a demonstration, it really gives a vivid picture of how people are, why they are there, why they are involved, etc. This can make the research quite expensive, because it takes a lot of personal time to attend all these events. It can also be quite dangerous at times, because you should know that demonstrations in Kyrgyzstan, in most cases, are very much marked by the male gender. It's usually men who participate in these events, because it's considered to be a dangerous activity for women. So being alone amongst these men who can be very agitated can have its consequences. But I find that it's the only way to complete the picture in the absence of official data, statistics and the rest. For over 50 years, the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme has been supporting research and education in humanities and social sciences. With the voices of Amandine Samson and Emmanuelle Corne, and music by Irina Gimenez, this podcast was produced and directed by FMSH Audiovisuel.

La Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme et ses partenaires offrent des aides à la mobilité pour des recherches postdoctorales en sciences humaines et sociales d’une durée de 1 à 3 mois.