Franz Wennberg, Uppsala universitet
Abstract
Modern day political debate in Central Asia is hard to imagine without basic concepts of time and
space, such as “the nation” and “the future.” Modern concepts of time and space, however, has only
been common in Central Asia since the beginning of the 20th century when modern maps appeared
in the area and the largely imported concept of “progress” challenged commonly held expectations
of an imminent end of the world. Countries were from now on increasingly imagined to have clear
boundaries in space. They were also imagined to have a public time of their own and an open-ended
future created by human activity. The concept of “the people,” so closely associated with the nation,
is on the other hand largely a product of Soviet concept of social stratification. As such, the people of
Tajikistan represents one interest group within the boundaries of the Republic of Tajikistan, where
they are supposed to create their future. The Popular Democratic Party of Tajikistan exemplifies
these conceptual transformations, both by its symbol, which is a map of Tajikistan, and by its claim to
represent the Tajik people and to work for a better future of the Tajik nation. During the seminar
these conceptual transformations will be discussed, from the conceptualization of future during the
late 19th century to the exclusive conceptualisation of the people during the 1990s.