Azan on the Moon

Azan on the Moon is an in-depth anthropological study of people s lives along the Pamir Highway in eastern Tajikistan. Constructed in the 1930s in rugged high altitude terrain, the road fundamentally altered the material and social fabric of this former Soviet outpost on the border with Afghanistan and China. The highway initially brought sentiments of disconnection and hardship, followed by Soviet modernization and development, and ultimately a sense of distinction from bordering countries and urban centers that continues to this day.
Based on extensive fieldwork and through an analysis of construction, mobility, technology, media, development, Islam, and the state along the Pamir Highway, Till Mostowlansky shows how conceptualizations of modernity are both challenged and reinforced in contemporary Tajikistan. In this vein, modernity as a future state to aspire to is juxtaposed with a modern past to which people along the highway wish to return, and, in the wake of the country s marginalization and unequal relations with China, with a present in which modernity is under threat. Weaving together the road, a population and a region, Azan on the Moon presents a rich ethnography of encounters marked by far-reaching transnational connections."

Azan on the Moon is the first book-length anthropological study of people s lives along the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan. Constructed in the 1930s through remote, rugged terrain and high altitude, the highway fundamentally altered the material and social fabric of this former Soviet borderland with China and Afghanistan. The road initially brought sentiments of disconnection and hardship, followed by Soviet modernization and provisioning, and ultimately a growing pride of separation and distinction from bordering countries and urban centers that continues to this day.
Through an analysis of construction, mobility, technology, media, development, Islam, and the state along the Pamir highway, Till Mostowlansky shows how conceptualizations of modernity are both challenged and reinforced among the local peoples. Politically and economically marginalized in the wake of unequal relations with surrounding countries and within their own land, Tajiks along the road have experienced modernity under threat. Based on his extensive fieldwork and interviews, Mostowlansky develops a rich ethnography of a road, a population, and a region that is physically and cognitively connected, yet willingly separate from the world."