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Kyrgyzstan is beautiful. But it is also a country in limbo. Suspended between dependence and decolonization, this condition is partly the result of more than a century under Russian control, and partly the ongoing challenge of living in Russia’s shadow. Planning ahead for my semester teaching in Bishkek, I arrived with a basic knowledge of Kyrgyz history and some familiarity with current events. I expected to encounter “the hangover” from Soviet socialism, it is a legacy I have also seen in Eastern Europe. Sure enough, Kyrgyzstan suffers from corruption, institutionalized mediocrity, propaganda, and pangs of communist nostalgia. But in...

Edward Morgan wrote about his experiences in Kyrgyzstan, sharing them on social media from January to June 2023. Some of those posts, like entries from a travel journal, have been assembled here. Individually, the raw and unedited entries share an account of his time in the Central Asian country. Collectively, the posts express a larger narrative about the social and regional conditions in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. FEBRUARY 2 Last night I went to a Beatles concert at Bishkek’s Opera and Ballet Theatre. An orchestra of strings and percussion played Beatles hits under a random...