IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section B

Abstract

The contemporary transformation of Bukhara’s historic urban fabric due to a surge in tourism spurred by state initiatives and international interests is as violent in its destruction of the traditional culture of Bukhara as the Soviet interventions that cleared away a large number of religious buildings and structures made of traditional materials. Bukhara, like other historic cities in Uzbekistan such as Samarkand and Khiva, serves as a site for Silk Road image-reviving for the state in its appeal for separation from the country’s Soviet past and creating a new national identity that heavily relies on cultural heritage. Neighborhoods such as Lyab-i Hauz in the historic center have completely transformed to cater for rising tourism within the last eight years, serving a commodity culture fixed on promoting the image of the “exotic Silk Road” for international visitors. Concurrently, cultural heritage from Uzbekistan’s pre-Soviet past has also become a sense of pride for local inhabitants and regional neighbors who are eager to share their histories and have taken advantage of the economic opportunities that come with increased tourism. With the preference for highlighting a Muslim past for a secular, newly independent state, we must address the question of how the past is being manipulated to serve the present? By designing a specific image of Bukhara’s past, Uzbekistan is actively shaping a national identity that severs itself from its Russian past, underscoring the complex interplay between historical interpretation, cultural heritage, and contemporary nation-building efforts.