Date of Submission
Spring 2023
Academic Program
Anthropology; Russian and Eurasian Studies
Project Advisor 1
Naoko Kumada
Project Advisor 2
Olga Voronina
Abstract/Artist's Statement
This project is an anthropological examination of the Kyrgyz community living in Chicago. It involves a deep examination of who the Kyrgyz are as an ethnic group, how they have developed a shared identity, and how this identity forms the basis of their community in Chicago. It also includes an ethnographic examination of two formal organizations—a nonprofit and a restaurant—that are run by Kyrgyz people and serve the Kyrgyz population, and a similar examination of Kyrgyz-Chicagoans’ relationships to institutions. After analyzing the complex web of relations between community, organizations, and institutions, I argue that informal organizations and institutions are especially important for creating community among the Kyrgyz in Chicago, while formal organizations are especially important for sustaining community.
Open Access Agreement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Roth, Jonah Victor Sorby, "Forming the Kyrgyz Community of Chicago: Identity, Organizations, and Institutions" (2023). Senior Projects Spring 2023. 108.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2023/108
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.