Translocal Goods - Education, work and commodities between Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, China and the Arab Emirates

The research project aims to trace some of the vibrant cross-border connections and exchanges between the small, conflict-prone Central Asian countries Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and the influential regional players Russia, China and the Arab Emirates. The project consists of three ethnographic case studies which address some of the most significant "goods" circulating in these networks: education, works and commodities. In particular, the project wants to examine educational migration within Islamic networks (Project 1), the commercial-cultural flows of the hijab (veil) trade (Project 2) and translocal livelihoods associated with work and commodity trade spanning from Kyrgyzstan into Russia and China (Project 3).