A History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East

by Richard C. Foltz

In this comprehensive and up to date history, from prehistoric proto-Indo-Iranian times to the post-Soviet period, Richard Foltz traces the complex linguistic, cultural and political history of the Tajiks, a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group from the modern-day Central Asian states of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. In eight chapters, the author explores the revitalisation of Persian culture under the Samanid Empire in the Tajik heartlands of historical Khorasan and Transoxiana; analyses the evolution of the politics of Tajik identity; and traces the history of the ethnic Tajik diaspora today.

Genres: History, Iran, Nonfiction, Middle East

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 27, 2019

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history/anthropology of Persian speakers of the East, in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. I thought it was particularly good on the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. This is the first full-length history of the Persian speakers of Central Asia that I have found. The author does a good job of making connections between the Tajiks and other Central/South Asian Muslims (mostly of Turkish or Pashto ethnicity/language), as well as Russians. I would have liked for him to talk more about relations between the Tajiks and the Persians of Iran. He talks about Iranian influence on Central Asia, but cuts this off by the 18th century. I would have liked some discussion of what efforts, if any, Iran is making to connect with Tajiks in the post-Soviet period. The author also does a great job of describing the current situation in Tajikistan, and of the Tajik diaspora. It differentiates amongst different Central Asian ethnic groups in a way that is accessible.

[Brennen Beyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly insightful, helpful, and well written.

[Arnulf Snedker-Nielsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to view subject specificity as the necessary first step for great books which is both why this book bewitched me so much, and why I find it important to stress what it isn’t. Given the small representation of Tajikistan in the global consciousness, even when compared with its immediate neighbours, I went into this book expecting a relatively dry book about post-soviet Central Asian politics. A few nods to the region's past, but mostly a slow unravelling of a small and poor nation's otherwise obscure political and social issues.

The book is, actually, much better than I hoped. It starts with the prehistory of Central Asia’s own little Mesopotamia and goes on through the ages to show the manyfold influences on the region today, all of which are neatly tied into a tale of the many players in the soul of Tajikistan today. Richard Foltz clearly shows his immersion-based approach to cultural studies, with parts both near the beginning and end almost reading as travel fiction from the likes of Kate Harris. He is able to masterfully weave archaeological finds, personal anecdotes and contested historical events together into an emotionally engaging tapestry from many different strands who, as Richard points out, were never destined to be spun together in an entity called “Tajikistan”. For a complete outsider, the rapid pace of the book and its clear messaging gives one a clear sense of how the different pieces of history connect together to form Tajikistan.

However, the lack of dryness also loses some of what I had expected in the book. Many significant claims, not just about history but also how one should feel about it are presented off-the-cuff in a way that would be no issue at all in a conversation where one could ask to know more, but which, in this book, sometimes doesn’t have a clear source and therefore becomes an underbuilt opinion of the author, who the reader will be inclined to believe partially due to his clear immersion in not just the modern culture but also the history and archaeology in the region. The underbuilt arguments are never very controversial, a few jabs at the nationalistic ideologues of the region, which few Western readers will be sympathetic to in any case and who might, admittedly, warrant no more than passing scorn. The section on prehistory did seem overly simplistic and dated for a book from 2019. The descriptions of pelt-wearing shamans getting high off Soma, the snide insinuation that the perhaps mythical Zoroaster likely was a wealthy priest named for his many camels or the mention of “mongoloid” type skeletons all indicate a will to wonder greater than the sense to doubt. In this section, the sources seem old and underexplored, if the idea is indeed to have a nuanced understanding of the many possible pasts and it seems a shame, for when history gets going and sources become plentiful, Richard has a true gift for making the subject matter meaningful and deeply compelling. Had a little more time been spent on inserting asterisks into the fanciful stories about the murky depths of pre-history, the early sections of the book would have been much more impactful and encouraged more dreaming and exploration, whereas they now seem a short story told so we can move on to the parts of history that definitely happened.

All in all the book is a fantastic work of popular history and brilliantly displays the author's mastery in his field. It’s just a shame that the declarative nature of the writing obfuscates the methods a reader could use to transcend the weaknesses of the author.