Paper short abstract:

After the June events in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, the economic space of the Uzbeks of the city of Osh sharply narrowed. This leads to the question: how did Uzbek cafe owners find ways to cope with the 2010 Osh events and the difficult economic situation that they found themselves in?

Paper long abstract:

Following the June 2010 events In Osh, there was irreversible damage inflicted on the economic foundations of the ethnic Uzbek segment of the population of Southern Kyrgyzstan. Cafes, restaurants and retail outlets belonging to Uzbeks were burnt down or passed into the hands of Kyrgyz businessmen. After the June events, the economic space of the Uzbeks of the city of Osh sharply narrowed. However, Uzbeks still manage to dominate the catering sector in Osh and the surrounding regions. This leads to the question: how did Uzbek cafe owners find ways to cope with the 2010 Osh events and the difficult economic situation that they found themselves in?

The stories of our informants–along with the way in which they concealed their business success, cultivated connections to state authorities, carefully complied with government rules and regulations, and navigated bureaucratic obstacles –led us to make use of the concept of securityscapes developed by von Boemcken et al ( 2016 ) to describe people’s everyday practices of security- making. The concept of a securityscape is defi ned as a strategy for making a secure life for oneself in response to perceived threats.

We collected field material for more than eight months on Uzbek security practices in everyday life, specifically, in the catering business, by making trips to locations in Osh of both compact and dispersed Uzbek residency. The methods that we used in conducting our research were primarily participant observation, qualitative interviews with both women and men, and focus group discussions among local youth.