How do ethnicity and notions of a traditional homeland interact in shaping a community's values and images? As Alexander C. Diener shows in One Homeland or Two?, the answer, even in a diaspora, is far from a simple harking back to the -old country.- Diener's research focuses on the complex case of the Kazakhs of Mongolia. Pushed out of the Soviet Union, then courted by the leaders of a new post-Soviet nation--the first-ever country named after them--and facing a newly urbanized, somewhat Russianized, and culturally Sovietized homeland, Mongolia's Kazakhs have had to figure out whether...

From our earliest schooldays, we are shown the world as a colorful collage of countries, each defined by their own immutable borders. What we often don't realize is that every political boundary was created by people. No political border is more natural or real than another, yet some international borders make no apparent sense at all. While focusing on some of these unusual border shapes, this fascinating book highlights the important truth that all borders, even those that appear "normal," are social constructions. In an era where the continued relevance of the nation state is being...

Focusing on unusual international border shapes, this fascinating book highlights the important truth that all borders, even those that appear "natural," were created by people. The unique and compelling histories of some of the world's oddest borders provide an ideal context for accessible and enlightening discussions of cultural globalization, economic integration, international migration, imperialism, postcolonialism, global terrorism, nationalism, and supranationalism. Each contributor's regional expertise enriches a textured account of the historical context in which these borders came...