Paolo Sartori, Ph.D. (2006), is Research Fellow at the Institute of Iranian Studies in Vienna. From 2007-2011 he was VolkswagenStiftung Fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies in Halle/Saale He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient (Brill).

• A Note on ConventionsList of FiguresList of ContributorsINTRODUCTION: ON THE SOCIAL IN CENTRAL ASIAN HISTORY: NOTES IN THE MARGINS OF LEGAL RECORDS - PAOLO SARTORICHAPTER ONE: AMLĀKDĀRS, KHWĀJAS AND MULK LAND IN THE ZARAFSHAN VALLEY AFTER THE RUSSIAN CONQUEST - ALEXANDER S. MORRISONCHAPTER TWO: MANAGING RURAL LANDSCAPES IN COLONIAL TURKESTAN: A VIEW FROM THE MARGINS - BEATRICE PENATICHAPTER THREE: WHO SHOULD MANAGE THE WATER OF THE AMU-DARYA? CONTROVERSY OVER IRRIGATION CONCESSIONS BETWEEN RUSSIA AND KHIVA, 1913–1914 - AKIFUMI SHIOYACHAPTER FOUR: HIGH RANK AND POWER AMONG THE NORTHERN KIRGHIZ: TERMS AND THEIR PROBLEMS, 1845–1864 - DANIEL G. PRIORCHAPTER FIVE: PERFORMANCE AND POETICS IN KYRGYZ MEMORIAL FEASTS: THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY CATEGORIES -SVETLANA JACQUESSONCHAPTER SIX: USING TURKI-LANGUAGE QAZAQ LETTERS TO RECONSTRUCT LOCAL HISTORY OF THE 1820S-30S -VIRGINIA MARTINCHAPTER SEVEN: A MONTH AMONG QAZAQS IN THE EMIRATE OF BUKHARA: OBSERVATIONS ON ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGE IN A NOMADIC ENVIRONMENT - ALLEN J. FRANKCHAPTER EIGHT: CREATING THE FAÇADE OF A DESPOTIC STATE: ON ĀQSAQĀLS IN LATE 19TH-CENTURY BUKHARA - ANDREAS WILDECHAPTER NINE: FATHERS AND SONS: RE-READINGS IN A SAMARQANDI PRIVATE ARCHIVE - THOMAS WELSFORDINDEX

'If social history is ‘one of the less fashionable intellectual enterprises of these days’, this edited volume more than makes the case for a revival of the discipline.(...) the overall accomplishments of this volume, which identifies exciting new directions of research in between, and beyond, these fragmented ‘singular stories.’Jennifer Griffiths, School of Slavonic & East European Studies, University College London, Central Asian Survey 2014.