Orientation

Elzan sells hats at the bazaar. Fresh snow covers the ground and temperatures are dropping; its a good time of year to be selling winter hats. But sales are unsatisfactory. As a CNN addict, I am eager to point to the global economic recession. Elzan shrugs off my prods to for some analysis of the decline. 

He is located at a cross alley of sorts. The main pedestrian avenues of the bazaar run north to south. Due to the shape of the cargo containers which compose the skeleton of the bazaar this elongated rectangular shape is the most efficient use of space. Similar to how in many US urban areas the blocks are composed of houses which face their streets of access and abut another home at a shared reared inner space. So too do the containers abut butt to butt. Intermittently, there will be either a cross avenue or alley so that one can get from one main drag to another. Elzan occupied one such spot. He occupies no container but pays a regular rent for his space which he occupies everyday from sun up to sundown (at least during the short cold winter days).

Rent is $100 a month and earnings are "too few." The hats come from all over but principally hail from Turkey, Iran and China. 

Elzan occupies a very middle post on the bazaar social totempole. In terms of retailers, he has a spot but not a "container." His goods are displayed on a wall. Many who do not own containers provide vital but economically marginal goods and services. There are the tea sellers with their stollers of tea as well as sellers who operate off of a matt. They are highly mobile and able to occupy any space made available by any container being closed for whatever reason. Each table or spread costs a daily rent of 20 som, or about $US .50. Despite the potential to work anywhere in the huge and sprawling bazaar, most sellers with a matt which I have talked to set up in the same space (if located in a less busy area) or in the same basic area if it is a more crowded area. Similarly, the tea sellers tend to work a limited area as well, preferring to limit themselves to one or two "blocks" of the bazaar rather than wandering all around it.

So even the mobile and flexlible sellers at the bazaar seek to ground their trade in a limited geography. In this way they are able to form consistent customers (many of the tea sellers' principle clients are merchants who would like a warm drink but would like to stay at their stall and/or container).

Sellers that operate off of wheel-barrel type stands, mats and small tables also tend to set up in the same area everyday. Gaining knowledge of the flow of a day, the regular pulses of the bazaar and the a basic level of comfort with one's physical and social environment are an important factors for many sellers. Even though their operations are small enough that long-term relationships with clients are unlikely to emerge as a significant financial incentive for occupying the same space every day, other less tangible incentives emerge. Perhaps risk aversion, trying a new spot everyday could be result in low sales. Moving to a new area of the bazaar would take a tole on one's social harmony as well as finding a place that would not ruffle the feathers of pre-established sellers could be stressful. 

I am trying to spend at least two hours a day at the bazaar now and have set a number of people to talk with everyday to help get me out of my complacent bubble (formed by attending to necessary but non-bazaar related errands). So far, it's coming a long. Happy Solstice. The sun will now get higher and the days longer! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

If one were 

Ak Bata v. Kyrgyzgaz

The communities around the bazaar are known as "novastroika" or new construction. Almost all of the so-called villages came into being after independence and sprang up on land that had pretty much been farmland. The situation made land rights a hazy affair. If people moved to the land before privatization but were not supposed to be living there, who owns the land. The state had more pressing matters to attend to than to sort out the legality of new residents during a time when the very basis of the legal framework was in shift. In the context of widespread economic disintegration the population of "squatters" grew quickly. Soon, their were too many to simply evict them. The squatters, well aware of their potentially tenuous position were fairly well organized, united in an interest to hold on to land, sensitive to threats to their situation and, perhaps most important, had little to lose. Eventually the de facto situation gained official recognition by the government and the squatter communities were incorporated as villages. Many of the underlying land issues, however had not been fully resolved.

One area of a village happens to have been constructed over the sight of a gas pipeline. The company which owns the pipeline, Kyrgyzgas, now claims that the pipeline presents a danger to the community. Furthermore they are claiming rights to a swath of land above the underground pipe. They want the residents to leave. However, it also appears that if one pays some 10,000 som (about $US 250) that it will be possible to keep the land.

Residents are concerned by this development. The families are, generally speaking, not well off. But they have invested their time and money into improving their homes and neighborhoods, not to mention the fact that there is a strong sense of community that many are not eager to abandon.

The residents have organized a group to express their concern over the potential ouster. They have hired a lawyer and have met with a judge. The matter is now before the judge with some sort of a decision about the legality of the gas company's claim expected soon.

The families are not hopeful that the judge will decide in their favor. I am not trying to harp on the corruption issue, but judges, like all civil servants make very little in the way of monthly salary and selling out just one or two cases a month can do wonders for their standard of living. The residents also lament that they are not positive about the caliber of their lawyer. Many are not sure what they will do if things go against them. The $250 sum is very high and there seems to be little guarantee that the payment would really resolve the situation. Moving to a new location would also be very expensive and socially undesireable.

Last winter was the coldest on record for decades in Kyrgyzstan and life in the houses of the bazaar ring villages was difficult. By many accounts even harrowing at times. Many I know stocked up on coal and wood to last them through this winter but while so far the weather has cooperated but another sort of trouble may be on the horizon.