About the Author

Rustam M. Shukurov, Ph.D. (1990), Moscow State University, is Associate Professor of Medieval History at Moscow State University. His most recent books are The Grand Komneno and the Orient (1204-1461) in Russian (2001) and Peuples d'Asie Centrale (1994).

Muhammadjon Shakuri (Shukurov), Ph.D. (1955), Moscow, Academy of Sciences, is senior researcher at the Institute of Tajik Language and Literature in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. He has published extensively in the field of Tajik language and literature and is one of the authors of the Lexicon of the Tajik Language in Tajik (1969).

Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, Ph.D. (1994) in Central Asian Studies, Columbia University, was a staff member of the United Nations Development Programme from 1995-2002. She is now Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University and has published extensively on gender issues, the civil war in Tajikistan, development issues and human security.

Edward A. Allworth, Ph.D. (1959) Columbia University, in Slavic and Turkic languages and literature, is Emeritus Professor of Turko-Soviet Studies, Columbia University. He has written fourteen books and published more than 100 articles about cultural or ethnic politics in Central Asia, the former USSR and the Middle East. The most recent of these books are Devolution in Central Asia, 1990-2000 (2002) and Evading Reality. The Devices of cAbdalrauf Fitrat, Modern Central Asian Reformist (2002).