Postcards from Stanland

January 1, 2016

When U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry mistakenly called "Kyrgyzstan" "Kyrzakhstan" in 2013, he surely was not alone in misidentifying one of the smaller "stanland" countries of central Asia. Mould (professor emeritus, media studies, Ohio Univ.; American Newsfilm 1914-1919) is the ideal author to demystify the region and its people as, since the mid-1990s, he has returned to Kyrgyzstan and central Asia many times to work and teach journalism. His account informs readers of nepotism, corruption, and bureaucracy in government and academia in the region. His travels provide further exposure to spectacular scenery and the lives of the ordinary people throughout central Asia. Although the author humbly admits that his writing is "offbeat and non-academic," he nevertheless delivers an accomplished tome that covers topics ranging from culture and politics to history, the environment, economics, and human rights. Of particular interest are sections that probe national identity; the literary landscape of Semay, Kyrgyzstan; and his overall impression (Mould calls it "seven lessons learned") of central Asia. VERDICT With a sense of humor, Mould's memoir will ameliorate the reader's likely ignorance of Kyrgyzstan and stimulate interest in this lesser-known region.--Victor Or, Surrey Libs., BC

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2015
An illuminating travelogue through Central Asia. Born in England, where he worked as a journalist, Mould (Dividing Lines: Canals, Railroads and Urban Rivalry in Ohio's Hocking Valley, 1825-1875, 1994, etc.) came to America in 1978 for graduate school and became a faculty member at Ohio University, where he is now a professor emeritus of media studies. His background thus provides contrast with the experiences that inform the book. "Since the mid-1990s," he writes, "I've traveled to Central Asia, mostly to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, more than a dozen times to teach at universities, lead workshops for journalists and educators, consult with TV and radio stations, and conduct research." The author recognizes that the two countries he names will be unfamiliar to a general readership. Yet these and other nations that have arisen in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union are among the world's largest, though subject to name changes within the cities of their blurring borders and shifting perspectives to the legacies of Lenin, Stalin, and Soviet repression. Mould plainly feels considerable affection for the people he brings to life here, while his extended experiences in "Stanland" are marked by a tension between illumination and frustration. "I don't deliberately stay in rundown Soviet-era hotels so I can write about them later," he writes. "Sometimes, there's just no alternative." The author covers a lot of ground, historically and geographically, taking readers from rural areas to industrial regions to sites contaminated by nuclear testing that its natives refuse to leave. He provides some educational direction in cultures where professors generally teach by lecturing, rather than working with prospective journalists on how to practice their craft, where students and professors alike admit to engaging in bribery, and where officials believe "the goal of journalism education should be to prepare students to work in government media and corporate public relations." As a genial travel guide, Mould, an academic who doesn't write like an academic, shows how one should resist the temptations to stereotype a culture too easily and understand it too quickly.

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