Authors
Asel Murzakulova1; 1 University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan Discussion
This paper draws attention to the less researched, sensuous dimensions of infrastructural transformations in the post-socialist period. I indicate how infrastructural changes, including militarization of the border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, have led to the obliteration of local village life, and with it the loss of an everyday sensorium that was connected to a perception of Soviet-era security. I argue that these colossal infrastructural changes, as part of border securitization, evoke a special type of sensuous nostalgia for the sensory experiences connected to the pre-border past. Sensuous nostalgia has its own set of sensory referents, including the noise of crowded spaces of mobility, like at railway stations, the feel of a cool breeze under the shade of trees, and the soundscapes associated with rural sociality, such as the crowing of roosters. These nostalgic sensations are associated with a once peaceful and predictable life, in contrast to new border materializations that have created insecure spaces marked by the novel and less desirable sensations of militarized infrastructures. 
