Beyond the Silk Roads

Magnus Marsden

doi:10.1017/9781108974387

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This Book has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref.

Montgomery, David W. 2021. Building Pluralism in Central Asia: Outlining an Experiential Approach in Kyrgyzstan. The Review of Faith & International Affairs, Vol. 19, Issue. 4, p. 98.

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Karimi, Ali 2022. Information Control in Afghanistan, 1901–1946. Afghanistan, Vol. 5, Issue. 2, p. 172.

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Cheuk, Ka-Kin 2022. Diasporic convergence, sustained transience and indifferent survival: Indian traders in China. History and Anthropology, Vol. 33, Issue. 2, p. 279.

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Qian, Linliang 2024. The Global Imperative: Chinese Cross-Border E-Commerce and its Political-Economic Implications in a Deglobalising World. Asian Studies Review, Vol. 48, Issue. 4, p. 828.

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Marsden, Magnus 2024. The Legacies of Afghanistan’s Urban Cosmopolitanism: Sikhs, Muslims and Markets in London. Afghanistan, Vol. 7, Issue. 1, p. 22.

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Nichols, Robert 2024. The Pashtun Borderlands, 1944–1947. Afghanistan, Vol. 7, Issue. 1, p. 46.

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Marsden, Magnus 2025. Adjusting scales: Jewish trading networks in and beyond Afghanistan, 1950-present-day. History and Anthropology, Vol. 36, Issue. 1, p. 143.

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Marsden, Magnus 2025. Beyond Long-Distance Nationalism: Khorasan and the Re-imagination of Afghanistan. Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 67, Issue. 1, p. 90.

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Lu, Xiang 2025. Faith in flux: the diverse religious adaptations of Hui Muslim internal migrants in a global market town in Southeast China. Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 40, Issue. 1, p. 1.

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Magnus Marsden, University of Sussex

Publisher:: Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:: August 2021
Print publication year:: 2021
Online ISBN:: 9781108974387
DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108974387
Creative Commons:: This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/creativelicenses

Series:: Asian Connections
Subjects:: Social and Cultural Anthropology, Regional and World History: General Interest, History, Anthropology, Global History

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Small-scale traders play a crucial role in forging Asian connectivity, forming networks and informal institutions separate from those driven by nation-states, such as China's Belt and Road Initiative. This ambitious study provides a unique insight into the lives of the mobile traders from Afghanistan who traverse Eurasia. Reflecting on over a decade of intensive ethnographic fieldwork, Magnus Marsden introduces readers to a dynamic yet historically durable universe of commercial and cultural connections. Through an exploration of the traders' networks, cultural and religious identities, as well as the nodes in which they operate, Marsden emphasises their ability to navigate Eurasia's geopolitical tensions and to forge transregional routes that channel significant flows of people, resources, and ideas. Beyond the Silk Roads will interest those seeking to understand contemporary iterations of the Silk Road within the context of geopolitics in the region. This title is also available as Open Access.

‘Beyond the Silks Roads is a timely, original, and deeply researched portrait of the role of Afghan traders in forging new and important linkages among regions in Asia and to global circuits of exchange. Marsden’s fascinating multi-sited ethnographic research brings this story to life, revealing an unexpected but crucial dimension of inter-Asian connections.’

Robert D. Crews - Stanford University

‘Marsden brilliantly depicts the dynamic and shifting networks of Afghanistan-based traders and how they work with multi-ethnic, multi-national partners. His riveting ethnography of how they establish trust and predictability in uncertain, far-flung environments matches in significance and depth Shelomo Goitein’s classic A Mediterranean Society, depicting the Cairo-based Jewish trading communities and networks of an earlier historical era.’

Dale F. Eickelman - Dartmouth College

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Beyond the Silk Roads

This Book has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref.

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Contents

Beyond the Silk Roads
pp i-i

Asian Connections - Series page
pp ii-ii

Beyond the Silk Roads - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-vii

Maps
pp viii-viii

Acknowledgements
pp ix-xii

Glossary
pp xiii-xvi

Maps
pp xvii-xx

Introduction: Beyond the Silk Roads
pp 1-32

1 - ‘Take Your Help Away and Leave Us in Peace!’
pp 33-55

2 - Inter-Asian Corridor of Connectivity (1): The Eurasian World – China, Russia, Ukraine and Western Europe
pp 56-85

3 - Inter-Asian Corridor of Connectivity (2): West Asia – China, the Arabian Peninsula and Turkey
pp 86-121

4 - ‘Welcome to Yiwu, China International Trade City!’ Everyday Life in a Chinese Commercial Node
pp 122-161

5 - Minorities, Commerce and the Legacy of Muslim Asia’s Urban Cosmopolitanism: Afghanistan’s Hindus and Sikhs
pp 162-188

6 - An Alternative Eurasian Economic Geography: Afghanistan’s Role in Long-Distance Trade
pp 189-220

7 - Afghan Restaurants in Inter-Asian Worlds: Prestige, Information Pooling and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Long-Distance Trade
pp 221-253

Conclusion: Geopolitics, Critical Responsiveness and Navigational Agency in Eurasian Connectivity
pp 254-266

Note on Fieldwork
pp 267-268

References
pp 269-288

Index
pp 289-301

ASIAN CONNECTIONS - Series page
pp 302-304

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