Book Review: Migration from Central Asia: Stories and Identity Formation by Çağla Gül, Y.

In Migration from Central Asia, Çağla Gül Yesevi provides a historical and sociological exploration of migration from Turkestan and the identity formation of migrant communities in Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. Drawing primarily on oral history methods, the book reconstructs migration trajectories beginning in the early twentieth century and traces the experiences of migrants and their descendants across multiple generations. Through family narratives and historical reconstruction, Yesevi examines how migrants from Turkestan navigated displacement, adapted to new social environments, and preserved religious, linguistic, and cultural traditions while living in diverse host societies.

The book's central contribution lies in documenting the migration of Turkestanian families who left Central Asia during the political upheavals of the early Soviet period, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. Yesevi situates these movements within broader geopolitical transformations in Central Asia, showing how political repression, shifting borders, and ideological conflict contributed to the initial exodus from the region. The early chapters provide a concise historical overview of these processes and trace how diaspora networks gradually expanded across different parts of the world.

Empirically, the study relies heavily on oral histories collected from migrants and their descendants. These narratives reconstruct everyday experiences of mobility, resettlement, and community formation, highlighting how migration is embedded in family histories and intergenerational memory. Rather than treating migration primarily as a demographic or economic phenomenon, the book foregrounds the lived experiences of individuals and families as they rebuilt their lives in new national contexts.

A notable aspect of the research is that several interviewees, as well as the author herself, are descendants of the Yasawi family associated with Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, the influential Turkic Sufi spiritual leader of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This connection adds an important historical and symbolic dimension to the study, illustrating how spiritual lineages and religious traditions continue to shape cultural identity among Turkic-speaking communities in diaspora.

Several chapters explore the motivations behind migration and the practical challenges migrants encountered during their journeys and resettlement. These accounts reveal how migrants established livelihoods, created support networks, and adapted to new political and cultural environments. The comparative perspective across Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and the United States is particularly valuable, demonstrating how different institutional contexts shape migrant experiences while shared cultural practices sustain diasporic connections.

A major theme throughout the book is the preservation of religion, language, and cultural traditions. Yesevi shows how these elements function as key mechanisms through which migrants maintain connections to their homeland. At the same time, the study illustrates how identity evolves across generations. While first-generation migrants often retain strong attachments to memories of Turkestan, younger generations raised in host societies tend to express more hybrid identities that combine inherited cultural traditions with the social realities of their countries of residence.

Another important contribution of the book is its discussion of the emergence of the category “Turkestanian migrants.” Yesevi argues that this identity label has developed over time through diaspora networks, political narratives, and collective memory. By tracing how this identity has been constructed and maintained across generations, the book sheds light on broader processes of diasporic identity formation and transnational belonging.

For migration scholars, the book offers valuable empirical material on a relatively understudied diaspora. Migration from Central Asia, particularly historical migration waves originating from Turkestan, has received limited attention in the international migration literature. By documenting the experiences of Turkestanian migrants across multiple regions, Yesevi contributes to expanding the geographical and historical scope of migration studies. The book will likely be of interest to scholars working in migration studies, Central Asian studies, diaspora studies, and nationalism research. It may also serve as a useful teaching resource in courses on migration history, identity formation, and transnational communities.

Although migration from Central Asia has attracted increasing scholarly attention, historical diasporas originating from Turkestan remain comparatively understudied. Yesevi's book helps address this gap by documenting migration trajectories that predate contemporary post-Soviet labor mobility. In this regard, the study complements the historical work of Jeff Sahadeo, whose Voices from the Soviet Edge (2019) examines migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia in late Soviet Moscow and Leningrad. Together, these works underscore the importance of situating Central Asian migration within longer histories of imperial mobility and diaspora formation.

At the same time, the book could engage more directly with theoretical debates in migration studies, particularly those concerning transnational networks and the political economy of diaspora formation. While the empirical material is rich, a more explicit dialogue with these frameworks might have strengthened the analytical contribution. Additionally, the comparative analysis of host-country contexts could be expanded to examine more systematically how migration policies and socio-economic structures shape integration pathways.

Despite these limitations, Migration from Central Asia offers an important contribution to the documentation of Turkestanian migration histories. By foregrounding family narratives and intergenerational experiences, Yesevi highlights the human dimensions of migration that are often overlooked in macro-level analyses. The book ultimately demonstrates how migration is not only a movement across borders but also a long-term process of identity negotiation, cultural preservation, and community formation. Overall, the study enriches our understanding of Central Asian diasporas and raises important questions about how migrant identities are shaped across time and space.