Nation state building in Tajikistan in 1988–2000-s. Search for "the backbone of the construct"

The paper is devoted to some issues of nation state building in Tajikistan. Scholars highlight the history of searching for the backbone of national identity construct. Views on the relevant identity have been constantly changing for the last century. These mutations mostly influenced the perception of “paragons” from the past used for the current nation state building. As a matter of practice it comes to rise of interest to pre-Islamic past of the country that is perceived by the state elite as a starting point of nation polity history. However Samanid period stays the main symbolic pattern for Tajik nation state model