Master–apprentice Transmission and the Decline of Traditional Technologies in Contemporary Fergana Valley Pottery

This article examines the contemporary condition of master–apprentice transmission and traditional production technologies in the pottery centres of the Fergana Valley. Rather than treating continuity as the mechanical repetition of old forms, the study analyses how professional knowledge is embodied in workshop practice, transmitted through observation and participation, and reshaped by tourism, market demand, industrial materials, and formal education. Historical-ethnographic and comparative methods are applied to published field evidence, descriptions of Rishtan and Gurumsaray workshops, heritage policy documents, and studies of craft learning. The findings distinguish four interdependent knowledge domains: preparation of local clay, wheel-forming skills, glaze and firing knowledge, and ornamental composition. The most vulnerable elements are tacit procedures that cannot be reconstructed from finished objects alone, particularly plant-ash glaze preparation, kiln management, local terminology, and the sequencing of work. The article argues that the master–apprentice institution remains viable but has shifted from a guild-regulated social institution to a flexible family, workshop, and project-based model. Effective safeguarding therefore requires support for living workshops, long-term apprenticeships, documentation of complete technological processes, ethical market labelling, and cooperation between artisans, museums, universities, and local communities.