<p>This paper examines the socio-spatial contradictions of Sokh, an Uzbek enclave in Kyrgyzstan inhabited almost exclusively by ethnic Tajiks. A geopolitical remnant of Soviet-era border demarcation, Sokh is an example of how post-socialist states inherit fragmented territories that challenge normative understandings of sovereignty and spatial coherence. Drawing on original data from a survey of 260 residents, the study explores how geopolitical isolation, infrastructural insecurity and contested sovereignty shape local notions of development. While concerns about closed borders, economic stagnation and disconnection from mainland Uzbekistan dominate respondents’ priorities, narratives of resilience, particularly through tourism and agricultural self-sufficiency, also emerge. Conceptually, Sokh is understood as a territorial formation in flux, in which state authority, ethnic identity and spatial affiliation are continuously negotiated. The study thus contributes to the debates on enclave governance, scalar politics and the geographies of marginality in Central Asia. Sokh is not just a cartographic anomaly, but a lived border where the contradictions of state power become spatially and socially visible.</p>