Dungans in Central Asia: History, Culture, Pedagogy

Among the large and small peoples inhabiting Central Asia, the Hui or Dungan occupy a special place. Dungans are Sunni Muslims who moved to the Semirechye region, spanning southeastern Kazakhstan and northeastern Kyrgyzstan, in the 1870s after the defeat of the anti-Qing uprising in China. Today Dungans live mostly in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Russia, and have kept their unique culture alive over the generations.

These events will help familiarize the American public with how Dungan culture, at the crossroads of Central Asian and Chinese cultures, still preserves its own unique identity. Join us to discover Dungan crafts, painting, and history, and participate in a workshop on the most famous Dungan food, the lagman!

Full Program

Thursday, January 19, 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Conference: “Dungans in Central Asia,” Room #602, Elliott School of International Affairs

Friday, January 20, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Exhibition: “Dungans in Central Asia,” 2nd floor, Elliott School of International Affairs

January 20, 2:00–5:00 p.m.

Workshop: Dungan arts & crafts and food & drink, 2nd floor, Elliott School of International Affairs

The Conference Speakers:

Abubakir Vointse – Chairman of the Kazakhstan Dungan Society, member of the Order of Kurmet, Member of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan; he has published several academic works on Dungans and organized exhibitions of Kazakh Dungan writers and artists.

Ismaeva Rakhima – Doctoral candidate in philological sciences, Director of the Hueizu Public Foundation for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Editor-in-Chief of the Dungan-language online newspaper Hueizu bo.

Saule Abisheva – Professor of Philology, Chair of the Department of Russian Language and Literature at the Abai Kazakh National Pedagogy University; she has widely published on 20th-century Russian and Kazakh poetry.

Rimma Massyrova – Professor of pedagogy, named 2007 College Instructor of the Year by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan; she has published widely on ethnopedagogy.

Dina Sabirova 

Received her PhD in 2016 from the Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University and was awarded the jubilee medal commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan. She was the 2017 winner of the state scientific scholarship for young scientists, and named Best University Teacher in all Kazakhstan in 2021.

Kazyna Bekbenbetova

Director of the Department of Educational, Social Work, and Youth Policy at Kazakh National Pedagogical University, and has over 20 years of experience in education. She is the author of four curricular guidelines on social development and youth policies in use at Abai University.

Moderator, Sebastien Peyrouse

Research Professor, Central Asia Program, IERES, George Washington University  and a Senior Fellow with the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China relations. His main areas of expertise are political systems in Central Asia, economic and social issues, Islam and religious minorities, and Central Asia’s geopolitical positioning toward China, India and South Asia