Regulation of Blogger’s Activity in Uzbekistan: Implications for Freedom of Religion and Belief
with Mirakmal Niyazmatov, Lawyer and Co-Founder of TashabbusIn September 2014, Uzbek government introduced amendments to the Law "On Informatization." The amendments imposed vague restrictions on blogging. Uzbek bloggers are now…
The Fourth Central Asia Fellowship Seminar
11:00am Opening Remarks Marlene Laruelle (Central Asia Program, IERES, GWU) and Chantal De Jonge Oudraat (Women in International Security, WIIS) 11:15am Natalia Zakharchenko (Kyrgyzstan) Quotes on Quotas: Political Representation of Women in…
The First Bolashak Seminar
9:00am Opening Remarks.Marlene Laruelle (Central Asia Program, IERES, GWU) 9:15-10:00 Panel 1. Societal transformations in Kazakhstan Serik Beissembayev (Social Found “Centre for Social and Political Studies Strategy”) Symbolic Boundaries of Ethnic…
Shrine, State and Sacred Lineage in Modern Kazakhstan
with Ulan Bigozhin, Indiana UniversityMany scholars have argued that shrine veneration and respect for sacred lineages are essential parts of Islam in post-Soviet Central Asia because of their long history in…
Cinema Club Film Screening: Land of the Fathers
Directed by Shaken Aimanov (Kazakhstan, 1966) An old man decides to look for his dead son and bring his corpse back to bury him in the land of his ancestors;…
Religion, State and Secularism in Eurasia… and Beyond
This seminar will explore state-sponsored secularism in the Eurasian continent, and how the authorities use the concept of the separation of state and religion to consolidate authoritarian policies. It looks…
Syria Calling: Migration, Mobilization and the Transformation of the Central Asian Jihad
with Eileen O’Connor, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs and Noah Tucker, Registan.net Key points: • Perhaps surprisingly, ISIS appears to be weak in its…
Deciphering Eurasianism in Hungary: Narratives, Networks, and Lifestyles
with Umut Korkut, Glasgow Caledonia University Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis, the Hungarian right engaged in a collective soul searching on what formulates Hungarian identity. Dr. Korkut’s paper…
Central Asia and the Eurasian Economic Union: The Global Picture and Country Perspectives
In cooperation with the Harriman Institute and the US-Kazakhstan Business Association Opening Remarks: Marlene Laruelle (IERES, George Washington University) 9:30-11:00am Session I. Roundtable Martha Brill Olcott (Michigan State University) Sarah Freese (US-Kazakhstan…
Tracking Factors of Change in Tajikistan
12:30 Light Lunch 12:45-1:30pm Keynote Speaker Eric McGlinchey (George Mason University) Using a Wide Lens to Assess the Narrow Risk of Radical Islam in Tajikistan 1:30-3:30pm Panel I. Tajikistan Today:…
Cinema Club Film Screening: Aksuat
Written and directed by Serik Aprymov (Kazakhstan 1997) Aksuat is the name of a village in Kazakhstan, where Kanat takes his pregnant wife Zhanna to visit his brother, Aman. Just…
Soviet Bus Stops
Soviet Bus StopsAn Exhibition by Photographer Christopher Herwig IERES, George Washington University, Suite 412 From March 16 to June 12, 2015 From the shores of the Black Sea to the endless…
Negotiating Identity in Kyrgyzstan: Nationality, Islam, and the Meaning of Tradition
with Vincent Artman, University of KansasSince independence, Kyrgyzstan, like the other Central Asian states, has been confronted with the challenge of articulating a viable national identity.Drawing upon five months of fieldwork, this…
Second Turkmen Culture Club
Turkmenistan's rich culture is less well-known than those great empires who contributed to it, but Turkmenistan has produced its own fascinating - though under-appreciated - art, music, literature, and cinema.The…
The First Uzbekistan Initiative Workshop
Agenda 9:00am. Introductory Remarks, Marlene Laruelle, CAP director 9:15-11:00am Session I Uzbekistan in 2015: Domestic and Foreign Policies Chair: Reuel Hanks (Oklahoma State University) Kamoliddin Rabbimov (LIGLIS-Center, Paris) The Succession…
Islam and the Dynamics of Ethno-confessional Regimes in Russia, 1990-2012
with Bulat Akhmetkarimov, SAIS, Johns Hopkins UniversityWhy would a secular state change its policies toward religion? Research on secularism and state policies toward religion suggests several models of interaction. However, these…
Religion and Identity in Eurasia
This seminar will explore how religion articulates itself both through localized identities, based on community belonging, ethnic or national references, and with globalized identities (the Ummah, some transnational brotherhoods, proselytizing…
Cinema Club Film Screening: Beshkempir
Directed by Aktan Arym Kubat (Kyrgyzstan, 1998)Aktan Abdykalykov made his directorial debut with this semi-autobiographical Kirghizian-French drama set in a rural Kirghizian village where young Adyr plays in the brick…
Islam, Secularism and Security in Central Asia and Beyond
In partnership with the British Council's Bridging Voices Project 2014/15 The purpose of the dialogue is to undertake a debate about the relationship between Islam and secularism with respect to…
Desecularization Post-Soviet Style: Delimitations of New Religious Public Space in Central Asia
with John Schoeberlein, Nazarbayev University Modernization theory has run into some snags regarding religion in Central Asia. The Post-Reformation modernity in Europe brought convictions and institutions aimed at ensuring religious life…
Islam as a Power Resource: Instrumentalization of Religion in Central Asia
with Mariya Y. Omelicheva, University of KansasHow can Islam play multiple and contradictory roles as a source of violence and peace, and a marker of identity differences and national unity? This…
History and Memory in Central Asia
Opening Remarks: Marlene Laruelle (CAP, GWU) Presentations Guljanat Kurmangaliyeva Ercilasun (Gazi University) Missing Page in Soviet History: Famines in Kyrgyzstan Ali İğmen (California State University, Long Beach) Listening to Kyrgyz…
“My Andijon Remains”: Memory and Forgetting Ten Years after the Andijon Events
Lunch event featuring: Laura Adams, USAID and Harvard University Sarah Kendzior, Al Jazeera and CAP Associate Noah Tucker, Registan.net and CAP Associate Steve Swerdlow, Human Rights Watch The 13 May 2005…
Turkmenistan: Domestic Evolution, Economic Development, and Regional Environment
9:00am Introductory Remarks Marlene Laruelle (CAP, IERES, GWU) 9:15am Session I. Governance Changes in Turkmenistan Chair: Marlene Laruelle (CAP, IERES, GWU) Myles Smith (IREX) Forget political will - Would good…
