Yerlan Karin – Central Asian Fighters in Syria: Classification, Factors, Scale Assessment
The war in Syria, like a magnet, pulled radicals from around the world, including Central Asian fighters. There are different figures on the number of Central Asian militants in Syria. Separate research was…
Farideh Heyat – Post-Soviet Women in Transition: Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in Comparison
There are many common paradoxes and anomalies regarding the position of women in the formerly Soviet Muslim republics of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. These arise from the Soviet legacy of…
Cinema Club Film Screening: The Rhythm (Uzbekistan, 2014)
Directed by Nozim Tulahodjaev This featured film tells the fate of a talented Uzbek musician who plays 'doira' (a musical instrument). As his life runs its course, Sharif-aka is exposed to…
MOSCOW – Third International Conference on Uyghur Studies: History, Culture, Society
View the full program.
What Changes in a Post-Karimov Uzbekistan?
2:15-3:45pmSession 1. Changes in the Uzbek domestic landscape Chair: Marlene Laruelle (GWU) Bruce Pannier (RFE/RL) Softer on the Outside but Still Hard at the Core Dillorom Abdulloeva (Tashabbus) What Changes…
Richard Weitz – Enhancing the Georgia-US Security Partnership
For several decades, Georgia has been one of the most important economic and security partners of the United States. The US is the largest bilateral aid donor to Georgia, having…
Michael Clarke – Beijing’s “March West”: One Belt, One Road and China’s Quest for Great Power Status
With Michael Clarke, National Security College, Australian National University Much ink has been spilt over the past two decades debating the impact of the 'rise' of China on the international relations…
Alexander Wolters – Islamic Finance in Central Asia: From ‘Great Potentials’ to Lasting Stagnation
The rise of Islamic Banking in Central Asia has been predicted and expected by both experts and state and economic stakeholders. The financial crisis in 2008 had triggered first initiatives…
Zhanna Issabayeva – Kazakh Film Festival: My Dear Children (2009)
with director Zhanna Issabayeva in person In this sharp, socially aware comedy a Kazakh mother tries to collect enough money from her four older children so that her youngest son…
Zhanna Issabayeva – Kazakh Film Festival: Nagima (2013)
with director Zhanna Issabayeva in person "Heartrending is too mild a word to describe "Nagima," an unblinking look at the vulnerable social position of single women in Kazakhstan. Zhanna Issabayeva depicts…
David Montgomery – Becoming Muslim in an Islamic Land: Social Navigation and Religious Change in Kyrgyzstan
Central Asia is s a Muslim-majority region, though what that means for social and political life is contested. Discussing the argument of his recent book, Practicing Islam: Knowledge, Experience, and Social…
Edward Lemon – Extraterritorial Security: Governing Islam and Security Beyond Tajikistan
Often considered Central Asia's 'weakest' state, Tajikistan has nonetheless created a relatively sophisticated network through which it monitors and targets both secular and religious opponents abroad. Since 2002, the government…
Cinema Club Film Screening: Kosh Ba Kosh (Tajikistan, 1993)
Winner of the Silver Lion Prize in the 1993 Venice Film Festival "The film tells a romantic love story, happening against the background of Civil War in Tajikistan (1993-1996). Curfews,…
Murad Ismayilov – (Homogenising) Hybrid Intentionality and the Dialectics of Elite Attitudes to Islam: Towards a Re-Sacralisation of the Political Space in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan's independence came after seven decades of militant atheism of the Soviet modernization project and emerged into staunch secularism of Western modernity, two factors that, on a par with the…
Central Asia Fellows Seminar. Social, Cultural and Spatial Inequalities in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
4:30pm. Opening Marlene Laruelle (Director, Central Asia Program) 4:45pm. Presentations Savia Hasanova (Kyrgyzstan) Income Inequality in Kyrgyzstan: The Redistributive Effect of Social Benefits Berikbol Dukeyev (Kazakhstan) Ethnic Return Migration…
Cinema Club Film Screening: Daughter-in-Law (Kazakhstan, 2009)
Directed by Ermek Tursunov"Kelin, which translates to 'daughter-in-law', tells the story of a young woman living in the 2nd century A.D. in Kazakhstan, a setting in which traditional notions of womanhood…
Opening of the Exhibition “Through the Eyes of Durdy Bayramov”
The Central Asia Program is proud to announce the launch of the exhibition Through the Eyes of Durdy Bayramov Turkmen Village Life, 1960s-1980s An exhibition at the Central Asia Program…
Galina Yemelianova – Official Islamic Leadership in Central Asia: The Soviet Legacy
Central Asia is widely associated with Islam. However, throughout history the role of Islam in the region has been ambiguous and it has been mitigated by the pre-Islamic civilizational heritage,…
Sophie Roche – The Moscow Cathedral Mosque in the Life of Migrants from Central Asia
In this discussion, Sophie Roche will unfold the social life of migrants in, around and through the main mosque in Moscow, Prospekt Mira. This mosque is important for Putin's politics…
Cinema Club Film Screening: Angel on the Right (Tajikistan, 2002)
Directed by Djamshed Usmonov"Hamro, an unrepentant prodigal son straight out of a Russian jail, returns to his hometown to help his mother die with dignity. But his debts are many…
Central Asia Security Workshop
The Central Asia Security WorkshopMarch 6, 2017, 10:00am-4:00pm Central Asia Program, IERES George Washington University 1957 E Street, NW, Lindner Commons, Suite 602 10.00am. PANEL 1. CENTRAL ASIA’S DOMESTIC LANDSCAPES.…
Zuhra Halimova – Foreign Aid to Eurasia: Donors’ Agendas, Local Perceptions, and Lost Illusions
Various donor agencies have become active players in defining and drafting strategies of transition from communist heritages and pasts to modern democratic societies and market economies, as well as in…
Thomas Kent – Media and Trends in Central Asia
Please join us for a breakfast discussion with Thomas Kent, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on the latest trends in the media sector in Central Asia. Topics to be discussed…
Douglas Blum – Cosmopolitan Kazakhs: A Case Study in How Globalization Works
On the basis of extensive fieldwork in Kazakhstan, Douglas Blum considers the experiences of young people who spent time in the US, asking what cultural "baggage" they brought home with…
