Social Mobilization in the Absence of Infrastructure and Services on the Urban Margins: Toward “Societal Infrastructures”
How do communities deal with the decay, failure or complete absence of infrastructure? In the fourth decade after the collapse of the Soviet and other Socialist states, this question is…
How the Soviet State’s Promises of Water Were First Fulfilled and then Failed
The Soviet state invested heavily in water infrastructure in arid Central Asia. These investments produced transformations with significant social impact. They also created memories that many anthropological studies have tried…
A Past That Is Neither Remembered nor Forgotten. A Tale of Two Lenin Statues in Tajikistan
In Soviet times, statues of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, a Russian revolutionary and the first head of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, were powerful political symbols. For most of the…
Did the Kazakhs Have Their Own Dance Culture and What Are the Origins of Kara-Zhorga – The Nation’s Favorite Dance?
It is known that dance is a bodily expression of human feelings and emotions. Every nation has its own lexicography and distinguished style of dance. How things were with the…
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The Love and Beauty of Wedding Suzani from the Collection of the Russian State Museum of Oriental Art
Russian State Museum of Oriental Art (Gosudarstvennyi Muzei Vostoka) has an extensive collection of Central Asian suzani—a type of richly embroidered textile that once served as wedding embroidery to protect…
The Comfort Zone of the Artist Alexander Barkovsky
In this essay, artist Alexander Barkovsky writes about his comfort zone, his attempts to escape it, and the reasons why he ultimately had to return to it.An artist must deceive…
The History of the Tajik Costume: An Interview with Guzel Maitdinova
In her Eurovision performance, Russian singer Manizha (of Tajik origin) wore a dress richly decorated with traditional Tajik chakan embroidery. This embroidery can be traced back to early medieval ornamentation…
The Cinema of Soviet Kazakhstan 1925–1991: An Uneasy Legacy. An interview with Peter Rollberg
In this interview, Peter Rollberg, one of the rare foreign specialists on Soviet Kazakh cinema, speaks about the first Kazakh filmmakers, their main themes and relations with the audience, and…
Politics of the Kyrgyz mining sector: An Interview with Beril Ocaklı
The mining sector of the Kyrgyz Republic has been attracting a lot of diverse investments even despite frequent conflicts and violence. Investors are advised to consider volatile politics when entering…
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Open Central Asian Photo Archives: A Visual History of the Region in Private Collections
On March 7, 2021 the Open Central Asian Photo Archives/Открытый Центральноазиатский Фотоархив (https://ca-photoarchives.net/) opened. An exciting project is open to all potential collectors who would like to share photos of…
Niva Yau on China in Central Asia: We Need to Look and Think Ahead of China
Interview with Niva Yau Niva Yau is a resident researcher at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek and a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. Her work focuses on…
The Return to Romanticism: Interview with Crimean Tatar folk artist Mamut Churlu
Mamut Churlu is an artist who worked for years in Uzbekistan and Russia on researching folk art practices as well as creating his own art. As part of the mass…
Urban Planning in Bukhara in the Early Post-Revolutionary Years
The bombing of Bukhara in 1920 by Bolshevik troops under the command of Mikhail Frunze marked the beginning of the destruction of old urban space in the city. The Ark…
Uzbek Dance Goes Virtual with the 17th Central Asian Dance Camp
Member of Silk Road Dance Company, Nilufar Rahmanova. Image courtesy of Central Asian Dance Camp.“Yaxshi Raqqosa Bitta Joyda O’nayshi Mumkin”(A Good Dancer Can Perform in One Place)By Dr. Laurel Victoria…
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Mosque Diplomacy in Central Asia: Geopolitics Beginning with the Mihrab
In Islamic states or in countries with predominantly Muslim populations, mosques are one of the forms of nation-building. They serve as a means to visually demonstrate the attitude of the…
Tajik Gahvora: Harmful Tradition or Useful Childrearing Device?
For centuries, Tajik families have used a “gahvora” (cradle) to contain babies. The gahvora is one of the oldest traditions in child care and it is still preserved in the…
Is There Future for the Ilkhom Theatre?
By Alexey Ulko for MOZAIKAIn the last few months, the flagship of Uzbek contemporary art, the Mark Weil Ilkhom Theatre has been in danger. Why is its very existence threatened…
Genghis Khan, Kok-Par and Other Stories of the Great Steppe by Said Atabekov
“I wish to see kok-par players – “Steppe Wolves” from Central Asia on the world’s best catwalks. They are not the refined Europeans, just ordinary guys from a remote aul…
Central Asian Non-Conformist Art in Norton Dodge Collection
Norton Townshend Dodge (June 15, 1927 – November 5, 2011) was an American economist who amassed one of the largest Soviet-era art collections outside of the Soviet Union. Dodge, who…
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Women’s Perspective and the Central Asian Cinema
The founders of Central Asian countries’ national cinema include Kazakhstan’s Shaken Aimanov, with his masterpiece “The Land of Fathers”, Kyrgyzstan’s Melis Ubukeyev, with his work “White Mountains”, Uzbekistan’s Shukhrat Abbasov,…
Sweat, Blood and Central Asian Dance
Dance is an integral part of life in Central Asia; it can be seen both in rural settings and on the proscenium stage, from highly developed virtuosic classical styles to…
Khorezm Lazgi: The Sunniest Dance on Earth
Lazgi is a must-see of Khorezm. Lazgi is the dance with a feel-good factor, making you feel a joie de vivre or zest for life. There is an opinion that…
Law and Custom in Central Asia: An Interview with Judith Beyer
Prof. Dr. Judith Beyer specializes in political and legal anthropology. She conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Kyrgyzstan where she studied the practices of retraditionalization – how the concept of traditions…
Uzbekistan Without Graffiti: Censorship Against Street Art
Despite the rich artistic traditions of the past, contemporary Uzbekistan can not particularly boast about its popular street art. Even in cosmopolitan Tashkent, public spaces sparkle with pristine purity. On…
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Through the Eyes of an Artist: Art Quarantine by Vyacheslav (Yura) Useinov, Bobur Ismoilov and Anna Ivanova
In the midst of quarantine, I saw Stagnation (Стагнация) by Bobur Ismailov. The painting shows a lonely girl in a confined room with a book on her knees and the…
Would Uzbekistan be the First Nuclear Power and Technological Leader in Central Asia? An Interview with Margarita Kalinina-Pohl
Uzbekistan has announced plans to develop its nuclear energy capacities to support economic growth and development. The advantages, risks, and threats that nuclear power can bring are discussed in this…
Ali Shir Navayi and the Rich World of Turkic-Persian Poetry. An Interview with Nicholas Walmsley
Ali Shir Navayi born in 1441 in Herat, was a Turkic poet, writer, politician, linguist, and mystic, who was the greatest representative of Chagatai literature. He lived in the Timurid…
Feminism and Central Asia – What Went Wrong?
Feminism is not adequately perceived in Central Asian societies. Some consider it as a threat to the existing traditions of the patriarchal foundation, when a woman (responsible for too many…
A Look into the Soviet Past of the Central Asian Cinema with Cloe Drieu
Researcher Cloe Drieu studied the earliest films in Central Asia that go back as far as 1924, a year that marked a political birth, with the ethnic and territorial delimitation…
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On the Uzbek media development: An interview with Nikita Makarenko
Main photo: President Shavkat Mirziyoev with bloggers, August 2019Media in Uzbekistan represents an interesting object of study. After President Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power, the media, which under the previous…
Central Asia is Slowly Reopening After a Tight Lockdown. Street Photos from Four Cities
These days streets are not so busy and crowded in the Central Asia’s largest cities: Tashkent, Almaty, Bishkek and Dushanbe. Yet, they are slowly returning to the previous life even…
Refugees from Сentral Asia and in Central Asia
Closed borders around the world due to the outbreak of COVID – 19 have temporarily affected the mobility of people, including both voluntary and forced migration. The precise impact of…
The Worsening of US-Chinese Relations and the Echo in Central Asia. An Interview with Raffaello Pantucci
An interview with Raffaello PantucciSenior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Raffaello Pantucci’s research focuses on terrorism and counter-terrorism as well as China’s relations with its Western neighbors. Prior to…
Art Bazar! A New Initiative for Central Asian Artists to Create An Online Marketplace for Contemporary Art
Author Diana T. Kudaibergenova Diana T. Kudaibergenova is a Postdoctoral Research Associate on the UKRI GCRF “COMPASS” project at the University of Cambridge. She studies different intersections of power relations…
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Panjikent, the Central Asian Pompeii. An Interview with Pavel Lurje
Interview with Pavel Lurje Head of the Sector of Central Asia, Caucasus and Crimea, Senior Research Fellow of the Oriental Department of the State Hermitage Museum, head of the Panjikent Expedition.Dr.…
The Image of the Snow Leopard in the Archaeological Records of Kazakhstan and its Instrumentalization in Modern-Day Political Agendas
This article examines the connection between how archaeological remains were excavated in the past to how such remains are dealt with in present day Kazakhstan. Special attention is given to…
How Alerte Héritage Protects the Cultural Heritage of Central Asia
The cultural heritage of Central Asia is in serious danger due to the relative poverty of the population, the high levels of corruption, and the radical rewriting of history that…
What do Theaters in Tajikistan Tell Us?
My recent visit to Tashkent (the capital of Uzbekistan) was marked by the exploration of several theaters. I saw two plays: The first, Zavtra (Tomorrow), was staged by Artyom Kim,…
Nomads and Soviet Rule: Central Asia under Lenin and Stalin. An Interview with an Author
In his book, Nomads and Soviet Rule: Central Asia under Lenin and Stalin (I.B. Tauris, 2018), Alun Thomas examines the experiences of Kazakh and Kyrgyz nomads in the NEP (New…
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Сarpet Propaganda: From Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan. The “Echo of Soviet Azerbaijan” Exhibition
The State Museum of Oriental Art of Russia, in cooperation with the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum (ANCM), is holding an exhibition called “Echo of Soviet Azerbaijan. Carpet. Embroidery. Poster.” The…
Tajik Fashion and the Challenges of Achieving an International Breakthrough
Just recently, Tajikistan, with its rich aesthetic traditions, has seemingly made a breakthrough in the fashion arena with some great designers like Khurshed Sattorov (born in 1981), Nafisa Imronova (1991)…
Petroglyphs of Kazakhstan
Author Alan Georgievich Medoev (1934-1980) Alan Medoev was born in Leningrad in 1934. In the 1960-1980s he guided archaeological teams and expeditions in the field; he discovered and explored the…
ALZHIR – A Place of Remembrance
Situated in the center of Kazakhstan, ALZHIR (Акмолинский лагерь жен изменников родины, “the Akmola camp of wives of traitors to the homeland”) was a notorious prison for thousands of women…
Contemporary Art in Central Asia: An Interview with a Curator
Interview withThibaut de Ruyter is a French architect, curator, and critic. His latest projects include a traveling exhibition for the Goethe Institute in Eastern Europe and Central Asia entitled “die…
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How Ikat Accompanied History in Central Asia
Ikat is a fabric that got its name from the resist dye technique used to make its patterns. But I’d like to show you ikat from a different perspective. In…
Destructing Soviet Architecture in Central Asia
Soviet architecture in Central Asia, as the name tells, is a fusion of Soviet modernity with traditional Central Asian culture that remains remarkable to this day. Persian and Islamic motifs…
Kazakh Graphic Illustrations of Evgeny Sidorkin
Evgeny Matveevich Sidorkin (1930-1982) is a Soviet graphic illustrator and artist who was recognized by several prestigious awards for his art. He mainly worked in Kazakhstan and created powerful images…
WILDNESS. About Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan
In the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, thousands of young girls and women are kidnapped every year to be forced into marriage. Although the practice was outlawed in 2013, bride…
Regionalism and Regional Order in Central Asia: An Interview with Filippo Costa Buranelli
Dr. Filippo Costa Buranelli from the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom talks about the emerging new regional order in Central Asia, where countries seem to understand that…
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From Stalinabad to Dushanbe: How Has the City Changed? An Interview with Gafur Shermatov
Since 2010, Tajik historian and journalist Gafur Shermatov has been writing a column entitled “Old Town” for the online news site “Asia-Plus” in which he covers issues related to the…