Books Archives - Voices On Cental Asia

Decorative and Funerary Art of Eurasia. An interview with Petya Andreeva

August 23, 2023

The nomadic people of Eurasia left behind rich treasures that rival those of sophisticated settled societies. Many of these precious items, which can be seen today in museums around the…

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15 min

Usto Mumin: The Life and Work of a Great Artist as Seen in Recent Books

July 26, 2023

Usto Mumin, or Aleksandr Vasilievich Nikolaev (August 30, 1897 – June 27, 1957), was an artist who lived and worked in the Uzbek SSR. Nikolaev arrived in Tashkent after demobilization…

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16 min

Saints, Scholars, Poets, Jurists, and Politicians of the Sufi Hidden Caliphate: An Interview with Waleed Ziad

March 8, 2023

In his recent book, Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints beyond the Oxus and Indus, Waleed Ziad examines the development of Muslim Sufi networks across Asia from the eighteenth to the twentieth…

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15 min

The Mongols and the Modern International Order: An Interview with Ayşe Zarakol

December 5, 2022

Ayşe Zarakol’s book Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders challenges our understanding of the history of international relations and makes sense of the apparently chaotic…

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7 min

Why We Translate Central Asia While All Eyes Are on Ukraine

June 20, 2022

This July, Gaudy Boy will publish an English-language anthology of Kazakhstani women’s writing entitled Amanat. The anthology brings together short stories and essays by 13 women from three generations (ranging…

“Fruit from the Sands: The Silk Road Origins of the Foods We Eat”. An Interview with Robert Spengler

16 minute read

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8 min

Books

The Cinema of Soviet Kazakhstan 1925–1991: An Uneasy Legacy. An interview with Peter Rollberg

May 14, 2021

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…

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8 min

Books

“Red Sands”: Reportage and Recipes through Central Asia from Hinterland to Heartland. An Interview with the Author

January 19, 2021

Caroline Eden, a travel and food writer, concludes her new book, Red Sands: Reportage and Recipes through Central Asia, from Hinterland to Heartland, with the words “You can learn a…

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8 min

Nomads and Soviet Rule: Central Asia under Lenin and Stalin. An Interview with an Author

March 10, 2020

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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10 min

Books

Translating Central Asian Literature: An Interview with Shelley Fairweather-Vega

October 17, 2019

Shelley Fairweather-Vega is a translator from Russian and Uzbek. She collaborates with authors, academics, and activists around the world and has worked on projects as varied as Russian poetry, Uzbek…

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23 min

The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan with author Sarah Cameron (video and transcript)

March 14, 2019

The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan examines one of the most heinous crimes of the Stalinist regime, the Kazakh famine of 1 930–33. More than…

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7 min

Books

Best Books on Central Asia in 2018

December 21, 2018

New publications on Central Asia have appeared in genres ranging from history—The Rise and Fall of Khokand, 1709-1876 by Scott Levy, and Laboratory of Socialist Development by Artemy Kalinovsky—to security…

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10 min

Books

Kyrgyzstan from Belonging to Belief: An Interview with Julie McBrien

November 28, 2018

Julie McBrien’s book From Belonging to Belief: Modern Secularisms and the Construction of Religion in Kyrgyzstan is a detailed ethnographic study of Islam and secularism in post-Soviet Central Asia. Julie…

Decorative and Funerary Art of Eurasia. An interview with Petya Andreeva

Usto Mumin: The Life and Work of a Great Artist as Seen in Recent Books

Saints, Scholars, Poets, Jurists, and Politicians of the Sufi Hidden Caliphate: An Interview with Waleed Ziad

The Mongols and the Modern International Order: An Interview with Ayşe Zarakol

Why We Translate Central Asia While All Eyes Are on Ukraine

In case you missed it

A Woman with a Camera in Uzbekistan: Umida Akhmedova about Herself

Solidarity: A Love Letter to Diasporic Asians in Russia, Central Asia, and Beyond

From Central Asia to India: Women of the Mughal Empire

Textiles, Carpets, and Geometry: An Interview with Carol Bier

“Fruit from the Sands: The Silk Road Origins of the Foods We Eat”. An Interview with Robert Spengler

The Cinema of Soviet Kazakhstan 1925–1991: An Uneasy Legacy. An interview with Peter Rollberg

“Red Sands”: Reportage and Recipes through Central Asia from Hinterland to Heartland. An Interview with the Author

Nomads and Soviet Rule: Central Asia under Lenin and Stalin. An Interview with an Author

Translating Central Asian Literature: An Interview with Shelley Fairweather-Vega

In case you missed it

A Woman with a Camera in Uzbekistan: Umida Akhmedova about Herself

Solidarity: A Love Letter to Diasporic Asians in Russia, Central Asia, and Beyond

From Central Asia to India: Women of the Mughal Empire

Textiles, Carpets, and Geometry: An Interview with Carol Bier

The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan with author Sarah Cameron (video and transcript)

Best Books on Central Asia in 2018

Kyrgyzstan from Belonging to Belief: An Interview with Julie McBrien

Textiles, Carpets, and Geometry: An Interview with Carol Bier

Usto Mumin: The Life and Work of a Great Artist as Seen in Recent Books

Decorative and Funerary Art of Eurasia. An interview with Petya Andreeva