History Archives - Voices On Cental Asia

Ali Shir Navayi and the Rich World of Turkic-Persian Poetry. An Interview with Nicholas Walmsley

July 3, 2020

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…

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17 min

Panjikent, the Central Asian Pompeii. An Interview with Pavel Lurje

May 7, 2020

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.…

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7 min

Сarpet Propaganda: From Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan. The “Echo of Soviet Azerbaijan” Exhibition

February 28, 2020

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…

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9 min

History

Petroglyphs of Kazakhstan

February 14, 2020

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…

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8 min

ALZHIR – A Place of Remembrance

January 31, 2020

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…

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9 min

The Mystery of Kyrk-Kyz: From 40 Women-Warriors to the Warriors of Light

January 16, 2020

A mysterious castle in Uzbekistan’s Surhandarya bears the name of Kyrk-Kyz, meaning “40 girls.” Was this a sanctuary of legendary women-warriors, or was it home to a group of Sufi…

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12 min

Destructing Soviet Architecture in Central Asia

December 13, 2019

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…

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10 min

Deciphering the Saukele: The Traditional Headdress of Kazakh Brides

November 21, 2019

English transcript of the video presentation belowToday I am going to talk about one particular type of traditional Kazakh clothing: the headdress of a bride, called a saukele.Voronina-Utkina A.A. Watercolor.…

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14 min

History

How they met Tamara Khanum in London and the secret of Usto Olim Komilov’s turban

October 22, 2019

Tamara Khanum and her musicians, Credit: Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, Cecil Sharp House, London, 1935 Author Rosa Vercoe is an independent dance researcher and blogger. She is based in St…

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7 min

History

Lost Sogdian Art in China

August 6, 2019

Little is known of the lives of Sogdians in China, even though the Chinese connections of Sogdian elites played an important political, economic, and cultural role in the lives of…

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8 min

Dinmukhamed Kunaev’s House Museum

July 26, 2019

Dinmukhamed Kunaev was a leader of Soviet Kazakhstan. As the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan he was in office from 7 December 1964, to 16 December 1986.…

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12 min

History

The Central Asia Collection at the British Library – An Interview with Michael Erdman

April 18, 2019

The Turkish and Turkic Collections at the British Library are the largest collections of manuscript and printed material from the Turkic World housed anywhere in the United Kingdom. Michael Erdman…

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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…

Ali Shir Navayi and the Rich World of Turkic-Persian Poetry. An Interview with Nicholas Walmsley

Panjikent, the Central Asian Pompeii. An Interview with Pavel Lurje

Сarpet Propaganda: From Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan. The “Echo of Soviet Azerbaijan” Exhibition

Petroglyphs of Kazakhstan

ALZHIR – A Place of Remembrance

In case you missed it

Ilkhom – Inspiration that Drew from “Stagnation”

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

What do Theaters in Tajikistan Tell Us?

Central Asian Regimes and Power Transit Models: An Interview with Francisco Olmos

The Mystery of Kyrk-Kyz: From 40 Women-Warriors to the Warriors of Light

Destructing Soviet Architecture in Central Asia

Deciphering the Saukele: The Traditional Headdress of Kazakh Brides

How they met Tamara Khanum in London and the secret of Usto Olim Komilov’s turban

Lost Sogdian Art in China

In case you missed it

Ilkhom – Inspiration that Drew from “Stagnation”

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

What do Theaters in Tajikistan Tell Us?

Central Asian Regimes and Power Transit Models: An Interview with Francisco Olmos

Dinmukhamed Kunaev’s House Museum

The Central Asia Collection at the British Library – An Interview with Michael Erdman

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

Panjikent, the Central Asian Pompeii. An Interview with Pavel Lurje

Art Bazar! A New Initiative for Central Asian Artists to Create An Online Marketplace for Contemporary Art

The Worsening of US-Chinese Relations and the Echo in Central Asia. An Interview with Raffaello Pantucci

Refugees from Сentral Asia and in Central Asia

Central Asia is Slowly Reopening After a Tight Lockdown. Street Photos from Four Cities