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…
The Mystery of Kyrk-Kyz: From 40 Women-Warriors to the Warriors of Light
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…
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…
Deciphering the Saukele: The Traditional Headdress of Kazakh Brides
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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How they met Tamara Khanum in London and the secret of Usto Olim Komilov’s turban
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…
Lost Sogdian Art in China
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…
Dinmukhamed Kunaev’s House Museum
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.…
The Central Asia Collection at the British Library – An Interview with Michael Erdman
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…
The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan with author Sarah Cameron (video and transcript)
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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How Does Central Asia Slot into the Global Jigsaw Puzzle? An interview with Peter Frankopan
Oxford University historian Peter Frankopan talks to Voices on Central Asia about his latest book, The New Silk Roads, and where Central Asia fits into the complex global jigsaw puzzle…
The Last Soviet Mufti of Central Asia: Muhammad-Sodiq Muhammad-Yusuf
It was around the end of November 2002 that I first met and spoke with the most famous theologian in Central Asia, Muhammad-Sodiq Muhammad-Yusuf (April 15, 1952–March 10, 2015). Approximately…
SADUM: An Effort To Establish Soviet Islam
Bakhtiyar Babadjanov, a prominent scholar of Soviet Islam, sheds some light on how the Muslims of Soviet Central Asia were administered and guided in accordance with the orders of the…