Jewelry of Central Asia: Past and Present of the Art Tradition
While working in the archives of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, I came across an interesting document. It was a list of the…
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…
Along the Route of Samuil Dudin’s Expedition: Clothing, Yurt and Decorative-Applied Art of the Kazakhs of the late 19th Century
A talented ethnographer, photographer, traveler, collector, artist, and researcher of the history and culture of Central Asia, Samuil Dudin (1863-1929) made his first expedition in 1891. Dudin was a participant…
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…
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…
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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.…
Between Hope and Fear: Stories of Uyghur and Kazakh Muslim Minorities in the Xinjiang Province
An estimated one million people, mostly Muslim minorities, are being held in detention centers across the Xinjiang region in China.Common reasons for detention include studying Islam and praying or having…
The Researcher and His/Her Fieldwork in Central Eurasia (photos)
In a world where the visual is becoming an integral part of knowledge, visuals can also express scholarly knowledge.As such, for the 2019 conference, the Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS)…
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.…
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With Love from New York: Hunza Photographer Searches for Roots in the Pamirs
New-York based photographer Nazir Abbas feels himself at home every time he travels to Pamirs. While in search of his roots, Nazir has found numerous friends, skyscraping mountains, honest hearts, and…
The Conquest of Central Asia through the Turkestan Album
The Turkestan Album (Turkestanskii Al’bom—1871) was one of the great colonial photography projects of the 19th century. Commissioned by the first Russian governor-general of Russian Turkestan, Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufman,…
Scenes from Central Asian Migration to Russia
Between September and December 2016, photographer and reporter Iris Oppelaar followed Central Asian labor migrants from their hometowns in remote areas of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan through their journeys to Russia.…