Voices On Cental Asia

During the Soviet era, the present and future of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic were glorified in mosaics. Colorful pieces of stained glass, interspersed with stones from the mountains, could…

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8 min

Current affairs

Uzbekistan’s Newfound Foreign Policy and its Implications for U.S.-Uzbekistan Relations

May 23, 2018

On May 22, 2018, the George Washington University’s Central Asia Program hosted a discussion of the outcomes of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s recent visit to the United States and Uzbekistan’s…

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12 min

Society

Increasing the Effectiveness of Education Assistance in Uzbekistan

May 17, 2018

The education sector in Uzbekistan was hit hard by the collapse of the USSR. A quarter of a century after independence, this Central Asian state, in which young people under…

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6 min

Culture

Arts during the War: Central Asia

May 10, 2018

Central Asian art during the Second World War (1941–1945) provides an excellent point of departure for analysis of contemporary trends in the development of literature and art. This brief looks at…

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10 min

The Conquest of Central Asia through the Turkestan Album

May 2, 2018

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,…

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8 min

History

“A Scale Model of the Contemporary World:” Nationality, Demography, and Development in the Soviet Union

April 27, 2018

When, in 1959, the USSR conducted its first census in 20 years, it revealed something remarkable about the geographic distribution of the Soviet Union’s population. Author Artemy M. Kalinovsky Artemy…

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11 min

Building Secure Communities in a Post-Liberal Age: A View from Kyrgyzstan

April 25, 2018

How to build sustainable peace, forge livelihoods, and create a basis for development? These questions have been of central interest to scholars in the fields of development, peace and conflict…

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13 min

Hamid Ismailov On “The Devils’ Dance” and Other Works

April 18, 2018

“A beguiling tale of khans, commissars, spies and poet-queens…[who] feature in a rare English translation of modern Uzbek fiction.” This is how The Economist described The Devils’ Dance, the most…

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9 min

Economy

How Kazakhstan Is Trying to Reform Itself to Become a Regional Economic Hub

April 16, 2018

Among post-Soviet states, Kazakhstan was on the leading edge of reforms in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Thereafter, the reform process stalled, but with new top-down initiatives announced in…

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12 min

Books

“Have the Mountains Fallen?” The Story of Two Journeys of Loss and Redemption in the Cold War

April 4, 2018

In the early 1990s, while working as a journalist in Moscow, Jeff Lilley witnessed the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 2004, he moved to Kyrgyz Republic. After spending around…

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5 min

Photo

Scenes from Central Asian Migration to Russia

April 2, 2018

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.…

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9 min

Current affairs

Russia, China, and the US in Central Asia’s Regional Environment

March 27, 2018

The Eurasian landmass is increasingly engaged in a range of ambitious regional economic projects, with the common goal of enhancing trade and growth but displaying competing geopolitical visions. Alexander Cooley, Jeff…

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5 min

History

Economic Causes of Strife in Tajikistan

March 20, 2018

Tajikistan unfortunately tends to be treated as an outlier. Located on the edge of the former USSR, it is often cited as the only former Soviet republic to have descended…

Everyday Life in Art and the Art of Everyday Life: Re-Reading Soviet Mosaics in Dushanbe

Uzbekistan’s Newfound Foreign Policy and its Implications for U.S.-Uzbekistan Relations

Increasing the Effectiveness of Education Assistance in Uzbekistan

Arts during the War: Central Asia

The Conquest of Central Asia through the Turkestan Album

In case you missed it

A Brief History of Collecting Abr Clothing from Uzbekistan

Is Central Asia Moving Beyond Russia? An Interview with Johan Engvall

Why Is Job Insecurity So Widespread in Independent Uzbekistan?

“A Scale Model of the Contemporary World:” Nationality, Demography, and Development in the Soviet Union

Building Secure Communities in a Post-Liberal Age: A View from Kyrgyzstan

Hamid Ismailov On “The Devils’ Dance” and Other Works

How Kazakhstan Is Trying to Reform Itself to Become a Regional Economic Hub

“Have the Mountains Fallen?” The Story of Two Journeys of Loss and Redemption in the Cold War

In case you missed it

A Brief History of Collecting Abr Clothing from Uzbekistan

Is Central Asia Moving Beyond Russia? An Interview with Johan Engvall

Why Is Job Insecurity So Widespread in Independent Uzbekistan?

Scenes from Central Asian Migration to Russia

Russia, China, and the US in Central Asia’s Regional Environment

Economic Causes of Strife in Tajikistan