The Art of the Wood Carving in Tajikistan
Tajikistan has a rich heritage of exquisite wood carvings. Dr. Larisa Dodkhudoeva from the Institute of History, Archeology, and Ethnography named after Donish talks about the origins of this art…
Khorezm Lazgi: The Sunniest Dance on Earth
Lazgi is a must-see of Khorezm. Lazgi is the dance with a feel-good factor, making you feel a joie de vivre or zest for life. There is an opinion that…
Law and Custom in Central Asia: An Interview with Judith Beyer
Prof. Dr. Judith Beyer specializes in political and legal anthropology. She conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Kyrgyzstan where she studied the practices of retraditionalization – how the concept of traditions…
Uzbekistan Without Graffiti: Censorship Against Street Art
Despite the rich artistic traditions of the past, contemporary Uzbekistan can not particularly boast about its popular street art. Even in cosmopolitan Tashkent, public spaces sparkle with pristine purity. On…
Through the Eyes of an Artist: Art Quarantine by Vyacheslav (Yura) Useinov, Bobur Ismoilov and Anna Ivanova
In the midst of quarantine, I saw Stagnation (Стагнация) by Bobur Ismailov. The painting shows a lonely girl in a confined room with a book on her knees and the…
Would Uzbekistan be the First Nuclear Power and Technological Leader in Central Asia? An Interview with Margarita Kalinina-Pohl
Uzbekistan has announced plans to develop its nuclear energy capacities to support economic growth and development. The advantages, risks, and threats that nuclear power can bring are discussed in this…
Ali Shir Navayi and the Rich World of Turkic-Persian Poetry. An Interview with Nicholas Walmsley
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…
Feminism and Central Asia – What Went Wrong?
Feminism is not adequately perceived in Central Asian societies. Some consider it as a threat to the existing traditions of the patriarchal foundation, when a woman (responsible for too many…
A Look into the Soviet Past of the Central Asian Cinema with Cloe Drieu
Researcher Cloe Drieu studied the earliest films in Central Asia that go back as far as 1924, a year that marked a political birth, with the ethnic and territorial delimitation…
On the Uzbek media development: An interview with Nikita Makarenko
Main photo: President Shavkat Mirziyoev with bloggers, August 2019Media in Uzbekistan represents an interesting object of study. After President Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power, the media, which under the previous…
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…
Refugees from Сentral Asia and in Central Asia
Closed borders around the world due to the outbreak of COVID – 19 have temporarily affected the mobility of people, including both voluntary and forced migration. The precise impact of…
The Worsening of US-Chinese Relations and the Echo in Central Asia. An Interview with Raffaello Pantucci
An interview with Raffaello PantucciSenior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Raffaello Pantucci’s research focuses on terrorism and counter-terrorism as well as China’s relations with its Western neighbors. Prior to…