SPEAKER: Dr. Chiara Pierobon, University Magdeburg
Abstract: The lecture is focused on the contribution of the European Union in promoting sustainable development through the involvement of civil society in third countries. More specifically, it analyzes main features and outcomes of the projects that were carried out with the financial support of the EU in the framework of the thematic program Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development (NSA/LA) in Kyrgyzstan. 

SPEAKER: Nathan Light, PhD, Researcher at Uppsala University, Sweden
Abstract: This lecture considers the past 60 years of social and cultural anthropological research in Central Asia explores what has held the field back for so long, and why and how it has become so productive in the past decade. I seek to stimulate a conversation about the value and potential of anthropology of Central Asia, and the reasons it has been slow to develop as an academic field.

CASI Research Seminar Series: Publishing in, on and for Central Asia: constrains and opportunities
This event was organized in the format of a discussion and aimed to outline the state of publishing in the field of Central Asian Studies. How do the linguistic, institutional, disciplinary, financial and geopolitical factors influence what gets published, where and with what effects? We invited three distinguished scholars to present their views speaking from diverse experiences and institutional positions. The discussion was held in English and Russian.

Штаб и Институт изучения Центральной Азии (CASI) АУЦА  организовали совместную презентацию альманаха Штаба № 2 «Понятия о советском в Центральной Азии» (Бишкек, Штаб-Press, 2016). Альманах составлен по итогам большого одноименного проекта, включавшего три международных симпозиума. Сверхзадачей проекта была выработка «диалектически емкого» языка для осмысления советского, – понятийного инструментария, который схватывал бы как эмансипационное, так и репрессивное советского проекта, и учитывал бы его специфические проявления в Центральной Азии.

SPEAKER: Tobias Marschall, PhD Candidate, University of Tuebingen, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Abstract: Afghan Kyrgyz are situated at a unique crossroads in the Pamirian knot. Both on the periphery of contemporary religious, cultural and political domains as well as on the pathways of ancient trading routes, their particular location opens a variety of complex exchanges. Afghan Kyrgyz have negotiated this ever-changing and difficult geopolitical settings. In adapting a high-risk, high-reward pastoral existence necessary for survival, they have constantly reconfigured their relationship with dominant powers. 

October 19, 2016
Maria Louw, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University
Abstract: While there is an extensive historical literature on state atheism and its implementation in the Soviet Union, and while much has been written about the religious revival in former Soviet space, very little has been published about the changing meanings of atheism and being atheist in Eurasia.

June 15, 2016
John Schoberlein (Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan)
Abstract: This talk examines the ways that post-Soviet society, particularly in Kazakhstan, compels us to rethink the character of secularism as an identity and an institution that entails forms of popular engagement.
 

May 18, 2016
Abstract: Memory is an often foregrounded, but also highly contested theme in post-Soviet societies. Scholars have broadly investigated the legacies of Soviet and pre-Soviet past in today’s Central Asia, and some have addressed the political implications of specific historical accounts and the active political use of historical narratives to legitimise contemporary processes.

 
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This presentation analyzes women’s empowerment as a practice and as an everyday reality for rural population in the Kyrgyz Republic. Researchers explore ethnographically opportunities and challenges to actions aimed to bringing sustained positive changes to rural populations.
 

 
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Abstract: Cities are dynamic places where local, national and global processes of development are manifest in fixed, material ways. The physical infrastructure of a city has a profound impact on how citizens think about themselves and their places in the world.