The Future of Central Asian Studies
Institute for Advanced Study, University of Konstanz
Organised by Judith Beyer and Madeleine Reeves
The last three years have seen a flourishing of anthropological and historical monographs on Central Asia. We propose an innovative workshop format that seeks to launch several of these recent monographs and to use a discussion of their findings as a basis for reflection on the future of Central Asian studies. The workshop will facilitate a series of focused discussions that emerge from bringing the texts into conversation with one another. How can material from Central Asia inform conceptual debates about order, knowledge, modernity, empire, religion and resources in the widest sense? What can be gained from drawing together anthropological and historical scholarship on law and empire, or dynamics of peace and conflict? How can we better integrate the history and anthropology of Afghanistan to allow comparison with the rest of Central Asia?
Day 1: 12-09-2017
Discussants: Till Mostowlansky, Eva-Marie Dubuisson, Aksana Ismailbekova
Books to be discussed:
Julie Billaud. 2015. Kabul carnival. Gender and politics in postwar Afghanistan. Pennsylvania University Press
Magnus Marsden. 2016. Trading worlds. Afghan merchants across modern frontiers. Hurst
David Montgomery. 2016. Practicing Islam. Knowledge, experience and social navigation in Kyrgyzstan. University of Pittsburgh Press.
Day 2: 13-09-2017
Discussants: Julie McBrien, Mateusz Laszczkowski, Jeanne Feaux de la Croix
Books to be discussed:
Tim Epkenhans. 2016. The origins of the civil war in Tajikistan. Nationalism, islamism, and violent conflict in post-soviet states. Lexington Books
Adeeb Khalid. 2015. Making Uzbekistan: nation, empire and revolution in the early USSR. Cornell University Press
Timothy Nunan. 2016. Humanitarian invasion: Global development in cold war Afghanistan. Cambridge University Press.
Discussants: David Montgomery, Julie Billaud, Judith Beyer
Books to be discussed:
Eva-Marie Dubuisson. 2017. Living language in Kazakhstan. The dialogic emergence of an ancestral worldview. University of Pittsburgh Press
Aksana Ismailbekova. 2017. Blood ties and the native son. Indiana University Press
Julie McBrien. 2017. From belonging to belief. Modern secularisms and the construction of religion in Kyrgyzstan. University of Pittsburgh Press.