Central Asian Studies Institute
American University of Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Academic Workshop
"Interpreting the Soviet Cultural Legacy in Central Asia"
Twenty years into independence, Central Asia's Soviet past still remains a politically painful and academically under-examined subject, resulting in major gaps in the historical narratives of Central Asian societies. The leaders of newly independent nation-states quickly embarked upon reviewing and revising pre-Soviet and Soviet history, relating it to the current political agendas. Most scholarly research has focused on current-day matters, responding to the market and to availability of data. Scarce references to the Soviet period tend to focus mainly on early Soviet years (creation of nations, collectivization, etc.). These circumstances point to a pressing need for more comprehensive and systematic inquiry into the Soviet past of the region, particularly on matters that continue to shape social and political agendas.
On 6-7 March 2012,
the Central Asian Studies Institute at the American University of Central Asia will host an academic workshop aimed at discussing the frameworks that organize popular thinking today about the things that gave a sense of cultural commonalty to the Soviet experience in Central Asia, as well as the ways that they have been and can be analyzed in scholarship. The possible frameworks may include cultural imperialism/post-colonialism, Soviet-style modernization and/or internationalism, nostalgia, the inertia of socialist (or "Soviet") culture, Russian soft power, and others. The issues that can be explored include:
* Soviet academic experience and language in the politics of
knowledge in Central Asia;
* Interplay between new nationalism, broad regional identities, and
affinity to the post-Soviet commonalty;
* Migration of people and the other practical links in the post-Soviet space;
* The role of Russian language and culture, and dialectics of
"Sovietness" and "Russianness" in today's Central Asia;
* The "Soviet culture" as a basis for resistance to change;
* The cultural ground on which international alignments form, in
relation to Russia and other states;
* Revision of history and new assignments of value to the Soviet experience;
* Integration of Russians (and russko-iazychnye) into post-Soviet cultural/ideological projects.
The event is planned as a single-track workshop, with the goal of close and focused discussion of the works presented. All participants will be expected to have read the papers, and each paper will be addressed by two discussants.
We will be accepting both individual and panel proposals. We are particularly interested in proposals that present current research projects, which will allow the workshop to consider methodologies for making ethnographic, archival or other current data sources relevant for theoretical discussions.
A proposal should include a one-page summary/outline of the work to be presented and a short bio of the author/s. Proposals should be addressed to the Central Asian Studies Institute at
casi@mail.auca.kg before 5pm, 20 January 2012. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 1 February 2012.
Some support can be provided for travel and lodging expenses for selected presenters.
Convenors:
John Schoeberlein (Eurasian National University, Astana, and Harvard University)
Ruslan Rahimov (Dept. of Anthropology, American University of Central Asia) Shairbek Juraev (Director, Central Asian Studies Institute, American University of Central Asia)
