Contemporary Spaces Of (Greater) Central Asia
Tuesday 21st – Wednesday 22nd March
Newcastle University
School of Geography, Politics and Sociology / School of Modern Languages,
Research Beehive, 2nd Floor, Old Library Building
Thursday 22 March
10.15–10.30: Welcome remarks by Joanne Smith Finley
10.30–12.10, Panel 1: Economies of the Central Asian Nations
Chair: TBC
Speakers:
- Lorena Lombardozzi, SOAS, University of London: “Patterns of Food Consumption and Crop Commercialization in Uzbek A grarian Change: Is cotton in competition with quality food?”
- Damir Zhandossov, University of Cambridge: “Post-Soviet Industrialization: A Comparative Study of the Kazakhstani and Uzbekistani Car Manufacturing Sectors”
- Callie Berman, University of Cambridge: “The Caspian Caviar Narrative: A Critical Exploration of the Role of Underground Economic Institutions and Their Implications for Establishing a Legal Regime”
- Yuliya Darmenova, University of Cambridge: “Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility and the Case of Small and Medium Enterprises in a Kazakh Context”
Followed by 20 minutes Q&A
12.10–13.25, Panel 2: (In)security and Conflict in (Greater) Central Asia
Chair: Nick Megoran
Speakers:
- Tom Harper, University of Surrey: “Aspiration or Security: The New Silk Road and the Legacy of China’s Past in Central Asia and Eurasia”
- Pablo A. Rodríguez-Merino, University of Warwick: “The Social Construction of Terrorism in Xinjiang by the Chinese State”
- Paolo Sorbello, CRCEES, Glasgow University: “State and Business Responses to Worker Unrest in Western Kazakhstan (1991–2015)”
Followed by 15 minutes Q&A
13.25–14.20: Cold buffet lunch (halal)
14.20–16.00 Panel 3: Ethnicity and Identity in (Post-)Colonial Central Asia
Chair: Joanne Smith Finley
Speakers:
- David O’Brien, University of Nottingham (Ningbo): “’Consuming Otherness’: The Idealisation and Commodification of Ethnicity in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region”
- Philipp Lottholz, University of Birmingham: “’I’m a local here!’: A decolonial perspective on the dialectics of identity in Kyrgyzstan”
- Yuri Boyanin, La Trobe University (Aus): “Monuments are Temporary, People are Permanent: Soviet Monuments as Media in Mountainous Kyrgyzstan”
- Madlen Kobi, Università della Svizzera Italiana: “Building Architectural Connections to Central Asia: Use and Perception of Central Asian Architecture in New Residential Apartment Houses in Urban Xinjiang”
Followed by 20 minutes Q&A
16.00–17.15, Panel 4: International Relations of Central Asia
Chair: Diana Kopbayeva
Speakers:
- Dmitry Foryy, University of Siegen (D): “Russia’s Strategic Interests in Central Asia”
- Janibek Arynov, University of St. Andrews: “The EU as a Power: Images of the EU in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan”
- Sinead Mowlds, University of Cambridge: “Kazakhstan’s Development Cooperation Landscape since 1991”
Followed by 15 minutes Q&A
17.15–17.30: Break for refreshments (tea, coffee, juice, biscuits)
17.30–18.45, Panel 5: Islam in (Greater) Central Asia
Chair: Rachel Harris
Speakers:
- Saif Beg, University of St. Andrews: “Islamization of the Chagatai Khans in the 14th–15th Centuries”
- LI Jie, University of Edinburgh: “Xinjiang’s Islamic Resurgence: A View from Post-1991 Chinese Sovietology”
- Sarah Dorr, University of Leeds: “The Transregional Impact of the Arab Spring in Kazakhstan, 2005–2015”
Followed by 15 minutes Q&A
18.45–19.45, Keynote lecture: Dr Rachel Harris, SOAS, University of London
20.00 onwards: Dinner
At Alsham Lebanese restaurant (15 Gallowgate, NE1 4SG Newcastle upon Tyne)
Wednesday 22 March
9.30–10.45, Panel 6: Kazakhstan in / and the World
Chair: TBC
Speakers:
- Sabina & Nafissa Insebayeva, University of Tsukuba, Japan: “Political Discourse, Nation Building and National Symbols in Kazakhstan”
- Diana Kopbayeva, Newcastle University: “Imagining the ‘Eternal Nation’: Discourses of Nation in Kazakhstan”
- Aliya Tskhay, University of St. Andrews: “External Norms and Internal Pressures: Implementation of the EITI in Kazakhstan”
Followed by 15 minutes Q&A
10.45–11.00: Break for refreshments (tea, coffee, juice, biscuits)
11.00–12.40, Panel 7: Education in (Greater) Central Asia
Chair: Joanne Smith Finley
Speakers:
- FENG Siyu, Amherst College (USA): “From Istanbul to Kashgar: Ahmet Kemal’s Education Mission to Chinese Turkestan, 1911–1919”
- LI Jiarui, University of Cambridge: “Educating the Other China: The Creation of Uyghur Minkaohan”
- Elke Spiessens, University of Münster (D) / University of Leiden (NL): “Uyghur Molla Education: The Central Asia Connection”
- James McMurray, University of Sussex: “The Sinicised Self – The Ethical Elements of Identity in Contemporary Uyghur Culture”
Followed by 20 minutes Q&A
12.40–13.30: Lunch break (hot soup and rolls)
13.30–14.30: Workshop on academic publishing
Facilitated by Madeleine Reeves, Central Asian Survey
14.30–16.30, Panel 8: Evolving Societies of Central Asia
Chair: Madeleine Reeves
Speakers:
- Aigerim Kamidola, University of Roehampton: “A Discourse Analysis of Welfare Rights in the Post-Soviet Context”
- Elena Borisova, University of Manchester: “Being Immobile at a Time of Mass Migration: Labour Migrants with Re-entry Bans and their Families in Northern Tajikistan”
- Speaker TBA
- Sultanalieva Nurzat, University of Tübingen: “The Sovietisation of the Yssyk-Kul Lake: Dynamics of Change and Adaptation to Fluid Environments”
- Tobias Marschall, University of Tübingen: “The Little Pamir’s Social Network, Afghan Kyrgyz and Wakhi: Coping Strategies from the Tip of Afghanistan”
Followed by 20 minutes Q&A