On 18 November, 2015 four Anthropology students received the Mary Schweitzer Scholarship for Excellence in Cultural Anthropology. The winners are Aidai Kadyralieva, Gulnura Akylbekova, Aisuluu Akhmetova, and Altynai Abdrakhmanova.

 
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Medet Tiulegenov, Head, Division of Politics and International/Area Studies, AUCA
Abstract: The presentation would provide preliminary results of the study of the normative changes in the areas of human rights, gender and ethnicity in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The cross cutting theme applied in these three issue areas is a norm of participation in public life, which largely defines a notion of a political regime. As a standard of appropriate behavior this norm is looked at through political rhetoric and as well as actions of political actors (mostly the ruling elite).

CASI Research Seminar: “Localizing norms: comparative perspectives on human rights, gender and ethnicity in Central Asia”. Speaker: Medet Tiulegenov, Head, Division of Politics and International/Area Studies, AUCA. Date: November 18, 2015.

On October 29, 2015, 26 students from the Environmental Management and Sustainable Development (EMSD) program conducted field research to count radiation in the AUCA campus area. Vanessa Graf, one of the students on the trip, tells us about her experience.

 
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Philipp Lottholz and Polina Manolova, University of Birmingham, CASI Visiting Scholars
Abstract: This paper aims at inquiring how people in the former Soviet periphery make sense of the transformation that they have undergone since the breakdown of Socialism. Drawing on sociological and social psychological perspectives on post-Socialist societies, we develop the concept of the ‘imaginary West’. The latter has, to our mind, fundamentally shaped the way in which people came to understand post-Socialist reforms, democratisation and integration into the global economy.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Austria, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan from October 28 to November 3. In Bishkek, the Secretary will participate in the opening of the new campus of the American University of Central Asia and dedicate the new chancery of the U.S. Embassy.

Begaiym Esenkulova, an Assistant Professor of the AUCA International and Business Law Department, conducted research at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, Germany from May to August, 2015.

On October 1-2, 2015 the "Life in Kyrgyzstan" conference took place in Bishkek for the first time. AUCA alumna Malika Ibragimova (Economics, 2015) was awarded “best student research”. She received a certificate and Thomas Piketty’s book “Capital.”

Student of Anthropology Department Basira Mir Mahamad took part in the two-week anthropological fieldwork in the town of Naryn. She told us about this unique experience, and how the fieldwork helped her and other students to develop their practical knowledge of archaeology.

Vice President for Academic Affairs of AUCA Bermet Tursunkulova received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the nonprofit organization American Councils as one of the first FLEX Program alumni.