CASI Academic Workshop: Interpreting the Soviet Cultural Legacy in Central Asia

March 6, 2012

March 6-7, 2012

On 6-7 March 2012 the Central Asian Studies Institute of AUCA hosted an international academic workshop titled “Interpreting the Soviet Cultural Legacy in Central Asia”. The event gathered 15 scholars and researchers representing some leading research centers and universities of Central Asia, Russia, Europe and the United States for a discussion organized around five themes.

The papers presented at the workshop addressed various aspects of intellectual reflection on Soviet cultural legacies in current Central Asian practices and policies. Some common themes developed during the discussions included the variety of ways in which past appears present nowadays, the variety of ways in which the persistence of the past could be observed, analyzed and interpreted and variety of meanings that could be ascribed to the legacies of the recent past in current Central Asia. The panel discussions covered a range of topics, from the challenges of identity transformation to changing role of the state, to the challenges of theoretical ‘framing’ of the Soviet past of Central Asian societies and so on.

This workshop is a part of activities of CASI aimed at supporting intellectual exchange between scholars of Central Asia representing various disciplines, countries and stages of scholarship.