Central Asian Studies

Central Asian Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Central Asia about their new books.

Olivier Hein, "Mother of the World: The Remarkable History of Turkmenistan" (Hurst, 2026)

July 2, 2026

Mother of the World

Olivier Hein
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Turkmenistan rarely makes international headlines–and when it did, it was often stories that highlighted things like the strange cult of personality t…

Chinese EVs: From Nordic Streets to Central Asian Hubs

July 2, 2026

Chinese EVs

Matthew Gray

Can Europe afford to stand back as China rewrites the global electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem? In this episode, Julie Yu-Wen Chen at the University of …

Benjamin J. Nourse, "The Power of Publishing in Early Modern Tibetan Buddhism"(Lexington Books, 2025)

June 26, 2026

The Power of Publishing in Early Modern Tibetan Buddhism

Benjamin J. Nourse

The Power of Publishing in Early Modern Tibetan Buddhism (Lexington Books, 2025) is a rich exploration of the history of Tibetan books during the late…

David Leupold, "The Death and Life of Southern Soviet Cities: Urban Futures and Their Afterlives" (Routledge, 2026)

June 15, 2026

The Death and Life of Southern Soviet Cities

David Leupold
Hosted by Ernest Lee

What does it mean, three decades after the demise of the USSR, to inhabit cities built for a future that has never arrived? In pursuit of the q…

Dating Apps, Queer Stigma, and Digital Intimacy in Kazakhstan

June 8, 2026

Dating Apps, Queer Stigma, and Digital Intimacy in Kazakhstan

Yerkebulan Sairambay

How queer men in Kazakhstan navigate dating apps in a context of stigma, surveillance, and limited legal protections. It shows how platforms like Grin…

Stephen F. Jones, "The First Social Democracy: The Democratic Republic of Georgia, 1918–1921" (Harvard UP, 2026)

April 21, 2026

The First Social Democracy

Stephen F. Jones
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Following the collapse of the Russian Empire, the small nation of Georgia established its independence in May 1918. Its leaders surprised the world by…

Warwick Ball, "Ancient Civilizations of Afghanistan: From the Earliest Times to the Mongol Conquest" (Reaktion, 2025)

February 26, 2026

Ancient Civilizations of Afghanistan

Warwick Ball
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Today, Afghanistan–if it ever reaches global headlines–is portrayed as an unstable land, known more for the wars great powers fight (and often lose) o…

Joanna Lillis, "Silk Mirage: Through the Looking Glass in Uzbekistan" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

February 19, 2026

Silk Mirage

Joanna Lillis
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In September 2016, Islam Karimov–the first president of a post-Soviet Uzbekistan–died, at age 78. His death ended an oppressive dictatorship that had …

Sugata Bose, "Asia after Europe: Imagining a Continent in the Long Twentieth Century" (Harvard UP, 2024)

February 15, 2026

Asia after Europe

Sugata Bose
Hosted by Lucas Tse

The balance of global power changed profoundly over the course of the twentieth century, above all with the economic and political rise of Asia. Asia …

Zubeda Jalalzai, "Literary License and the West’s Romance with Afghanistan" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

December 22, 2025

Literary License and the West’s Romance with Afghanistan

Zubeda Jalalzai
Hosted by Qaseem Ahmadzai

In this episode of New Books Network, I speak with Zubeda Jalalzai about her book Literary License and the West’s Romance with Afghanistan (Bloomsbury…

Yasmin Cho, "Politics of Tranquility: The Material and Mundane Lives of Buddhist Nuns in Post-Mao Tibet" (Cornell UP, 2025)

December 15, 2025

Politics of Tranquility

Yasmin Cho
Hosted by Jing Li

Politics of Tranquility: The Material and Mundane Lives of Buddhist Nuns in Post-Mao Tibet (Cornell University Press, 2025) concerns the Tibetan Buddh…

Martyn Whittock, "Vikings in the East: From Vladimir the Great to Vladimir Putin – The Origins of a Contested Legacy in Russia and Ukraine" (Biteback, 2025)

October 19, 2025

Vikings in the East

Martyn Whittock
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Western Europe, we typically associate Vikings with the storm-tossed waters of the North Sea and the North Atlantic, the deep Scandinavian fjords a…

Oksana Sarkisova and Olga Shevchenko "In Visible Presence: Soviet Afterlives in Family Photos" (MIT Press, 2023)

October 15, 2025

In Visible Presence

Oksana Sarkisova and Olga Shevchenko
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Visible Presence: Soviet Afterlives in Family Photos (MIT Press, 2023) is an absorbing exploration of Soviet-era family photographs that demonstrat…

Nick Higham, "Mavericks: Empire, Oil, Revolution and the Forgotten Battle of World War One" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

October 10, 2025

Mavericks

Nick Higham
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

As the First World War drew to a close and regimes began to collapse across Europe, British officials plotted a daring campaign to send an unlikely ba…

Rivals in a Tight Embrace Russia, China, and the Central Asian Chessboard

September 28, 2025

Rivals in a Tight Embrace Russia, China, and the Central Asian Chessboard

This podcast episode by Alevtina Solovyeva traces Central Asia as the enduring crossroads “between empires,” where caravan routes outlast the borders …

Sam Dalrymple, "Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia" (William Collins, 2025)

September 4, 2025

Shattered Lands

Sam Dalrymple
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Partition—the rapid, uncoordinated, and bloody split between India and Pakistan after the Second World War—remains the central event of South Asian hi…

Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, "Landscapes of Warfare: Urartu and Assyria in the Ancient Middle East" (UP of Colorado, 2025)

September 4, 2025

Landscapes of Warfare

Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Landscapes of Warfare: Urartu and Assyria in the Ancient Middle East (University Press of Colorado, 2025) by Dr. Tiffany Earley-Spadoni offers an in-d…

Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way, "Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism" (Princeton UP, 2022)

August 24, 2025

Revolution and Dictatorship

Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way
Hosted by Sally Sharif

Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism (Princeton UP, 2022) explores why dictatorships born of social revolution…

Anahid Matossian, "Syrian-Armenian Women Migrants in Armenia: Gender, Identity and Painful Belonging" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

July 15, 2025

Syrian-Armenian Women Migrants in Armenia

Anahid Matossian
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

After the outbreak of the 2011 Syrian War, a number Syrian-Armenians who had lived in the territory for generations, fled to the Republic of Armenia. …

Diana T. Kudaibergen, "What Does It Mean to Be Kazakhstani?: Power, Identity and Nation-Building" (Oxford UP, 2024)

July 11, 2025

What Does It Mean to Be Kazakhstani?

Diana T. Kudaibergen
Hosted by Cholpon Ramizova

In early 2022, protests rocked Kazakhstan. Initially peaceful demonstrations turned violent after brutal government crackdowns, leaving at least 238 d…