Central Asian Studies

Central Asian Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Central Asia about their new books.

Norman Naimark, "Stalin's Genocides" (Princeton UP, 2010)

October 9, 2024

Stalin's Genocides

Norman Naimark
Hosted by Marshall Poe

Absolutely no one doubts that Stalin murdered millions of people in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. His ruthless campaign of "dekulakization," his pitiles…

Zeev Levin, "Collectivization and Social Engineering: Soviet Administration and the Jews of Uzbekistan, 1917-1939" (Brill, 2015)

September 26, 2024

Collectivization and Social Engineering

Zeev Levin
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

In Collectivization and Social Engineering: Soviet Administration and the Jews of Uzbekistan, 1917-1939 (Brill, 2015), Zeev Levin seeks to provide a c…

Michael David-Fox, "The Secret Police and the Soviet System: New Archival Investigations" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2023)

September 21, 2024

The Secret Police and the Soviet System

Michael David-Fox
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

The Secret Police and the Soviet System: New Archival Investigations (U Pittsburgh Press, 2023) compiles an array of recent scholarship that draws on …

Yerkebulan Sairambay, "New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023)

August 26, 2024

New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan

Yerkebulan Sairambay
Hosted by Cholpon Ramizova

Dr. Yerkebulan Sairambay’s New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023) confronts the sociological p…

Victoria Smolkin, "A Sacred Space Is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism" (Princeton UP, 2018)

August 18, 2024

A Sacred Space Is Never Empty

Victoria Smolkin

The specter of the “Godless” Soviet Union haunted the United States and continental Western Europe throughout the Cold War, but what did atheism mean …

Maria Taroutina and Allison Leigh, "Russian Orientalism in a Global Context: Hybridity, Encounter, and Representation, 1740-1940" (Manchester UP, 2023)

August 17, 2024

Russian Orientalism in a Global Context

Maria Taroutina and Allison Leigh

Russian Orientalism in a Global Context: Hybridity, Encounter, and Representation, 1740-1940 (Manchester UP, 2023) features new research on Russia's h…

Elena Borisova, "Paradoxes of Migration in Tajikistan: Locating the Good Life" (UCL Press, 2024)

August 2, 2024

Paradoxes of Migration in Tajikistan

Elena Borisova
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Paradoxes of Migration in Tajikistan: Locating the Good Life (UCL Press, 2024) by Dr. Elena Borisova is the first ethnographic monograph on migration …

Fantastic Fauna from China to Crimea: Image-Making in Eurasian Nomadic Societies, 700 BCE-500 CE

July 14, 2024

Fantastic Fauna from China to Crimea: Image-Making in Eurasian Nomadic Societies, 700 BCE-500 CE

Petya Andreeva
Hosted by Maggie Freeman

Numerous Iron-Age nomadic alliances flourished along the 5000-mile Eurasian steppe route. From Crimea to the Mongolian grassland, nomadic image-making…

Balihar Sanghera and Elmira Satybaldieva, "Rentier Capitalism and Its Discontents: Power, Morality and Resistance in Central Asia" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021)

July 2, 2024

Rentier Capitalism and Its Discontents

Balihar Sanghera and Elmira Satybaldieva
Hosted by Cholpon Ramizova

Balihar Sanghera and Elmira Satybaldieva’s Rentier Capitalism and Its Discontents: Power, Morality and Resistance in Central Asia (Palgrave MacMillan,…

Per Högselius and Achim Klüppelberg, "The Soviet Nuclear Archipelago: A Historical Geography of Atomic-Powered Communism" (CEU Press, 2023)

May 12, 2024

The Soviet Nuclear Archipelago

Per Högselius and Achim Klüppelberg
Hosted by CEU Press

In this episode of the CEU Press Podcast, host Andrea Talabér (CEU Press/CEU Review of Books) sat down with Per Högselius and Achim Klüppelberg to dis…

Bryan K. Miller, "Xiongnu: The World's First Nomadic Empire" (Oxford UP, 2024)

May 1, 2024

Xiongnu

Bryan K. Miller

In Xiongnu: The World’s First Nomadic Empire (Oxford UP, 2024), Bryan K. Miller weaves together archaeology and history to chart the course of the Xio…

Legal Cultures in the Russian Empire

March 13, 2024

Legal Cultures in the Russian Empire

Nancy Kollmann and Paolo Sartori
Hosted by Erika Monahan

Law. How does the state form and use it? How do people use and shape it? How does law shape culture? How does the practice of law change over time in …

Eren Tasar, "Soviet and Muslim: The Institutionalization of Islam in Central Asia" (Oxford UP, 2017)

December 30, 2023

Soviet and Muslim

Eren Tasar

How was the Soviet Union able to avoid issues of religious and national conflict with its large and diverse Islamic population? In his new book, Sovie…

Christine E. Evans, "Between Truth and Time: A History of Soviet Central Television" (Yale UP, 2016)

December 29, 2023

Between Truth and Time

Christine E. Evans

In Between Truth and Time: A History of Soviet Central Television (Yale University Press, 2016), Christine E. Evans reveals that Soviet television in …

Sasha Goldstein-Sabbah et al., "Life & Legacy: A Window into Jewish Life Across the Islamic World" (U Groningen Press, 2023)

December 8, 2023

Life & Legacy

Sasha Goldstein-Sabbah, Lucía Farias García, Maxime Heijman, William Whitcombe, and Michel Gordon
Hosted by Drora Arussy

Through stunning images, maps and insightful commentary, Life & Legacy: A Window into Jewish Life Across the Islamic World (U Groningen Press, 2023) o…

Empires of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilisation

December 2, 2023

Empires of the Steppes

Kenneth W. Harl
Hosted by Maggie Freeman

The “barbarian” nomads of the Eurasian steppes have played a decisive role in world history, but their achievements have gone largely unnoticed. These…

Valerie Kivelson et al., "Picturing Russian Empire" (Oxford UP, 2023)

November 7, 2023

Picturing Russian Empire

Valerie Kivelson, Sergei Kozlov, and Joan Neuberger
Hosted by Erika Monahan
Listen:

Picturing Russian Empire (Oxford UP, 2023) appears as Russia’s imperialist war of aggression against Ukraine grinds on. The stakes could not be higher…

Christopher P. Atwood, "The Rise of the Mongols: Five Chinese Sources" (Hackett, 2021)

October 8, 2023

The Rise of the Mongols

Hosted by Lance Pursey

In this interview we deep dive into the historiographical issues of the texts in The Rise of the Mongols: Five Chinese Sources (Hackett, 2021), edited…

Isaac McKean Scarborough, "Moscow's Heavy Shadow: The Violent Collapse of the USSR" (Cornell UP, 2023)

October 1, 2023

Moscow's Heavy Shadow

Isaac McKean Scarborough
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Moscow's Heavy Shadow: The Violent Collapse of the USSR (Cornell University Press, 2023) by Dr. Isaac Mckean Scarborough tells the story of the collap…

The Secret History of the Mongols: An Interview with Chris Atwood

September 24, 2023

The Secret History of the Mongols

Chris Atwood
Hosted by Maggie Freeman

The Secret History of the Mongols is one of the literary wonders of the world. Writing in the thirteenth century, the Secret Historian - whose identit…