CONF.- Central Asia and Caucasus Studies in the UK, U. of St. Andrews, Nov. 6-7
Posted by: Jeanne Feaux de la Croix <jeannefeaux@yahoo.co.uk>
Dear Colleagues,
Please find below the final programme for the St. Andrews workshop in
November. Anyone interested in attending is welcome to register by
e-mailing Mohira Suyarkulova (mrs26@st-and.ac.uk). As mentioned in
the original announcement, if you let us know soon, we may be able to
arrange free accommodation with a fellow student.
With best wishes,
Jeanne Feaux de la Croix
PhD candidate
Department of Social Anthropology
University of St. Andrews
Conference Program
Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies
Central Asia and Caucasus Studies in the UK: Focusing on Communities,
Societies and States
University of St Andrews
November 6-7, 2009
Parliament Hall, South Street
Friday, November 6
9-9.30 am: Registration and coffee
9.30-9.45 - Opening remarks (Dr Sally N. Cummings, Founding Director
of the Institute of Middle East, Central Asian and Caucasus Studies at
the University of St Andrews)
9.45-11am - Panel 1: LOCALITY AND AUTHORITY
Panel chair: Mohira Suyarkulova
Discussant: Dr Stephanie Bunn (U of St Andrews)
* Otambek Mastibekov (SOAS)
The leadership and authority of Ismailis: a case study of the
Badakhshani Ismaili community in Tajikistan
* Elmira Satybaldieva (U of Kent)
Aksakals and their implications for State domination in Kyrgyzstan:
a qualitative study of local politics
* Rebecca Reynolds (U of Glasgow)
Homebuilding, homemaking and consumption of domestic space in rural
Kyrgyzstan
* Yves-Marie Davenel (EHESS, Paris)
Cultural renaissance and civic integration in post-Soviet
Kazakhstan: a case study on the Tatar minority
11-11.30 am coffee and tea break
11.30-12.30 Panel 2: MORALITY, LAW AND SOCIAL ORDER
Panel chair: Teemu Naarajarvi
Discussant: Dr Johan Rasanayagam (U of Aberdeen)
* Liam O'Shea (U of St Andrews)
Crime, deviance and social order in Kyrgyzstan
* Ieva Raubisko (U of Oxford)
'Our joy is gone': narratives of loss in the transient
counter-terrorism zone of Chechnya
* Meri Avetisyan (Armenian State Pedagogical University)
Attitudes towards money, moral and law consciousness of post-Soviet
people in Armenia
12.30-1.30 pm - LUNCH
1.30- 2.45 pm - Panel 3: IDENTITY, VIOLENCE AND POPULAR MOBILISATION
Panel chair: Jeanne Féaux de la Croix
Discussant: Dr John Schoeberlein (Harvard University)
* Nurseit Niyazbekov (St Anthony's College, U of Oxford)
Preventing democratisation in Kazakhstan: changes in popular mobilisation
* Ahmed Fawaz (U of St Andrews)
Abkhazia: ethnic entrepreneurs and politicising identity
* Nino Kemoklidze (U of Birmingham)
Identity construction and ethno-national violence in Georgia
* Richard Berge (UCL)
Identity and state in the Caucasus: the way forward in IR
2.45-3.15 pm coffee and tea break
3.15-4.30 pm - Panel 4: PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITIES
Panel chair: Dr Wojtek Ostrowski
Discussant: Dr Sally Cummings (U of St Andrews)
* Kanykey Jailobaeva (U of Edinburgh)
The professionalization of NGOs: A new stage of NGO development in
Kyrgyzstan?
* Saltanat Janenova (U of Edinburgh)
Public Service integration in Kazakhstan: Challenging the
traditional bureaucracy
* Katarzyna Czerniecka (SOAS)
Security implications of EU's discourse and practical engagement in
Central Asia
4.30-6pm - Keynote address by Dr Johan Rasanayagam (University of Aberdeen)
Authenticity and tradition: secular and non-secular discourses in Uzbekistan
The story of modernity as the linear progress of an empirically
founded scientific rationality, of the consequent disenchantment of
the world and the decline or privatisation of religious faith has been
comprehensively challenged. Similarly, a view which sees secularism as
a separation of religion from the public conduct of political and
economic life, as the confining of religion to the sphere of private
morality, is too simple. A number of authors, among them Talal Asad,
have argued that the secular and religion are not natural categories
but are constituted within discursive projects to classify social
space and shape populations. This paper attempts to decentre the
concept of secularism from its historical roots in European
Christianity. Building upon the discussion by the philosopher Charles
Taylor of the development of the idea of the secular within that
historical context, it takes the primacy of human agency and
creativity as the starting point for comparing secular discourses
within the projects of non-Western and non-Christian states. The
discursive constructions of tradition and authenticity are central to
this. While secularism in Western thought has often been framed within
a narrative of the advance of empirical reasoning, scientific
rationality, and the consequent liberation of the free, authentic
individual from the constraints of tradition and communalism, in
Uzbekistan the state secular project locates authenticity within a
local cultural and spiritual heritage which the individual is expected
to embody. In Uzbekistan, the concept of tradition and cultural
authenticity has become a tool of governance though which the
post-Soviet regime seeks to regulate religious practice and manage its
population. The paper also discusses alternative constructions of
tradition in non-secular discourses, by Muslims who advocate a
purification of Islamic practice from non-scriptural 'tradition', as
well as that of converts to Christianity who make a distinction
between authentic belief and traditional cultural practice.
Saturday, November 7
10-11 am - Uses of a PhD outside of academia by John Schoeberlein
(Harvard University)
John Schoeberlein will discuss the career paths followed outside of
academia by those who have advanced training in Central Asian studies --
including those who choose to combine applied work outside of academia
with an academic career. His own experience includes work in
international organizations and in international NGOs. The talk will
address the variety of options (ranging from government and the
private sector to NGOs and multi-lateral institutions), some of the
considerations that should determine one's choice, and how to address
some of the challenges in seeking such a path.
11-11.30am - coffee and tea break
11.30-12.30 - Using your expert knowledge in journalism by Shahida Tulyaganova
12.30-1.30pm - LUNCH
1.30-3pm - Understanding Academic Publishing by Peter Sowden (freelance editor)
Peter Sowden works as a freelance commissioning editor, commissioning
for Routledge books in Asian Studies, including Central Asia, on the
former Soviet bloc, including the Caucasus, and the Middle East. He
also commissions some books in modern history for Boydell and Brewer,
and has done ad hoc projects for the Publishers Association, ALPSP
(the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) and
other publishers. He was Publisher and Publishing Director of
Routledge 1987-99 and before that commissioning editor at Croom Helm 1977-87.
During this session Mr Sowden will talk about academic publishing in
the fields of Central Asian and Caucasus studies in general as well as
have a practical discussion of draft book proposals prepared by
participants of the workshop in advance.
3-3.30 pm - coffee and tea break
3.30-5pm - PG community of students of CA&C: what are the ways
forward? Planning session (opening remarks by Mohira Suyarkulova,
moderated by Jeanne Féaux de la Croix)
5pm -Closing remarks (Jeanne Féaux de la Croix and Mohira Suyarkulova)
Location:
Parliament Hall page:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/visiting/Virtualtours/ParliamentHall/
Parliament Hall is under number 67 in the alphabetical index
(coordinates - J3) on the University map:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/media/wwwmap.pdf
