The Central Asia Research Network (CARN), the UK Central Asia Graduate Students Network and Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus Institute (MECACS) at the University of St. Andrews are pleased to announce the graduate student conference, "Central Asia and the Caucasus Explorations from the Field".
Date and time: 9.00 am, Friday November 10th - 7.00 pm, Saturday 11th 2006 Venue: Arts Building, School of International Relations, University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland, UK.
Please note that the new Arts Building is not yet featured on the University map, but is located between the University library and St. Katharine's West, with access from The Scores. http://www.st- andrews.ac. uk/map/map. pdf
Chair: Alexander Kupatadze (MECACS)
For further details, please email the organising committee on: caac2006@st- andrews.ac. uk
DAY 1: 10 November
9.00 - 10.00 Registration (Arts Building, School of International Relations)
10:00 - 10:30 Welcoming of participants (Arts Lecture room 003)
10.30 - 12.30 Parallel sessions 1A and 1B
Session 1A:
Coping with insecurity - socio-economic strategies in post-socialist societies (Arts Lecture room 003)
Rano Turaeva
Internal migrants in Tashkent: first insights from fieldwork during 2005-6 in Uzbekistan.
Anna Portisch
Yurt furnishing and tea cosies in an age of great calamities: livelihood and development in the Mongolian ' Kazakh Province', Baygan-Oelgii.
Session 1B:
Democratization processes and foreign assistance (Arts seminar room 7)
Kathryn Roman & Vanja Mladineo
Survey of the foreign democratization assistance in the Kyrgyz Republic and its effects on domestic policy making.
Deniz Tura
A line with responsibilities: "Analysis of the Regional Sustainability Development Program of British Petroleum in the Baku-Tbilisi- Ceyhan Pipeline".
John Westerman
Actor-Network Theory, governmentality, and the development project: a review of Mercy Corps 5 year Peaceful Community initiative in the Ferghana Valley.
12.30 - 13.30 Lunch
13.30 - 15. 30 Session 2:
Constructing nations: the making of "national" memory, symbols and identities (Arts seminar room 7)
Rebecca Beardmore
The role of archaeology in the development of the concept of the nation in Kazakhstan. A case study on the engagement of archaeological objects in Semirechie, south-east Kazakhstan.
Yulia Guzhvenko
Creating national identity in frontier areas (the case of eastern Kazakhstan).
Ablimit Baki
Language attitudes of Uyghur university students in Xinjiang.
15.30 - 16.00 Coffee
16.00 - 18.00 Session 3:
Local politics and international connections - on weakness and empowerment (Arts seminar room 7)
Fredrik M. Sjoberg
Informal networks and electoral politics in Kyrgyzstan - a research outline.
Wojtek Ostrowski
The politics of oil in post-Soviet Kazakhstan: the case of the Atyrau region.
Kyle Rearick
Activism in transition: exploring the impact of donor support on the Kyrgyz youth movement.
DAY II: 11 November 2006
09.00 - 11.00 Parallel sessions 4A and 4B
Session 4A:
The practice and politics of research of research in Central Asia (Arts seminar room 4)
Paul D. Wordsworth
Discovering the perception of archaeology in Northern Afghanistan: challenges and considerations.
Claire Wilkinson
Positioning "security" and securing one's position: the researcher's role in investigating "security" in Kyrgyzstan.
Caleb Wall
Working in fields as fieldwork. Kahshar, participant observation and the Tamorka as ways to access indigenous knowledge in rural Uzbekistan.
Sultonbek Aksakalov
Challenges of field research: post-Soviet studies on Pamiris/Ismailis of Central Asia.
9:00-11:00 - Session 4B
Searching for political identity? Governance & state-policies in the Caucasus (Arts seminar room 7)
Donatas Vainalavicius
The geopolitical sketch of the South Caucasus States.
Murad Ismayilov
Searching for a new political identity for the South Caucasus.
Jeremy Tash
East and/or West? Azerbaijan's position at the crossroads.
11.00 - 11.30 Coffee
11.30 - 13.30 Session 5
Between "tradition" and "modernity" - the question of religion and identity in post-soviet Central Asia (Arts seminar room 4)
Konstantin S. Vasiltsov
Ismailis of Badakhshan: making a new nationality?
Eloisa Concettti
Sufism and popular Islam in Xinjiang: the struggle for the preservation of the tradition and its transmission.
Stefan Kirmse
Central Asian youth in a globalising world: the students of Osh between different cultural messages.
Nikolay S. Terletsky
Shrine pilgrimage and the pre-Islamic traditions in modern Central Asia.
13.30 - 14.30 Lunch
14.30 - 16.00 Session 6 (part 1)
International policies and the question of "traditional" and "non-traditional threats" (Arts seminar room 4)
Oybek Makhmudov
Geopolitical factors of non-traditional threats impacts on Central Asia.
Bek-Myrza Tokotegin
A comparative analysis of Russian & American approaches to Central Asian security in the context of the Eurasian geopolitical mainland (post 9/11 era).
David Garcia
The Caucasus and Central Asia in the Greater Middle East and US strategic policy: an assessment.
16.00 - 16.15 Coffee
16.15- 17.45 Session 6 (part II)
International policies and the question of "traditional" and "non-traditional threats" (Arts seminar room 4)
Natividad Fernandez
The EU policy towards the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Gracia Abad
Energy security, Chinese nationalism and PRC's interests in Central Asia.
Alberto Priego
The Russian security policy in Central Asia: between cooperation and national interest.
18.00- 19.00 Plenary and close (Arts seminar room 4)
[sursa Azerbaijani_Studies]
