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Seeing Afghan history through Afghan eyes

Upcoming conference recognizes the 80th anniversary of the death of Fayz Muhammad Katib, the first major Hazara writer and historian, and the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Posted: 11/10/2011

Education Grad Student Reports from Outer Mongolia

Wagatsuma Fellowship Recipient Hugh Schuckman starts fieldwork on Peace Corps and Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers
Posted: 8/26/2011

Writing Travel at Asia's Crossroads

Departing from texts in Chinese, Persian, Urdu and other languages, scholars at an international conference, "The Roads to Oxiana," look at Central Asia in the ages of camel caravans and horsemen and of motor cars and airplanes. Audio podcasts of the conference presentations are now available.
Posted: 11/15/2010

10 Questions: Miriam Robbins Dexter on the Power of Female Display

Miriam Robbins Dexter, a lecturer in the Department of Women's Studies and expert on ancient heroines and goddesses, and a co-author have completed a cross-cultural study of stories and artifacts in which women lift their skirts and expose their genitals, a performance that drives away enemies and returns joy and fertility to the land.
Posted: 10/6/2010

Talk With the Taliban?

Two European-based anthropologists say that Afghans may be more inclined than some others to speak with enemies and to entertain views opposed to their own.
Posted: 12/10/2008

New Focus on Central Asia's Puzzles

Over the coming three years, the UCLA Asia Institute will continue to promote study of Central Asia, with the help of outside faculty and new funding from the International Institute. Last month on campus, international scholars engaged in a day-long discussion on the region's history, arts, and cultures.
Posted: 11/6/2008

Unsettled Deep in Asia

With a film screening and a panel discussion, the UCLA Asia Institute and partners launch a Central Asia Initiative. The goal is to understand societies and cultures long on the fringes of study. Anticipating a UCLA conference in October 2008, historians on the panel ask what changed on the steppes of Central Asia as states acquired the means to move and deport whole peoples, and as nomads increasingly stayed put.
Posted: 5/19/2008

Reports

Here are some reference materials from past activities of the inititative.

Crossing the Roof of the World: People and Geopolitics in Trans-Himalayan Trade

A Report on Program on Central Asia Conference held February 19, 2010 at UCLA

Central Asia Inititative: Mobility and Governability in Central Asia

Report on Conference held October 18, 2008 at UCLA.

David MacFadyen on "Little Angel, Make Me Happy"

In his introduction to Usman Saparov's film at the March 13, 2008 screening, David MacFadyen situates "Little Angel" in the context of the Soviet-era political climate and film culture of Turkmenistan in the 1970s to 1990s.

Working Papers

Rambling Reflections on the Mobility and Governability of Religious Phenomena and Systems in Inner Asia

Franoise Aubin, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Local Power and Transnational Resources: An Anthropological Perspective on Rural Rehabilitation in Afghanistan

A working paper by Alessandro Monsutti

Podcasts

The Lasting Legacy of the Great Game: ‘Pashtunistan’ Through Afghan Lenses

A talk by Amin Tarzi, Marine Corps University, Quantico. Part of the conference: Great Games? Afghan History through Afghan Eyes
Posted: 12/5/2011

Great Games? Afghan History through Afghan Eyes: Opening Remarks

An introduction by Nile Green, UCLA. Part of the conference: Great Games? Afghan History through Afghan Eyes
Posted: 11/22/2011

Podcast Archive