Central Asia Initiative News Archive

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.

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.

Podcasts

Prehistoric Civilizations Around the Silk Road: The Evidence from the Tocharian Languages

A Central Asia Initiative lecture by Melanie Malzahn, University of Vienna and Visiting Professor, UCLA Program in Indo-European Studies
Posted: 11/23/2009

Changing Religious Landscapes: Why Some Muslims Convert to Christianity-The Case of Central Asia

A Central Asia Initiative Lecture by Olivier Roy
Posted: 6/5/2009

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