States and Societies in Central Asia

Course content

The course is designed as an undergraduate level interdisciplinary introduction to the states and societies of the contemporary Central Asia. Fundamentally, the course aims to shed light on the post-Soviet developments in the region by a critical reading of the politics, economy, society and culture of Central Asia since Russian colonization. The organization of the course includes two parts. The first part aims to familiarize the student with socio-political and cultural transformations experienced by the people of Central Asia under the colonial rule of tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. Then the course proceeds to discuss major issue areas that have been taking shape in the post –Soviet Central Asia and dominating the scholarly debates in the field of Central Asian Studies. The course will consist of lectures, reading assignments, class discussions and film representations. No special knowledge of the region on the part of students is presumed.