Hochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung Eberswalde
•••
Menü

CASNiG – Central Asian Studies Network in Germany


Beyond post-Soviet:

Path dependencies and new trajectories of change in Central Asia

2nd annual workshop of CASNiG – Central Asian Studies Network in Germany

Web-Conference March 4-5, 2021 – University for Sustainable Development Eberswalde


To register as a participant, please send an email to: casnig2021@hnee.de

Organized by: Prof. Martin Welp, Dr. Michael Spies and Dr. Henryk Alff
(HNEE / Centre for Econics & Ecosystem Management)


Almost three decades after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, legacies of the Soviet past are still a dominant research theme on Central Asia. By going beyond the post-Soviet category, the second CASNiG (Central Asian Studies Network in Germany) workshop aims to critically re-evaluate the role of path dependencies vis-à-vis new actors and processes in shaping current societal (including social-ecological) developments in the region. Among others, Central Asia has become subject to new geopolitical interests, encounters increasing global interdependencies of socioeconomic development, and is confronted with high vulnerabilities in the context of new long- and short-term crises such as climate change and global pandemics. We define Central Asia as comprising regions and (trans-) localities in the centre of the Asian continent (including NW China and Mongolia) that are shaped by close historical, socio-political and cultural interconnections.


March 4, 9:15–14:45 CET


09:15–11:00


Welcome

09:45–11:00

Session 1
Discourses and memories


Botagoz Shapirova ­& Jenniver Sehring IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Netherlands:

United by the past or divided by the present? The role of epistemic communities in the Aral Sea Basin


Kateřina Zäch – University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland:

Memories that reckon with Soviet life and water in the post-Soviet period in rural Kyrgyzstan



11:15–12:30

Discussant: Anna-Katharina Hornidge – German Development Institute (DIE), Bonn, Germany

Session 2
Migration and social relations


Nodira Kholmatova European University Institute (EUI), Florence, Italy:

Sustaining work-life balance? Family Migration and Informality among Migrants from Tajikistan in Russia


Zarina Mukanova – University of Zurich, Switzerland:

Parallel universe of oralman-qandas of the southeastern Kazakhstan



Rune Steenberg Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic:

Forced passports, Malaysian and Syrian connections and conspiracies in Uyghur migration to Turkey 2013-2017


Discussant: Verena La Mela – University of Zurich, Switzerland


12:30–13:30

Break


13:30–14:45

Session 3
Conflict and cooperation in natural resource use


Gulzat Baialieva Tuebingen University, Germany:

“Silicon valley”: environmentalism of the poor in Kyrgyzstan


Siegmund Missal & Martin Welp Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Germany:

How to overcome path-dependent use structures of riparian forest in Kyrgyzstan?


Ottavia Cima University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg:

Imagining the future, producing the past. Moral repertoires for cooperation in rural Kyrgyzstan


Discussant: Christine Bichsel – University of Fribourg, Switzerland



March 5, 09:15–15:45 CET


09:15–11:00
(incl. 5 min break)

Session 4
Economic pathways

Markus Sattler – Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig, Germany:

Analyzing the world-making practices of innovative companies in Central Asia using Global Value Chain analysis?

Andrei Dörre – Free University of Berlin, Germany:

Special Economic Zones in the Periphery. Guarantee of Success for Rural Development?


Rano Turaeva – Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and Ludwig Maximillian University:

Economic trajectories in Central Asia: debt relations


Tabea Rohner – University of Zurich, Switzerland:

Beyond decline: the monotown in capitalism after socialism




11:15–12:30


Discussant: Martin Petrick – University of Giessen, Germany


Session 5
Urban life


Sharleena Goerlitz – University of Bonn, Germany:

The Land of Grey Sky: Sustainable Development Strategies in Ulaanbaatar


Paulina Simkin – University of Augsburg, Germany:

"The world drinks coffee – why shouldn't we!?" A study about consumption patterns in Bishkek


Wladimir Sgibnev – Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig, Germany:

Towards a Central Asian public transport renaissance?


Discussant: Ines Stolpe – University of Bonn, Germany


12:30–12:45


Final remarks and closing of formal workshop part

12:45–13:45

Break

13:45–15:30

CASNiG meeting on network building activities



CASNiG – Central Asian Studies Network in Germany

Founded in February 2020 at a first meeting at Augsburg University, the main aim of CASNiG is to bring together
Central Asia researchers to exchange ideas, concepts and findings and to promote collaboration, mutual support
and solidarity. The CASNiG network aims to establish a regularised and systematic exchange between researchers
and scholars at any stage of their academic career who research on and have an interest in societal relevant topics
in Central Asia. CASNiG is based in German-speaking countries and primarily addresses academia. Still, we warmly
welcome members based in other countries (especially Central Asia) and practitioners or civil society members
working in/on Central Asia.