Monday, September 15, 2008

CENTRAL ASIA/CAUCASUS WORKING GROUP, Fall Org. Meeting + Elmira Kochumkulova, Tues., Sept. 23

A distribution of: Central-Asia-Harvard-List. The Announcement List for
Central Eurasian Studies at Harvard University


CENTRAL ASIA & CAUCASUS WORKING GROUP, Fall Organizational Meeting, and
Elmira Kochumkulova on Kazakh and Kyrgyz Memorial Feasts, Tues., Sept. 23

Posted by: John Schoeberlein <centasia@fas.harvard.edu>

The first meeting this semester of the

Central Asia & Caucasus Working Group

will be held on:

Tuesday, September 23, 4:15-6:00 pm

in CGIS Room S-354 at 1730 Cambridge St., 3rd Floor,
Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies

All interested people are encouraged to join us.

During this meeting, we will also hear a presentation from a special
guest speaker:

Elmira Kochumkulova (University of Central Asia and
American University of Central Asia)

"The Kazakh and Kyrgyz Tradition of Offering a Memorial Feast (Ash, As)
within a Year of a Person's Death"


For those who are new to the Working Group...

The Working Group is, first and foremost, and opportunity for us to
get (and give) useful feedback on the projects-in-progress that we are
pursuing -- theses, course papers, articles, conference papers, etc.
The group is a stable, sympathetic group who are generally generous
with their comments.

In the organizational meeting, we will discuss the schedule for future
meetings, which will be on Tuesdays, alternating with the meetings of the
Central Asia and Caucasus Seminar (public seminar series).

We will begin with an introduction to the Working Group and then have
a introductions by participants and with a chance for all to introduce
themselves and mention their particular interests and projects.
Please come prepared to talk a bit about any project that you might be
considering for presentation this semester or this year.

If you need to be added to the Working Group e-mail mailing list
(i.e., if you don't get this message directly from me) or if you know
of someone who would be interested in receiving information about the
Working Group, just send me the name/e-mail address and I'll add it to
the list.

If you would potentially be interested in making a presentation to the
Working Group in the early part of the semester, please let me know as
soon as possible. Typical projects for presentation include thesis
chapters, term paper projects, and papers you are preparing for
conference presentation and/or publication. Note that the
presentation can be something rather "raw", though ideally you should
have a (draft) paper that can be distributed in advance of your
presentation.


More About the Working Group

Co-chairs: Laura Adams and John Schoeberlein

The Working Group on "Society, Politics and Culture in Central Asia
and the Caucasus" forum that meets roughly every other week for
discussion of projects on Central Asia. The Working Group is aimed at
providing a context for focused discussion on Central Asian and
Caucasus-related topics among Harvard graduate students, faculty, and
other interested scholars in the Cambridge and Boston area. Central
Asia, for these purposes, is understood to include the states of
Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, as
well as closely related areas: the Caucasus, the Volga Basin,
Southwestern Siberia, Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, etc.

Each meeting is devoted to a presentation of some work-in-progress (a
thesis prospectus, chapter, or paper) by one of the Working Group
participants, accompanied by helpful discussion by the group as a
whole. In most cases, a text is distributed in advance so that the
presentation of its content can be brief and we can devote our time to
feedback and discussion. Guest speakers are also sometimes invited.

The Working Group is an activity of the Harvard Program on Central
Asia and the Caucasus at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian
Studies. The group has been meeting since 1994.

Refreshments are served!

Please contact me with any questions or suggestions you might have.

I look forward to your participation!

John Schoeberlein


Dr. John Schoeberlein \ Director
Program on Central Asia and the Caucasus
Davis Center \ Harvard University
1730 Cambridge St., Room S-320 \ Cambridge, MA 02138 \ USA
tel.: +1/617-495-4338 program tel.: +1/617-496-2643 fax: +1/617-495-8319
schoeber@fas.harvard.edu
Central Asia Program website: http://centasia.fas.harvard.edu
<Central Eurasian Studies World Wide>: http://cesww.fas.harvard.edu
Central-Eurasia-L: http://cesww.fas.harvard.edu/CESWW_Central-Eurasia-L.html

_______________________________________________
Central-Asia-Harvard-List mailing list
Central-Asia-Harvard-List@lists.fas.harvard.edu
http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/central-asia-harvard-list

No comments: