What does it mean, to produce knowledge about a region? 

What does it mean, to produce knowledge about a region? Who is generating this knowledge, where, and to what ends? What are the implications and the effects of these practices?

The Fribourg 2022 conference, in collaboration with the Central Asian Studies Network in Germany (CASNiG), aims to inquire into the forms of knowledge being produced in and about Central Asia. By bringing together a broad range of disciplines and expertises, we strive to adequately reflect the field’s growing richness and heterogeneity, and to carry on the fruitful conversations initiated by similar recent endeavours. The conference will prioritise “decolonising” the field – giving space to Central Asian voices, and promoting critical reflections on the positionalities, practices and interactions of scholars and experts working in/on the region (Haraway, 1988).

The goal is to collaboratively and critically assess claims to scientific authority – from the natural sciences, to the humanities, and the spaces in-between (De La Croix et al., 2021; Lave et al., 2014; Kassymbekova and Chokobaeva, 2021). Understanding their theoretical assumptions and historical backgrounds helps attune scholars to the power imbalances they reflect and perpetuate – in academic conferences and publications, as much as in field expeditions.

The problem of unequal access to this knowledge production is increasingly evident, and rightly problematized (Sultanalieva, 2019; Tlostanova, 2015). Therefore, how do we foster transnational communities, spaces and institutions where local actors’ ideas and ambitions take precedence, and are adequately heard?

After over 30 years of Central Asian independence, and with the growth of a lively and diverse research community, now more than ever is “a time to host spirited debates and explore experimental approaches, new theories, and topics.” (Marat, 2021)

Programme 

Day 1 – Thursday 25 August

Session 1 – Ethics and positionality: Questions and new directions in the social sciences
Session 2 – In Focus: Kazakhstan in the global system
Session 3 – Complex legacies: Central Asian geographies

Day 2 – Friday 26 August

Session 4 – Environmental knowledge production: fieldwork practices and epistemologies
Session 5 – Environmental legacies, adaptations, and agency

Workshop
I: Ethics and positionality
II: Methodology and outreach

Practical information

Given continuing travel uncertainties, a hybrid format will be arranged to accommodate participants who cannot attend in person.

The organizers will strive to secure (limited) travel grants and accommodation support.

The working language of the conference will be English. The organizers aim to produce a peer-reviewed special issue from this conference.

The call for full draft conference papers is still open until May 30th, 2022, at the latest. Find out more here. 

Contact

The conference is organized by Christine Bichsel (Professor, Human Geography), Esther Blokbergen,
and Kateřina Zäch (PhD Students) of the University of Fribourg (CH), in collaboration with the CASNiG
(Central Asian Studies Network in Germany).

References 

De La Croix, J. F., Arzhantseva, I., Da?yeli, J., Dubuisson, E.?M., Härke, H., Penati, B., Ueda, A., & Wooden, A. (2021). Roundtable studying the Anthropocene in Central Asia: the challenge of sources and scales in human–environment relations. Central Asian Survey, 1–24.

Haraway, D. (1988). Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies 14, no. 3 (Fall 1988), 575-599.

Kassymbekova, B., & Chokobaeva, A. (2021). On writing Soviet History of Central Asia: frameworks, challenges, prospects. Central Asian Survey, 40(4), 483–503.

Lave, R., Wilson, M. W., Barron, E. S., Biermann, C., Carey, M. A., Duvall, C. S., Johnson, L., Lane, K. M., McClintock, N., Munroe, D., Pain, R., Proctor, J., Rhoads, B. L., Robertson, M. M., Rossi, J., Sayre, N. F., Simon, G., Tadaki, M., & van Dyke, C. (2014). Intervention: Critical physical geography. The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe Canadien, 58(1), 1-10.

Marat, E. (2021) Introduction: 30 years of Central Asian studies – the best is yet to come, Central Asian Survey, 40:4 (Special Issue: Central Asian studies: 30 years since independence), 477-482.

Sultanalieva, S. (2019) How does it feel to be studied? A Central Asian perspective. Open Democracy. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/how-does-it-feel-be-studied-central-asianperspective/

Tlostanova, M. (2015). Can the post-Soviet think? On coloniality of knowledge, external imperial and double colonial difference. Intersections, 1(2), 38-58.

Cover image by Oziel Gómez.