Central Asian studies
Encyclopedia
Central Asian studies is the discipline of studying the culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, and languages of Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

. The roots of Central Asian studies as a social science discipline goes to 19th century Anglo-Russian Great Game. During 19th century, Central Asia became a subject of systematical information collection and organization thanks to the numerous travels made by British and Russian agents, soldiers, scholars into the region. The British Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...

 and Russian Royal Geographical Society published dozens even hundreds of travel books on the region.

Contemporary Central Asian studies have been developed by pioneers such as Denis Sinor
Denis Sinor
Denis Sinor was a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Central Asian Studies at the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University and a tenured lecturer at Cambridge University between 1948 and 1962, and was one of the world's leading scholars for the history of Central Asia. Sinor...

, Alexandre Bennigsen
Alexandre Bennigsen
Alexandre Bennigsen was a scholar of Islam in the Soviet Union.Bennigsen was born in St Petersburg in 1913...

, Edward Allworth
Edward A. Allworth
Edward A. Allworth is an American historian who is Emeritus Professor of Turco-Soviet Studies at Columbia University. -Life:...

 and Yuri Bregel
Yuri Bregel
Yuri Bregel is a prominent academic in the field of Central Asian studies. He is one of the world's leading historians of Islamic Central Asia, and has published a number of import works on the subject.-Biography:...

 among others. Several American research universities have programs on Central Asia. The Department of Central Eurasian Studies
Department of Central Eurasian Studies (Indiana University)
The Department of Central Eurasian Studies, often abbreviated as CEUS, is a specialized academic department in the College of Arts and Sciences at the Bloomington campus of Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana. Since its original formation in 1943 as a language-training program for the U.S...

 at Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

 has been the leading research and teaching program. Many scholars involved in Central Asia studies belong to the Central Eurasian Studies Society
Central Eurasian Studies Society
The Central Eurasian Studies Society is a North American-based society for scholars concerned with the Central Eurasian region. The society seeks to "promote high standards of research and teaching, and to foster communication among scholars through meetings and publications", and to "facilitate...

.

Travelogues of Central Asia

One of the oldest sources for Central Asia are the memoirs of travelers who passed through Central Asia. Some of the earliest extant examples are were left by Arab geographers who passed through the region. In the 19th centuries numerous Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an and American published their travelogues of Central Asia. This includes American journalist Anna Louise Strong
Anna Louise Strong
Anna Louise Strong was a twentieth-century American journalist and activist, best known for her reporting on and support for communist movements in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.-Early years:...

 who passed through Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the 1920s.

List of Central Asian studies journals

  • Central Asia Monitor
    Central Asia Monitor
    Central Asia Monitor was in publication from 1992 to 2002. The journal focused on historical and current events in the five former Soviet Republics of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Its founder and editor-in-chief was Valery Chalidze. Its primary...

    , was in publication from 1992 to 2002. Its editor-in-chief was Valery Chalidze
    Valery Chalidze
    Valery Chalidze is a Georgian-American author, publisher, and the former Soviet dissident and human rights activist.Chalidze was born in Moscow...

     and the primary editor was David Nalle
    David Nalle
    David Nalle is a retired American diplomat, writer and lecturer and the former editor of Central Asia Monitor.Born in Philadelphia, his study of Engineering at Princeton University was interrupted by World War II where he served as a Naval Aviator. He returned to complete a degree in English...

    .

  • Central Asian Review
    Central Asian Review
    Central Asian Review was a journal of Central Asian Studies published from 1953 to 1968. The journal’s full title was Central Asian Review: A Quarterly Review of Current Developments in Soviet Central Asia and Kazakhstan and was published quarterly by the Central Asian Research Centre in...

    , was published from 1953-1968 through the Central Asian Research Centre in association with St. Antony's College, Oxford University. The editor was Geoffrey Wheeler
    Geoffrey Wheeler
    Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Edleston Wheeler CIE was a British soldier and an historian of Central Asia.- Life :...

    . In 1968 Wheeler left the Central Asian Research Center and the following year “Central Asian Review” was incorporated into the journal Mizan, published by the center from 1965-1971.

  • Central Asian Survey
    Central Asian Survey
    Central Asian Survey is an academic journal first published in 1982 concerning Caucasus and Central Asian studies. It is currently published by Taylor & Francis, and has four issues a year....

    , began publication in 1982 out of the United Kingdom and continues to publish to this day.

  • Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society
    Asian Affairs
    Asian Affairs, the journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, has been published continuously since 1914 . It covers a range of social, political, and historical subjects linked to Asia. It also is a major source of book reviews...

    , began publication in 1914 as the Journal of the Central Asian Society. From 1931 to 1969 was published under the title of the Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society. In 1969 the title was changed to Asian Affairs and the focus of the contents shifted from Central Asia to South Asia and East Asia.
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