Program on Central Asia

The Program on Central Asia promotes research and teaching at Harvard on the history and current affairs of five Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

We support the study of the Central Asian region using tools and insights from various fields of social sciences and humanities. Our activities include research projects, seminar series, curriculum development and course offerings, creation of digital resources for the study of the region, facilitation of research by students and visiting scholars, and cultural events. 

While the program aims at generating and disseminating knowledge and resources on Central Asia spanning different periods of its history, our main focus is on the independence period and current developments. We approach Central Asia as a region that opened up as a result of the dissolution of the USSR. The states, economies, and people of Central Asia are now an integral part of the globalized world, and developments in the region cannot be properly understood without tracing and analyzing different forms of connectivity, influence, and interdependence.

Our Projects

Related Insights

A major conference, co-organized by the Davis Center, considers how to rethink and revise historical narratives for a region that has traditionally been viewed as a realm of inter-imperial competition.

With sweeping changes made to toponyms from 1991 to 2015, diplomats were “working in a country in which we did not know where things were,” retired U.S. Ambassador Allan Mustard writes for our Central Asia program.

Political scientist Nargis Kassenova, director of our Program on Central Asia, analyzes developments in the region's richest country for the Atlantic Council, outlining three scenarios for Kazakhstan's path forward.

Related Events

Upcoming Event

Join former U.S. Ambassador George Krol as he explores the past, present, and future of U.S. relations with the post-Soviet states of Central Asia.

Past Event

Join professor and former ambassador Bakhtiyor Islamov for first-hand insights on the evolution of Uzbek–Russian relations and the impact of China’s rise in Central Asia.

Past Event

Join Gulnur Makulbayeva and Aisulu Kulbayeva for a discussion about social capital and public participation, and their impact on rural governance in Kazakhstan.