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.

Yurt with cows grazing in the background

Song-Kol Lake, Kyrgyzstan

Isabelle DeSisto A.B./A.M. '20
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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.

Initiatives and Projects

Wind turbins in Kazakhstan prairie

Energy Transition in Central Asia

RETCA addresses energy security challenges and environmental problems in Central Asia by studying the governance and politics of the region’s green energy transition. 

Caspiana Logo

Caspiana

Caspiana: A Digital Toolbox for Students and Scholars of Central Asia and the South Caucasus is a resource to facilitate research on the countries east and west of the Caspian Sea. 

grassy plains and mountains

Central Asia and Caucasus Seminar

A series of public seminars on topics in the history, culture, and politics of the Central Asia region.

Apartments with satellite dishes atop and mountains in the background

Regions and China's Belt and Road Initiative

This seminar seeks to foster vibrant, comprehensive, and fruitful discussion on the ongoing transformations in geopolitics and governance triggered by the BRI. 

Sign in Uzbekistan that says, “Welcome, American friends!”

American Diplomats in Central Asia

The accounts of American diplomats who worked in the 1990s and first decade of 2000s shed light on this dramatic period of global history and reveal behind-the-scenes workings of international politics.

Black Sea Lab

Black Sea Lab

The Black Sea Lab is an exploratory collaboration across research initiatives at the Davis Center, consisting of a series of conversations to assess scholarly trends and new avenues of inquiry related to security challenges in the Black Sea region.

Related Insights

green pin marking Kazakhstan on globe

Quick Take: What War With Iran Means for Kazakhstan

Tehran has been a friendly partner for Central Asian countries since the 1990s, writes political scientist Nargis Kassenova. The new war in the Middle East has created threats for the wealthiest of them, Kazakhstan, including region-wide destabilization and disrupted trade with Gulf states.

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Swirls of color brighten the deep blue waters of the Black Sea

DeCode Brings the Black Sea to Your Doorstep

Explore this strange sea’s waters, lands, and the pipelines, artwork, and scholarship criss-crossing them—all in the Winter 2026 issue of our Imperiia Project’s digital magazine.

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Putin and Tokayev

Kazakhstan and Russia Post-2022: Sources of Contention, Points of Pressure

After 30 years of remarkable stability in bilateral ties, Russia has become the biggest and most important unknown variable in Kazakhstan’s foreseeable future, writes Nargis Kassenova, director of our Program on Central Asia.

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Related Events

White House visit by C5 Central Asian leaders, Thursday, November 6, 2025.
Upcoming Event

Building a Secure Nuclear Future: US-Central Asia Partnership

Join us as we discuss the history of U.S.-Central Asia cooperation in non-proliferation, assess the current state, and explore the prospects and obstacles ahead in the nuclear energy sector.

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Monument to Genghis Khan on Sukhbaatar Square, Ulaanbaatar.
Upcoming Event

Retrospective Bordering: Genghis Khan, Central Asia, and Soviet Historical Imagination

Join us for the talk examining Soviet historical novels about Genghis Khan by Vasily Yan and Aleksei Kalashnikov as a site of ideological struggle over the meaning of the Mongol conquest and its place in Central Asian history. 

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Flag of Kazakhstan over digital code
Past Event

Fragmenting the Digital Silk Road: Agency and Modularity in Kazakhstan’s Telecom Sector

A study of Kazakhstan’s telecom sector shows how China's seemingly unified strategy of building an alternative to U.S.-dominated internet infrastructure is appropriated by local actors and shaped by local forces.

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