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

The Davis Center’s Graduate Student Conference on Central Asia showcases vibrant scholars eager to share and collaborate with others who study the region.

Davis Center associate Vera Mironova, who has spent years studying militants from the ex-USSR, says that Russia’s war mobilization may have turned the concert hall outside Moscow into a relatively easy target.

Davis Center visiting scholar Rahat Sabyrbekov explores the region’s climate change challenges, spotlighting original work on decarbonization efforts in the region.

Related Events

Upcoming Event

The Black Sea Lab is an exploratory collaboration across the research initiatives at the Davis Center.

Past Event

Recent works on the political behavior and identity of Asian-Americans consistently omit Central and North Asians. A pioneering online survey carried out in 13 languages aims to fill this gap.

Past Event

The talk will discuss the durable impacts of Russia's attempted recolonization of Ukraine on Eurasia's economic and supply chain integration.