While Central Eurasia, by definition, lies at the heart of the Eurasian continent, it tends to be treated as a periphery, as a region at the edge of overlapping cultural spaces such as the post-Soviet, Turkic, or Muslim worlds. It tends to be exoticised and perceived as an era of transit and transition, an object of great power politics (the ‘Great Game’), a religious and ethnic powder-keg, and a playground for eccentric autocrats and their kin. It is commonly framed in terms of its distant and recent pasts (being examined predominantly as ‘post-Soviet’, ‘post-socialist’, or as part of the ancient and modern Silk Roads), while elements of culture – Islam, clan networks etc. – are frequently foregrounded in the analysis...

The lecture series planned for the autumn of 2019 and spring of 2020 will bring doctoral and postdoctoral scholars working on Central Eurasia to ZMO and allow them to present their research in the context of the centre’s unfolding discussions of translocality, with which they are asked to engage in preparation.