The Central Eurasian Studies Society held its 7th Summer Conference in June 2022 at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The conference was organized jointly with the European Society for Central Asian Studies (ESCAS).

Since 2008, the Central Eurasian Studies Society held a number of Summer Conferences in the Central Eurasian region, and the 2022 Tashkent conference was long-planned and much delayed. The multifaceted professional gathering brought together over 300 participants from universities worldwide as well as independent authors and scholars to share their research on all aspects of humanities and social science scholarship pertaining to the region. Panel discussions covered topics such as Activism in Central Asia, New Directions in Central Asian Archeology, Colonial Narratives and the Soviet Past, as well as topics in Political Economy, Education, Gender, History and others. View the program.

Keynotes were delivered by Dilnoza Duturaeva, a Research Fellow at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris and the National Center of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan and Senator Sodyq Safoev, the First Deputy Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

“This was a history-making conference for CESS and Uzbekistan,” said Dr. Jennifer Murtazashvili, CESS President and Founding Director of the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh, “This was the first time such a large-scale academic conference based on global academic norms had been held in post-independence Uzbekistan. The conference represented a new era in the history of that country. It was wonderful to see so many scholars from around the region who had not been to Tashkent make new connections. It was also inspiring to see so many scholars from Uzbekistan participate in this kind of conference for the first time.”

All issues aside, the atmosphere at the conference was cordial and the gathering offered plenty of opportunity for dialog, discussion and developing new ideas. CESS is now getting ready to hold its second in-person conference this year, it is scheduled for October.