ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN CENTRAL ASIA
In spite of the geographical distance, Central Asian countries remain in the ECMI’s focus due to their membership in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the resulting regional influence of soft law instruments concerning minority rights protection, regularly published by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.
The multi-ethnic demographic profile of the region, alongside identity building processes intensified by the collapse of the Soviet Union, and a complex geopolitical situation, have inspired several research angles which the Cluster tackles through scholarly activities: tensions between ethnic and civic concepts of national identity, underdevelopment of legislation negatively affecting legal position and access to rights of minorities, civic activism of minority communities in authoritarian/geopolitically challenged contexts.
Importantly, our scientific focus on the region is complemented by a robust cooperation with the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Its most visible aspect entails a program of internships, through which Academy’s students are able to work under the supervision of the ECMI researchers on topics involving minority issues in Central Asia.
Project activities
- Civil society and COVID-19 crisis management in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan
In 2020 and 2021 Aziz Berdiqulov, together with external colleagues Muslimbek Buriev and Sergey Marinin, implemented a research project “Civil society and COVID-19 crisis management in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan” funded by a special grant from the Eurasia Lab at the Institut für Europäische Politik. The project, among others, covered specific patterns of activism amongst the Pamiri community in Tajikistan, in response to the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. More information about this initiative and the final report can be accessed here.
Publications
- Berdiqulov, A. (2021). Mechanisms of national minority recognition in post-Soviet states. Cases of Kazakhstan, Lithuania, and Russia. In O. Pérez de la Fuente, M. Falcão, J. Daniel Oliva Martínez (eds.), Struggles for recognition. Cultural pluralism and right of minorities (pp. 87-106). Madrid: Dykinson, Colección Pluralismo y minorías.
- Bober, S. & Berdiqulov, A. (2021). Recognition, non-recognition, and misrecognition of minority communities. What lessons can be drawn from a comparison between European and Central Asian approaches?, ECMI Research Paper #124
- Bober, S. & Uralova, N. (2020). A silent response from Central Asia about human- and minority rights violations in Xinjiang, ECMI Minorites Blog
- Bober, S. & Berdiqulov, A. (Eds.). (2020). Ethnic issues in Central Asia (Special issue). Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, 19(1)
- Bober, S. (2020). Introduction: ethnic issues in Central Asia. Ethnic issues in Central Asia (Special issue). Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, 19(1), pp. 1-5.
- Berdiqulov, A. (2020). Book review: Uzbekistan’s new face, by S. Frederick Starr and Svante E. Cornell (eds). Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, 19(1), pp. 82-94.
- Bober, S., Berdiqulov, A. & Willis, C. (2018). The region of Central Asia: Introduction. Report on the ECMI Expert Workshop on Central Asia. ECMI Report No. 70.
- Berdiqulov, A. (2018). Minority communities in contemporary Tajikistan. An overview. ECMI Research Paper #108
- Prina, F. & Berdiqulov, A. (2018). Majorities and minorities in the Post-Soviet Space. ECMI Research Paper #105
Events
- The ECMI Public Lecture - The Bukharan Jews. 33 Years of Field Research by Professor Catherine Poujol (IFEAC), Europa-Universität Flensburg (Germany), 24 September 2018. Co-organized by Sergiusz Bober and Aziz Berdiqulov.
More information
- The ECMI Expert Workshop on Central Asia, Flensburg (Germany), 20 April 2018. Co-organized by Sergiusz Bober and Aziz Berdiqulov.
More information
- The 11th Annual ECMI Summer School on National Minorities in Border Regions – National Minorities and the New Digital Paradigm, Flensburg (Germany), 22-29 August 2021
Sergiusz Bober and Aziz Berdiqulov delivered lecture “Digital responses to the human rights crisis in Xinjiang. The efficiency of local, regional and global strategies of engagement”
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- The ECMI Expert Workshop - Social Movements and Minority Rights, Flensburg (Germany) / online, 20-21 May 2021
Sergiusz Bober & Aziz Berdiqulov presented “Human rights crisis in Xinjiang and civil society actors from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan: strategies of engagement and their efficiency”
Programme
- International webinar - Struggles for Recognition: Cultural Diversity and Rights of Minorities, Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain) / online, 18 July 2020
Aziz Berdiqulov presented “Mechanisms of national minority recognition in post-Soviet states. The cases of Kazakhstan, Lithuania, and Russia”
Programme
- The ECMI Expert Workshop - Minority Identity in the Digital Age, Flensburg (Germany), 12-13 December 2019
Sergiusz Bober presented “Documenting Uyghur/Xinjiang crisis with digital tools”
Programme
- International conference - Documenting, Assessing and Reporting the Uyghur Crisis, Université libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), 9-11 December 2019
Sergiusz Bober, Aziz Berdiqulov & Doriyush Soliev presented “Discursive responses to the Xinjiang crisis in Central Asia. A comparative analysis of Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uzbek cases.”
Programme
- The 16th Conference of the European Society for Central Asian Studies (ESCAS), University of Exeter (United Kingdom), 27-29 June 2019
Sergiusz Bober and Aziz Berdiqulov presented “Mechanisms of recognition of national minorities in Central Asia. A comparative study of cases from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.”
Programme
