Feminism is not adequately perceived in Central Asian societies, writes Lolisanam Ulugova in the online magazine ‘The Voices on Central Asia’. Some consider it as a threat to the existing traditions of the patriarchal foundation, when a woman (responsible for too many things in the family) can get out of control, damaging the nation in its demographic development. Some believe …

Agricultural village in Badakhshan, Afghanistan. Photo by Christopher Wilton-Steer/UCA Herald Report In Pamir mountains of High Asia region with limited agricultural lands, rugged topography, and large gradients, the preservation of agrobiodiversity and an appreciation of traditional knowledge about food systems are essential ingredients of a sustainable future. Hence the University of Central Asia’s Mountain Societies Research Institute (MSRI) has begun …

Witness Zaya’s flying snow leopard cub in action and learn about the challenges that Zaya’s landscape faces.   BY MARISSA NIRANJAN, JUSTINE SHANTI ALEXANDER AND LIZ DANIEL   Zaya is a female snow leopard that our team is studying in the Zoolon Mountains of Mongolia’s Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park. She is among 13-16 snow leopards identified across these mountains …

  Police in Kyrgyzstan’s northeastern Naryn province are preparing charges against a man infected with the coronavirus who refused to self-quarantine and as a result, is believed to have spread the virus to at least three other people. The man had returned from Pakistan where he attended a “da’wah”, which is a feature of the controversial Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat. …

Herald Report In 2012, a team of archaeologists discovered ancient artifects on the Naryn campus of the University of Central Asia (UCA), says a report published in the newsletter of the university recently. The University mission to help the people of Central Asia preserve and draw upon their rich cultural traditions and heritages as assets for the future came to …

In his book, Nomads and Soviet Rule: Central Asia under Lenin and Stalin (I.B. Tauris, 2018), Alun Thomas examines the experiences of Kazakh and Kyrgyz nomads in the NEP (New Economic Policy) period and demonstrates the Soviet state’s treatment of nomads to be far complex and pragmatic. He shows how Soviet policy was informed by both an anti-colonial spirit and …

Cambridge Trust and the University of Central Asia signed an agreement extending their partnership to develop faculty across Central Asia for a further three years.   High Asia Herald Report   The head of the Cambridge University has underscored the importance of freedom of enquiry on campuses. “The spirit of free enquiry that underpins higher education does not flourish behind …

The four brothers at the heart of the Abdukadyr family business. Photo OCCRP. Tycoon at the centre of the Kyrgyz corruption scandal poured millions into EU, US real estate, reveals a report by a consortium of investigative journalists. Herald Report A Central Asian cargo tycoon at the centre of controversy in Kyrgyzstan over massive sums spirited out of the country …

Herald Report Soviet architecture in Central Asia, as the name tells, is a fusion of Soviet modernity with traditional Central Asian culture that remains remarkable to this day, writes Xeniya Mironova, in Voice on Central Asia website. Persian and Islamic motifs can be still found among Soviet buildings in Dushanbe, Tashkent, Almaty, and Bishkek. But these buildings are becoming exceedingly …

Border dynamics, natural resources, and mobility in Central Asia