In Spring 2022, Covid-19 receded enough that the University lifted its in-person mask requirement. Teaching normalized, although department-hosted talks continued to proceed online more frequently than in person.
This also meant that academic travel reopened, making possible the first CEUS faculty-led study abroad trip. CEUS’s Malik Hodjaev’s connections in Samarkand were instrumental for creating this 10-day trip to Uzbekistan for five IU students and one faculty assistant.
A short video, featuring students talking about their experiences in Uzbekistan, can be found on CEUS Undergraduate page–just scroll down.
Department Milestones
Department faculty, present students, and former students mourned the passing of Dr. György Kara, whose life and illustrious career as the world’s foremost philologist of Mongolic and other Central Eurasian languages ended on April 16, 2022. His legacy endures in his vast body of published research, and in the scholarship of the many students whom he trained. Visiting Assistant Professor Sam Bass and Prof. Chris Attwood (University of Pennsylvania), who are among the many scholars who constitute Dr. Kara’s living legacy, organized several memorial events, including a virtual meeting, for which some of the tributes can be found here. Panels in memory of Dr. Kara will take place at the upcoming joint Mongolia Society and Central Eurasian Studies Society conference, at IU on October 20-23.
Öner Özçelik survived his first year as CEUS chair, with numerous accomplishments. A small but significant accomplishment that will benefit CEUS grad students is Özçelik’s announcement of a new grant, funded from CEUS’s foundation accounts, in support of graduate research travel. His sabbatical year began on July 1, 2022. CEUS’s previous chair, Jamsheed Choksy, will serve as interim chair for the 2022-2023 academic year.
The CEUS faculty offer our congratulations on retirement to our colleague Professors Nazif Shahrani (CEUS, Anthropology, and Middle Eastern Studies), and on his status as Emeritus Professor. Throughout his long career at IU, Professor Shahrani supervised many graduate students whose research focused on Afghanistan or Central Asia and ethnography. His recent edited collection, Modern Afghanistan: the impact of 40 years of war (Indiana University Press 2018), offers readers a multi-faceted understanding of the dynamics shaping Afghan lives in twenty-first century. Prof. Shahrani’s final year of teaching at IU was one that brought new requests for his insights, following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan; retirement notwithstanding, his expertise will continue to be in demand.
Faculty News
Akram Habibulla (IU Libraries) presented “Muḥammad Pārsā’s (d. 1420) Library: History and Overview of the Collection” as an online lecture for the Institute of Iranian Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Michael Brose’s co-edited volume about Eastern European academic studies of China during the Cold War was published: Antonina Łuszczykiewicz and Michael C. Brose, eds. Sinology During the Cold War. London and New York: Routledge, 2022
Piibi-Kai Kivik presented “New connections for the Estonian language program” at the 28th Biennial AABS Conference “Baltic Studies at a Crossroads” in Seattle.
Eveline Washul and co-author Yumjyi published a chapter, “Amdo: Social Landscapes and Change,” in The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Highland Asia. London: Routledge, 2022.
Ann Pyburn (Anthropology) received the Presidential Award at the World Archaeological Congress, conferred during July 2022 meeting in Prague by president Koji Mitzoguchi and WAC-9 Board. This award is conferred every 4 years.
Jamsheed Choksy was elected as a Fellow by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Marianne Kamp and Niccolò Pianciola published a chapter,“Collectivisation, Sedentarisation, and Famine in Central Asia,” in Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia. London: Routledge 2022
CEUS students news
Jessica Storey-Nagy finished her doctorate in CEUS in summer 2022. Her dissertation title is “Sovereign Voices: Politics, Identity, and Meaning-Making in Contemporary Hungary.” She has taken a teaching position at Ft. Carson military base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as a Regional Expertise and Culture (REC) Instructor for the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), teaching courses on European politics and culture.
Dinara Abakirova graduated with an MA degree. Her thesis is entitled “Sovietness of Kyrgyz War Letters.”
Three CEUS undergraduate majors completed their BA degrees in Spring 2022: Nicholas Deem; Susruth Emmadi; and Chen Wu, who is starting an MA degree in Religious Studies at Harvard.
Alumni news
David Tyson spoke at CEUS (sponsored by IAUNRC) about his role in the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan, a story told by author Tony Harnden in First Casualty: the Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 911. Little, Brown 2021.
Allen Frank (1994) published a new monograph: Kazakh Muslims in the Red Army: 1939-1945. Brill’s Inner Asian Library 2022.
Chris Atwood (1994) published The Rise of the Mongols: Five Chinese Sources. Hackett Publishing 2021.
Zsuzsanna Gulácsi, along with two co-authors, published A Manichaean Prayer and Confession Book. Brepols 2022.
The editor would love to hear from alumni about recent book publishing.
Fundraising
Please consider making a donation of any size to CEUS. You can do so through the IU Foundation portal for CEUS: Make a Gift (myiu.org)
Include a message that can direct your donation to one of the Department priorities, such as supporting undergraduate scholarships and study abroad, or graduate scholarships and research funds, or for a specific area, such as the Elliott Sperling memorial fund for Tibetan Studies.
Comments and Contact
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Editor: Marianne Kamp, Associate Professor, CEUS
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