Public Event – Spotlight on civic activism in Central Asia

With the recent protests in Kazakhstan Central Asia has gained more attention by the international community. In the framework of IEP’s Eurasia Lab and Fellowship Program, we would like to shed light on social and political developments in Central Asia: How has civic activism in Kazakhstan evolved since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic? What impact had the pandemic on gender-based violence in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan? And how do activists in Turkmenistan succeed to pursue their (online) activism?

You are kindly invited to discuss these and other questions with our fellows of the Eurasia Lab & Fellowship Programme. The three teams will present the findings of their research which they conducted between September and December 2021. Three international experts will comment upon and contextualise the research findings.

Please register using the form below. The event will be held in English. It will be moderated by Laura Worsch, Project Manager at the IEP. Introductory remarks will be given by Dr Funda Tekin, one of the two directors of the IEP, and Anton Artemyev, Acting Regional Director, Eurasia Program, Open Society Foundations, Berlin.

The Eurasia Lab & Fellowship Program is supported by the Open Society Foundations (OSF) and gives outstanding junior researchers from Central Asia, the Southern Caucasus and Eastern Europe the opportunity to receive a scholarship to advance their research projects. The researchers are integrated into IEP’s enlarged network of researchers, practitioners and activists working on Eurasia.

Programme

"The impact of COVID-19 on civic activism in Kazakhstan"

Fellows: Viktoriya Nem, Anna Klimchenko and Kamila Smagulova

Discussant: Dr. Vera Axyonova, Marie Curie REWIRE Fellow, Political Communication Research Group, University of Vienna

"The COVID-19 pandemic and gender-based violence in Central Asia"

Fellows: Svetlana Dzardanova, Niginakhon Uralova

Discussant: Nozima Davletova, University of World Economy and Diplomacy (UWED)

"Digital Civic Activism in Politically Restricted Space and its Democratization Potential: a case study on Turkmenistan"

Fellow: Rustam Muhamedov

Discussant: Prof. Dr. Charles Sullivan, Department of Political Science & International Relations, Nazarbayev University

Registration