scholarly journals The European Handbook of Central Asian Studies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen Van Den Bosch

This handbook is the first collection of comprehensive teaching materials for teachers and students of Central Asian Studies (CAS) with a strong pedagogic dimension. It presents 22 chapters, clustered around five themes, with contributions from more than 19 scholars, all leading experts in the field of CAS and Eurasian Studies. This collection is not only a reference work for scholars branching out to different disciplines of CAS but also for scholars from other disciplines broadening their scope to CAS. It addresses post-colonial frameworks and also untangles topics from their ‘Soviet’ reference frame. It aims to de-exoticize the region and draws parallels to European or to historically European-occupied territories. In each chapter, the handbook provides a concise but nuanced overview of the topics covered, in which way these have been approached by the mainstream literature, and points out pitfalls, myths, and new insights, providing background knowledge about Central Asia to readers and intertwine this with an advanced level of insight to leave the readers equipped with a strong foundation to approach more specialized sources either in classroom settings or by self-study. In addition, the book offers a comprehensive glossary, list of used abbreviations, overview of intended learning outcomes, and a smart index (distinguishing between names, locations, concepts, and events). A list of recorded lectures to be found on YouTube will accompany the handbook either as instruction materials for teachers or visual aids for students. Since the authors themselves recorded the lectures related to their own chapters, this provides the opportunity to engage in a more personalized way with the authors. This project is being developed in the framework of the EISCAS project (www.eiscas.eu), co-funded by the Erasmus + Program of the European Union.

Author(s):  
Richard Pomfret

This book analyzes the Central Asian economies of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, from their buffeting by the commodity boom of the early 2000s to its collapse in 2014. The book examines the countries' relations with external powers and the possibilities for development offered by infrastructure projects as well as rail links between China and Europe. The transition of these nations from centrally planned to market-based economic systems was essentially complete by the early 2000s, when the region experienced a massive increase in world prices for energy and mineral exports. This raised incomes in the main oil and gas exporters, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan; brought more benefits to the most populous country, Uzbekistan; and left the poorest countries, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, dependent on remittances from migrant workers in oil-rich Russia and Kazakhstan. The book considers the enhanced role of the Central Asian nations in the global economy and their varied ties to China, the European Union, Russia, and the United States. With improved infrastructure and connectivity between China and Europe (reflected in regular rail freight services since 2011 and China's announcement of its Belt and Road Initiative in 2013), relaxation of UN sanctions against Iran in 2016, and the change in Uzbekistan's presidency in late 2016, a window of opportunity appears to have opened for Central Asian countries to achieve more sustainable economic futures.


2020 ◽  
pp. 72-79
Author(s):  
S. Gavrilova

For several decades, the European Union has been steadily increasing its presence in Central Asian countries. The EU's interests in the region are due to a number of reasons, including the desire to expand its influence in the Central Asian countries, the high importance of the region as a transit corridor between Europe and China, the prospects for economic cooperation, and the importance of the region's energy potential. In May 2019 The European Union has presented a new Strategy for Central Asia, designed to intensify cooperation in a number of areas of interaction. The new strategy is aimed at both implementing these interests and expanding cooperation in a number of other areas.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147490412110233
Author(s):  
Kostas Dimopoulos ◽  
Christos Koutsampelas ◽  
Anna Tsatsaroni

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments worldwide to produce solutions to the abruptly interrupted work in education. School systems appear to have responded rapidly, creating home schooling and online educational environments, where teachers and students would interact with safety. In this paper, we attempt a synthesis of Sen’s capability approach, Bourdieu’s theory of capital and Bernstein’s framework in order to theorize the relationships between home and school conditions and practices, and to analyse the data of the 2nd Survey of Schools: ICT in Education (a survey conducted in 2019 on behalf of the European Commission collecting data regarding digitalization in education and digital technologies in learning in the European Union). The survey is complemented by a second set of indicators provided by Eurostat to further investigate the availability and functionality of household space per family in selected European countries. We find significant differences in important social and environmental conversion factors, likely limiting children’s capability to benefit from digital schooling. The most important differences are found in regard to parents’ familiarity with information and communications technology use, while inequalities in environmental factors, such as overcrowded housing, are also existent. Overall, there are large inequalities within and between countries in Europe, which need to be addressed by policymakers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 191 ◽  
pp. 402-442

Economics, trade and finance — Food imports — Import of foodstuffs originating from East Jerusalem, West Bank and Golan Heights into the European Union — Labelling of products — Whether products originating from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories must be labelled as such — Observance of international law — Whether foodstuffs coming from settlements established in breach of rules of international humanitarian law — Ethical considerations — Purchasing decisions of consumers — Misleading of consumers Relationship of international law and municipal law — European Union law — Treaty on European Union, 1992 — Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, 2007 — EU Customs Code — Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 — Consistent interpretation of EU law — Interpreting Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 in manner consistent with international law — Notions of “State”, “territory” and “place of provenance” — Referral of questions by national court to Court of Justice of European Union Territory — Status — Occupation — Occupied Territories in which State of Israel Occupying Power — East Jerusalem, West Bank and Golan Heights — Rules of international humanitarian law — Israel having limited jurisdiction — Israeli settlements in Occupied Territories — Palestinian people of West Bank enjoying right to self-determination — Golan Heights part of territory of Syrian Arab Republic — Import of foodstuffs into European Union — Labelling of products — Whether products originating from Israeli settlements in Occupied Territories must be labelled as such — Observance of international law — Whether foodstuffs coming from settlements established in breach of rules of international humanitarian law — Ethical considerations — Purchasing decisions of consumers — Misleading of consumers War and armed conflict — International humanitarian law — Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 1949 — Article 49 — Obligation of States not to “deport or transfer part of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” — Impact on labelling of products originating in Occupied Territories — Status of East Jerusalem, West Bank and Golan Heights as Occupied Territories — Whether products originating from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories must be labelled as such — The law of the European Union


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-30
Author(s):  
А.А. Zhalgassova ◽  
◽  
L.E. Koishigulova ◽  
G.G. Zhubangalieva ◽  
◽  
...  

The philosophy of education is formed on the basis of globalization processes that determine the development of the world community. Continuing education, taking into account all the objective changes in the educational sphere and the achievements of various sciences in understanding the role of man in his life, is an important condition for effective activity in this community. This article discusses the relevance of using andragogical approaches and principles in the system of continuing education. This is due to new requirements for the system of training and retraining of personnel in modern conditions, when the goals and practice of education are outstripping in nature, focused on the training of highly qualified specialists. Andragogical principles determine the organization of the learning process of teachers and students in the continuing education system (principles of the priority of self-study of students; the student’s joint activities with the teacher in organizing the process of their learning; reliance on the experience of the student, used as one of the sources of training; individualization of instruction; systematic training; contextual learning; updating learning outcomes; learning electives; development of educational needs of students; mindfulness learning). The use of andragogical approaches and principles in the system of continuing education in the future involves the development and implementation of the andragogical model, the use of modern educational technologies, and the training of andragogical specialists.


Asian Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 347-359
Author(s):  
Vladimir I. Ionesov

The focus of this discussion is a recent book on the Bronze Age Proto-Bactrian culture of Southern Uzbekistan. I dare say that there are some books that inspire us to study monuments, and there are some monuments that inspire us to write books. But there are some books that become scientific monuments themselves in documenting the archaeological artefacts in the form of texts, messages, and narratives. Among such academic works is the monograph Buston VI – the Necropolis of Fire-worshippers of Pre-urban Bactria (Samarkand: IICAS, 2016. – 634 pp. ISBN 978-9943-357-36-5), recently published by the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS).


2006 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
József BöRöcz

Reflecting on European colonialism in 1950—at a time when discussions about what we now know as the European Union emerged in western Europe—Aimé Césaire wrote, “… Europe is morally, spiritually indefensible.”2 This idea is fairly commonplace in much of the post-colonial world and it has some purchase within certain academic and intellectual circles elsewhere. And yet, in the process of denouncing the widely noted3 presence of racism in Hungary, thirty-six leading Hungarian intellectuals have, in a recent public document, felt compelled to thank France, and through France, a generic, trans-historical notion of “Europe,” for what they saw as the latter's profound, longue-durée goodness.


Author(s):  
JOHN BOARDMAN

This chapter discusses the interest of the west in the history of Central Asia. It explains that central Asia has been studied by many western scholars and explorers, including British archaeologist Aurel Stein and traveller Sir John de Maundeville. Central Asia figured prominently in the days of political concerns about the safety of British India in the nineteenth century and this generated the interest of scholars. Today, the boom in Central Asian studies is further encouraged by the presence in Britain of those who have worked in this field and the source of many new publications on both prehistoric and historic periods.


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