The Zhelezka Project: On the Tracks through Central Asia

Central Asian Scholarly Space; Social Innovations Lab Kyrgyzstan, American University of Central Asia; Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography; Volkswagen Foundation Central Asia/South Caucasus programme Invite scholars, practitioners and artists to join The Zhelezka Project: On the Tracks through Central Asia Experimental Mobile Summer School August 18 – September 3, 2023 The Experimental Mobile School aims at generating a unique space for young researchers’ networking and developing conceptual and methodological approaches. In the course of a two-weeks railway journey through Central Asia, they will be applying and enhancing novel, mobile methodologies for creating new knowledge about lesser-explored and multicultural places, exploring transport infrastructures, mobility regimes and lives of communities along railways. Interaction, methodological and theoretical experiments, collaborative and creative research formats aim at establishing a new strong scholarly community in the region, with its own academic voice that is willing to contribute to elaborating mobile and decolonial methodologies and epistemologies of studying Central Asia. A group of twenty researchers, practitioners and artists will travel by train from Astana, through Almaty, Shymkent, Tashkent, Nukus, Bukhara/Kagan, Andijan, Osh and, finally, to Bishkek. During two weeks on mostly Soviet-era trains on the rails commonly known as ‘zhelezka’, the group will focus on exploring life on and off the railroad by unraveling specific travel and mobility practices, documenting urban and rural landscapes, collecting stories of strangers, local communities and railroad workers in three countries of post-Soviet Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan. Some of the activities will include: lectures, workshops, meetings and excursions in cities on the way, collaborative projects, final workshop in Bishkek, documentation, and publication of findings. The project is supported by the Volkswagen Foundation and administered by the Social Innovations Lab Kyrgyzstan, American University of Central Asia and Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography. The project proposal was developed by a group of researchers from Central Asia: Zarina Adambussinova, Zarina Urmanbetova, Indira Alibayeva, Sofya Omarova-du Boulay, and Hikoyat Salimova. To apply, please, send the following info to silk@auca.kg by April 10: • First name, last name and title • Occupation, affiliation • Description of your interest in the Summer school (up to 300 words) • Description of activities you intend to conduct in the school (up to 500 words) • Place of departure to the school • CV All costs of travel and participation are covered. 📷 📷 22All reactions: