Central Asia: Global and Local Wisdom - 'Environmental and Cultural Impact on Indigenous Peoples of Central Asia'
Presenters:
Dr. Laura Popova, Arizona State University
Dr. Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko, University of Copenhagen
Moderator:
Dr. Nicholas DelSordi, Phoenix College
“Palimpsest Landscapes: Untangling the Legacies of Ürümqi, Panjakent, and Mes Aynak”
By Laura Popova
Spread across time and space, Ürümqi (Xinjiang, China), Panjakent (Tajikistan) and Mes Aynak (Afghanistan) are all colorful examples of the rich cultural diversity that characterized much of the history of the ancient silk roads. Though the people that lived in these spaces shifted, as did their religious preferences and political alliances, these places were important nodes [intersections] along the silk roads that embodied the mixing of cultures and beliefs. In the present moment, however, these sites have become contested liminal spaces that are both in danger and seen as dangerous. On the one hand, development interests in these regions, especially in terms of mining, pit conservation efforts against the economic development of the country. Violence and poverty in these areas often overshadow the desire for cultural preservation, making looting a serious problem. On the other hand, the cosmopolitan legacies of these spaces can work contrary to nationalist arguments and work as imagined spaces of resistance.
“Enlightenment and the Gasping City: Pollution, Purification, and Buddhism in Postsocialist Mongolia”
By Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko
In Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar, the murky and obscuring nature of the city’s chronic air pollution is a physical constant of the long winter months. Air pollution intimately influences urban lives in Ulaanbaatar, not only through the bodies that breathe the particulate saturated air but also through religious practices and the city’s psychological underpinnings. Air pollution marks the boundary between what is considered to be the physical and immaterial. It insinuates itself into all parts of the city, yet ultimately eludes capture and control. It is precisely this lack of clarity, its ambiguity or fuzziness, which makes pollution resonate powerfully within the minds of Ulaanbaatar’s residents. As the dirty air blocks access to breath and light in the city, air pollution is believed to reflect broader cosmological, economic and moral obscurations. This lecture will investigate how the desire for purification and light in Ulaanbaatar relates to contemporary Mongolian religious practices.
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This program is in collaboration with International Education at Maricopa Community Colleges; the Melikian Center: Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies at Arizona State University; the University of Arizona Center for Middle Eastern Studies; and the Asian Studies Development Program at the East-West Center.