Towards a Social History of Turkmenistan, 1860-1960
Research Trends in Ethnography and History
28-29 October 2011, Amsterdam
The conference seeks to address the history of Turkmenistan from the Russian conquest until the Khrushchev period.
In the century under discussion, the Turkmens were brought under Russian administration and subsequently became the titular nation of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Turkmenia. We aim to discuss both the profound changes that took place in society as well as the way in which these changes affected the study of the Turkmens by historians and social scientists, including ethnographers.
The first day of the conference will discuss issues of Turkmen literature as well as specific historical events and developments in the late 19th - early 20th century, including such topics as identity formation, jadid influences among the Turkmens and the migration of Soviet 'special settlers' (spetspereselentsy) to Turkmenistan.
The second day will focus on historical, archaeological and ethnographic research traditions in and on Turkmenistan. In all these cases, we seek to discuss the relationship between central and local authorities as well as between authorities and scholars in conceptualizing Turkmen history and identity.
The conference, which is organized by the International Institute of Social History in cooperation with the University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam, furthermore hopes to encourage international contacts between scholars working on Turkmenistan, including in Turkmenistan itself, and to link up for future joint research projects.