Inaugural Conference

Voices through Art & Culture: Identity Formation in Central Asia, from Music to Architecture

The first Central Asian Studies Conference at the University of Chicago
April 17–18, 2026 · Ida Noyes Library, University of Chicago

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Register for the Conference →
About the Conference
Central Asian Studies Conference

We are excited to announce the first-ever Central Asian Studies Conference at the University of Chicago, organized by the university’s Central Asian Studies Society and taking place on April 17–18, 2026.

Throughout Central Asia, embodied culture is expressed through art and culture: oral traditions, written poetry and literature, textiles, music, and many other media. Creative acts and works have been intertwined with collective experiences ranging from celebrations to invasions to revolutions, working to represent and shape memory and identity.

Our conference centers reflections on art, music, oral traditions, literature and other cultural practices as not only objects of study, but also as sources of inspiration, tangible connections to the past and means to understand the present. We are creating a space for young researchers interested in matters of culture and identity to meet, learn about, and learn from each other.

“What can art and culture tell us about the process of identity formation? What is the relationship between culture and politics? How does art and culture reflect Central Asianness, whether as a unified identity and/or a condition of great diversity and difference?”

Keynote Speakers
Distinguished Voices
Scholars and artists whose work bridges Central Asian heritage with global conversations.
Dr. Theodore C. Levin
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Theodore C. Levin
Arthur R. Virgin Professor of Music, Dartmouth University
Theodore Levin is a longtime student of music, expressive culture, and traditional spirituality in Central Asia and Siberia. He served as the first executive director of the Silk Road Project, founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma. His research and advocacy activities focus on the role of arts and culture in international development, and on the preservation and revitalization of musical heritage. Author of The Music of Central Asia.
Faculty Profile →
Gulnur Mukazhanova
Keynote Speaker
Gulnur Mukazhanova
Contemporary Artist · Kazakhstan / Berlin
A distinguished artist born in Kazakhstan and based in Berlin, Gulnur Mukazhanova weaves together Central Asian heritage with contemporary artistic enquiry. Through textiles and symbolic materials, she evokes layers of cultural and historical memory. Her works unfold as dialogues between suppressed traditions and today’s shifting realities, reflecting on postcolonial experience, feminism and globalization. Recent solo exhibitions include Bosaga – Transition (Tselinny Center, Almaty, 2025) and Öliara: The Dark Moon (Mimosa House, London, 2022).
Artist Website →
Program Schedule
Conference Program
Two days of panels, keynote addresses, and conversation across disciplines.
Ida Noyes Library · 1212 E 59th St, Chicago, IL 60637
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Registration, Opening Remarks & Breakfast
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM
Panel 1: Continuations of Traditional Culture: Performance, Patronage and Heritage
Moderator: Dr. Theodore C. Levin
Diana Wang (University of Chicago) – “Between Minority and Nationalism: Transnational UNESCO Intangible Heritage Inscriptions in the Case of Khöömei and the Epic of Manas.”
Aibek Baiymbetov (Wesleyan University) – “Living Tradition in Action: The Chronotope of the Manas Epic Performance.”
Damon R. Postle (Independent Scholar) – “There Will Always Be Khöömei if Tyvans Are on the Land.” Modern Identity and Transmission of Folksong in the Center of Asia.
10:30 AM – 11:45 AM
Panel 2: Culture and Textile: Visual Representations of Identity
Moderator: Dr. Erica Warren
James Nee (University of Chicago) – “Fashioning the Nation in Central Asia, 1886–1968.”
Ekaterina Kulinicheva (Northwestern University) – “‘Eastern’ Textiles, Identity Formation, and Agency in Early Soviet Central Asia.”
Dr. Elmira Gyul (The Silk Road International Research Institute) – “Voices in Thread: Sufi Visual Codes and Spiritual Identity in the Art of Suzani.”
12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
Panel 3: Colonial Encounters in the Soviet Period
Moderator: Dr. Leah Feldman
Elena Leonenko (University of California, Berkeley) – “Cutting Siberia, Assembling Central Asia: Viktor Ufimtsev’s Collages.”
Aleksandra Khuzina (University of Illinois-Chicago) – “Still Life or Landscape?: Nature in Turin’s Turksib (1929).”
Ivan Cherniakov (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) – “The Soviet Plantation: Was the Soviet Landscape Colonial?”
1:15 PM – 2:30 PM
Lunch
2:30 PM – 3:45 PM
Panel 4: Memory and Loss in Central Asia
Saadat Musabaeva (Independent Scholar | Kellogg Institute for International Studies) – “Building Home in the Throat: Kyrgyz Folk Singing, Embodied Memory, and Intergenerational Trauma.”
Lolisanam Ulugova (Independent Scholar | Art Curator) – “Animating Silence: Animation, Trauma, and Cultural Voice in Tajikistan.”
Zhaina Meirkhan (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) – “The Forced Migrations of Kazakhs in 20th Century Eurasian Steppe and Beyond.”
4:00 PM – 5:15 PM
Panel 5: Beyond the External Gaze: Challenging Marginalized Identity
Moderator: Dr. Michael Bechtel
Dimitri Staszewski (Independent Scholar | Documentary Photographer) – “The World at Night.”
Michael Lindsey (University of California, Santa Cruz) – “Heritage, Chops, and Humor: Glimpses of Identity among Professional Drummers in Kabul.”
Byambasuren Enkhee (Independent Researcher) – “Finding one’s own color,” or, gender politics within the stand-up comedy industry in Ulaanbaatar.”
5:30 PM – 6:45 PM
Keynote Address — Gulnur Mukazhanova
6:45 PM – 7:45 PM
Dinner
Ida Noyes Library · University of Chicago
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Breakfast
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM
Panel 6: Nomadic Identifiers: Imagining Identity Through Local, Regional, and Digital Scales
Gulzada Xan (Carleton College) – “From Heated Rivalries to Shared Cheers: Sport and Identity in Central Asia.”
Munkh-Ochir Surenjav (University of Cincinnati) – “Malchin (Herder) Starter Pack: Cultural Production of Rural Imaginaries in Mongolia through Social Media.”
Abdrasul Isakov, Mirlanbek Nurmatov (Independent Researchers) – “The Importance Of The Term ‘Kyrgyz’ As A Place Name In The Formation Of Kyrgyz Identity.”
10:30 AM – 11:45 AM
Panel 7: Musical Creativity through Time and Borders
Dr. Dave Fossum (Arizona State University) – “Remembered Innovation: Indigenous Turkmen Strategies for Historicizing Musical Creativity.”
Bita Takrimi (Northwestern University) – “Between Herat and Bukhara: Afghan Classical Music in the Persianate Cultural Sphere.”
Dr. Charlotte D’Evelyn (Skidmore College) – “The Choor Fiddle and Sonic Imagination of the Past in Inner Mongolia, China.”
11:45 AM – 12:30 PM
Lunch
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Keynote Address — Dr. Theodore C. Levin
“Exploring Central Asia through the Arts: A Half-Century’s Observations.”
2:00 PM – 3:45 PM
Panel 8: Women As The Agents Of Social Change In Kazakhstan: Voices Of Women In Art
Dr. Moldiyar Yerbekov (Nazarbayev University) – “Female Leadership and Collaboration in Contemporary Kazakh Cinema and Creative Industries.”
Aigerim Kussaiynkyzy (Maqsut Narikbayev University) – “Women, Voice, and Symbolic Capital: Positioning Female Artists in Kazakhstan’s Contemporary Music Field.”
Dr. Zhazira Agabekova (Nazarbayev University) – “Concepts of Rights and Freedom in the Poetic Space of Kazakh Women Poets.”
Dr. Funda Güven (Nazarbayev University) – “From Abjection to Agency: Reconfiguring the Visibility of the Female Body in Contemporary Art in Kazakhstan.”
2:00 PM – 3:45 PM · Ida Noyes
Panel 9: Diaspora, Ethnography and Turkology
Moderator: Dr. Kağan Arık
Tianyi Yuan (University of Chicago) – “Tian and Tengri on the Kül Tigin Monument: Bilingual Inscription and Nomadic Political Cosmology.”
Isa Youshe (Harvard University) – “Seals, Colophons, and Community: Turki Manuscripts and Cultural Authority in the Tarim Oases.”
Andi Sun (University of Chicago) – “The Journey of Babur’s Falcon: Central Asianness through Literary Transmission.”
Cai Jinfu (Shihezi University) – “The Sacred Construction of Historical Memory in Kazakhstan: A Case Study of the Ulytau.”
3:45 PM – 5:00 PM
Panel 10: Making Soviet Central Asia through Literature
Zhanyl Adisbekova (Independent Scholar) – “Women’s Emancipation And The Formation Of Hybrid Identities In Soviet Central Asia: Chyngyz Aitmatov’s The First Teacher.”
Eleanor Womack (Yale University) – “Excavating Socialist Realism: Land and Literary Form in Ghabiden Mūstafin’s Qaraghandy.”
Assel Uvaliyeva (University of Southern California) – “Stone Witnesses: Material Culture and Counter-Memory in Abish Kekilbayev’s Ballads of Forgotten Years.”
5:15 PM – 6:15 PM
Dinner | Arzan Cafe | Closing Remarks
6:15 PM – 8:30 PM
Alash and Tuvergen Concert
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel · 5850 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, IL 60637
* Panels #8 and #9 will occur concurrently.

Join Us at the Conference

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Explore the Neighborhood
Hyde Park Guide
Visiting the University of Chicago? Explore everything Hyde Park has to offer — dining, culture, and local landmarks.
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Music Festival
Central Eurasian Music Festival

Chicago’s First Central Eurasian Music Festival

Organized by the UChicago Central Asian Studies Society

Two days of extraordinary performances featuring masters of traditional and contemporary Central Eurasian music, from Tuvan throat singing to Kazakh kobyz, Uzbek tor, Kyrgyz komuz, and Tibetan gorshey dance.

Day 1 — Saturday, April 18

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

5850 S Woodlawn Ave · Doors at 5:30 PM
Accessibility & Parking Info
6:15 PM – Tuvergen, Chicago’s own “modern nomadic music” trio
7:00 PM – Alash Ensemble, three masters of Tuvan music
Day 2 — Sunday, April 19

Smart Museum of Art

5550 S Greenwood Ave · Doors at 11:00 AM
Accessibility & Parking Info
12:00 – 4:20 PM (Intermission 1:50–2:30)
Featuring: Akmaral Akbaeva (Kazakh kobyz) · Behzod Raxmon (Uzbek tor) · Buryad Heritage Chicago · Jenishbek Jumakadyr & Baktybek Shatenov (Kyrgyz akyn & komuz) · Tatar Chicago · Tibetan Alliance of Chicago gorshey dancers
Get Festival Tickets →
Your order confirmation will serve as your ticket. No refunds or exchanges.
Questions? Contact James Nee at jmnee@uchicago.edu
Organizing Committee
The Team Behind the Conference
Lead Organizer
Yelnura Tynysbekova
MA, Middle Eastern Studies · University of Chicago
Organizing Member
Atikah Adzhar
PhD, Divinity School · University of Chicago
Organizing Member
James Nee
PhD, History · University of Chicago
Organizing Member
Adam Wilson
PhD, Slavic Languages and Literatures · Northwestern University
Organizing Member
Banu Kayir
PhD, Middle Eastern Studies · University of Chicago
Organizing Member
Diana Wang
MA, Divinity School · University of Chicago
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Kağan Arık
Ayaslı Instructional Professor in Modern Turkish and Turkic Languages · University of Chicago
Dr. Kağan Arık is the coordinator for the Modern Turkish language program at the University of Chicago since 2008. He has also been active as Lecturer in Uzbek and Central Asian Studies since 2000.
Sponsors & Partners
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