Building a Global Center of Educational Excellence: The Case of Kazakh National University
Monday, 15 February 2010, 6:00pm
1510 International Affairs Building
The Harriman Institute and Eurasia Initiative (EI) student group present a talk in the Harriman Institute Central Asia Lecture Series by Professor Bakytzhan Zhumagulov, Vice-Chancellor of Kazakh National University, about the recent changes in the education system in Kazakhstan and how Kazakh National University is reforming to becoming one of the top universities in the region.
Bakytzhan Zhumagulov is one of the most accomplished scholars and education specialists in Kazakhstan. He has authored seven scholarly books and more than a hundred academic articles, winning numerous national and international awards in the fields of science, technology and education. In addition to these accomplishments, Dr. Zhumagulov contributes to intellectual and policy debates about the future of the education system in Kazakhstan.
Introduction by Rafis Abazov.
For further info and questions, please contact Rafis Abazov, ra2044@columbia.edu.
|
|
LGBT Rights Advocacy in Central Asia
Wednesday, 02 December 2009, 1:00pm–2:00pm
Room 501B International Affairs Building
Please joing the Columbia Harriman Association of Students (CHAS), the Human Rights Working Group, and Gays and Lesbians in International and Public Affairs (GLIPA) for a talk with Anna Kirey.
Anna has been involved with women’s and human rights organizations in Kyrgyzstan since 2000. She is a co-founder and past executive director of Labrys, an LGBT organization and currently serves as its senior advisor. Under Anna’s leadership, Labrys has become a strong grassroots organization working for the empowerment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and advocating for their rights at both the national and international level. In the past two years, Anna has participated in NGO delegations to the UN, lobbied for initiatives related to sexual orientation and gender identity, and presented reports about the situation of LGBT people in Central Asia. Anna has contributed to various research projects on violence against women, LGBT rights, and civil society in Central Asia. As a researcher with Kartini Network for Women’s/Gender Studies in Asia, she is currently collecting the oral histories of women loving women and transgender people in Central Asia. Anna received a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism with a minor in International and Comparative Politics in 2003 from American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. In 2004, she graduated from the United Nations-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica with a Master’s in Gender and Peace Building. Anna is currently completing a Master’s thesis in the international social work program at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. This semester she is a participant in the Human Rights Advocate Program at the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University.
Link to website
|
|
Post-Soviet Literary Rehabilitations: Revisiting Abai
Thursday, 19 November 2009, 12:00pm
Room 1219 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute and the Eurasia Initiative (EI) student group for a talk with Professor Zifa- Alua Auezova, Lecturer at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Dr. Auezova will be speaking about the role of literature in the formation of Kazakh national identity in the 1920s-1950s, through the prism of the legacy of the acclaimed Kazakh thinker and poet Abai Kunanbaev (1845-1904).
Writer Anatoly Kim’s new translation of Mukhtar Auezov's novel Abai Zholy will be introduced at the lecture. Several copies of the new translation will be available to public.
Introduction by Rafis Abazov, author of The Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics.
Part of the Harriman Institute Central Asia Lecture Series.
ra2044@columbia.edu
|
|
Conversation with Olzhas Suleimenov
Friday, 06 November 2009, 6:30pm
1501 International Affairs Building
Olzhas Suleimenov (born in 1936) is one of the most influential and respected poets and writers in modern Kazakhstan. He authored more than sixteen books of poetry and prose. His polemic novel Az-i-Ia (1975) brought him both wide recognition in his native land and problems with the Soviet authorities.
In addition to his artistic accomplishments Olzhas Suleimenov has been active in public life. He founded Nevada-Semipalatinsk Movement (1989), which became one of the most vocal voices for the closure of all nuclear testing facilities in Kazakhstan, and co-founded the Issyk Kul Forum, which has been recognized as important organization of intellectuals in the former Soviet Union. Currently he serves as the ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to UNESCO.
Introduction by Rafis Abazov, author of the Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics.
This event will be moderated by Catharine Nepomnyashchy of Barnard College/Columbia University and the Harriman Institute.
|
|
Azerbaijan in the 21st Century: Prospects and Challenges
Thursday, 05 November 2009, 12:00pm–3:00pm
The Presidential Lounge, Faculty House
The Harriman Institute and the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United Nations cordially invite you to attend a conference in honor of the 90th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Diplomatic Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Participants:
- H.E. Mr. Araz Azimov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan – Security policy of Azerbaijan in a changing environment
- Timothy Frye, Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Post-Soviet Foreign Policy, and Director, Harriman Institute
- H.E. Mr. Agshin Mehdiyev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the United Nations – A path to independent, inalienable, prosperous and democratic Azerbaijan
- H.E. Mr. Yashar Aliyev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United States of America – Azerbaijan – U.S. relations
- Ambassador Stephen Sestanovich, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor for the Practice of International Diplomacy
Directions to Faculty House
Registration for this event is required. Click Here to Register
|
|
China and Energy Security in Central Asia
Thursday, 29 October 2009, 12:00pm–2:00pm
Room 1219 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute and the Weatherhead East Asian Institute for a talk by Pan Guang, Director and Professor of the Shanghai Center for International Studies and the Academic Director of Institute of Eurasian Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Science.
|
|
Trafficking in Persons - International Protection and Legal Framework
Tuesday, 20 October 2009, 12:00pm
1219 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute and the Eurasia Initiative student group in welcoming Kristina Touzenis, Program Manager for the IOM & Independent consultant for UNESCO.
Ms. Touzenis will give a talk on the existing international legal framework relevant to the fight against trafficking in persons. She will also discuss some issues related to trafficking in person in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
|
|
Recent Developments in Georgia's Foreign Affairs
Friday, 16 October 2009, 12:00pm
Room 707 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute in welcoming Mr. David Bakradze, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia.
|
|
Career Opportunities in Russia and Eurasia
Thursday, 15 October 2009, 6:30pm
Room 1219 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute and the Eurasia Initiative (EI) student group in welcoming Christine Loomis for a talk on changes in the job market and opportunities in Russia and Eurasia in the post-global economic crisis environment.
Christine Loomis is an Executive Career Counselor and Recruiter specializing in financial and management consulting services. Until recently, she was based in Moscow, where she worked with a European executive search and career consulting firm following a banking career.
|
|
The Mountain of Tongues: Caucasian languages
Friday, 02 October 2009, 12:00pm
Room 1219 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute in welcoming Rusiko Amirejibi-Mullen, of Queen Mary, University of London for a talk on Caucasian languages, what they are and where they fit in.
|
|
Armenian Foreign Policy: Challenges in the Region of the Caucasus
Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 5:00pm–6:30pm
Room 1501 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute in welcoming H.E. Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia.
|
- Armenian Foreign Policy: Challenges in the Region of the Caucasus
- Download PDF
|
Central Asia and Afghanistan: A Sideshow in the Making
Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 12:00pm
1219 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute in welcoming Paul Quinn-Judge, Central Asia Project Director and Russia Adviser at International Crisis Group.
Mr. Quinn-Judge will explore the concept of "hollow states" in contemporary Central Asia and how they are likely to be impacted by the escalation of the military campaign in neighboring Afghanistan. He will assess their vulnerability to external and internal pressure and argue that the fragility of their regimes makes them much less reliable western allies in the war effort than US planners acknowledge. His analysis has critical implications for understanding the potential unintended consequences of the Obama administration's renewed engagement with Central Asia, especially its security and economic cooperation with the government of Uzbekistan.
|
|
The Foreign Policy of Azerbaijan: Affecting Factors and Priorities
Tuesday, 22 September 2009, 11:00am–12:30pm
1512 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institue in welcoming H.E. Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Moderated by Ambassador Stephen Sestanovich, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor for the Practice of International Diplomacy.
Please click on the PDF link to the right for coverage of the event
|
- The Foreign Policy of Azerbaijan: Affecting Factors and Priorities
- Download PDF
|
CONFERENCE: The Architecture of the Energy (Oil and Gas) Export System of the Caucasus and Central Asia: Now and in The Future
Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 8:30am–8:00pm
Kellogg Center, Room 1501 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute for a conference, entitled “The Architecture of the Energy (Oil and Gas) Export System of the Caucasus and Central Asia: Now and in The Future.”
Please RSVP by clicking here.
|
|
Dynasty and Democracy in Azerbaijan: The Referendum Abolishing Presidential Term Limits
Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 12:00pm–1:30pm
1219 International Affairs Building
Please join the Harriman Institute for a talk by Emin Milli, co-founder of AN Network, a network of young civic activists in Azerbaijan, established in 2005.
This March, Azerbaijan voted to abolish term limits for its current president. This referendum occurred in a climate of increased repression and weakening of democratic institutions. Azerbaijan is one of many countries in the former Soviet Union which are moving more towards illiberal presidential systems and has joined Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan in eliminating term limits as a means for leaders to hold on to power. Azerbaijan’s enormous oil reserves make it a key country for both Europe and the US.
|
|
Ukrainian-Russian gas conflict:
Pricing Issues within the Central Asia-
Russia-Ukraine-EU Gas Supply/Value Chain
Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 12:00pm–2:00pm
1512 International Affairs Building
The Harriman Institute and the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy present a talk by Andrei Konoplyanik
Dr. Andrei Konoplyanik is presently a Consultant to the Board of Gazprombank and is the former Deputy Secretary General of the Energy Charter Secretariat. He is an energy economist by background, and received his PhD (in 1978) and Dr. of Science (in 1995) in international energy economics from Moscow-based State University of Management. He served as Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia, and subsequently was the executive director of the Russian Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He also served as the President of the Moscow-based Energy and Investment Policy and Project Financing Development Foundation and contributed to the drafting of the Russian Energy Strategy to 2020.
Refreshments will be provided.
|
|
Justice Denied, Criminal on the Loose
Thursday, 26 February 2009, 5:30pm–7:00pm
1510 International Affairs Buiding
The Eurasia Initiative presents a talk featuring Armangul Kapasheva and Gulnara Timralieva – the wife and sister, respectively, of Zholdas Timraliev, a disappeared banker from Kazakhstan.
On January 31, 2007, Zholdas Timraliev and Aibar Khasenov, top managers of a major Kazakh bank, left their homes, never to be seen again. The ensuing investigation, lasting several months, uncovered incontrovertible evidence pointing to the former Kazakhstani Ambassador to Austria, former deputy chief of KNB (Kazakhstani successor of Soviet KGB) and son-in-law of Kazakhstani President, Rakhat Aliyev and his henchmen as responsible for the men’s disappearance. To date, the bankers have not been found.
Having conveniently donned the mantle of a principled opposition fighter, Aliyev managed to persuade the court in Austria, where he has been hiding, to deny the extradition request from the Kazakh government. He now shuttles between Austria and Greece, which has granted him a permanent resident status. According to reliable sources, Aliyev has applied for asylum in the U.S.
A month ago, Mrs. Kapasheva and Mrs. Timralieva established Tagdyr (Destiny) Foundation to learn about the missing bankers and to raise awareness about this and other crimes attributed to Aliyev.
A short documentary about the case will be shown, followed by the presentation and Q&A.
Please RSVP to Oksana Shulyar at os2170@columbia.edu
A traditional Central Asian meal will be served!
|
|
The Debate Over the US Military Base in Kyrgyzstan: Political Dynamics and Future Scenarios
Thursday, 19 February 2009, 12:00pm–2:00pm
1501 International Affairs Building
The Harriman Institute presents a panel discussion on the American military base at Manas in Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's recent announcement that he intends to close the US military base at Manas has triggered a wave of last minute diplomacy involving Kygryz, US and Russian officials. This panel brings together four experts to analyze the international, regional and local political dynamics that are now informing the Manas crisis. They will consider the importance of US-Russian relations and rivalry in Central Asia, the evolution of Manas agreements, Kyrgyz domestic politics and how the United States and NATO might conduct its Afghanistan operations without the base. Please join us for this timely event.
Participants:
Steven Sestanovich (Columbia University)
Alexander Cooley (Barnard College)
Kimberly Marten (Barnard College)
Ravshan Djeyenbekov (Deputy Chairman of the Kyrgyz Political Party "Ata Meken")
Moderator:
Gordon Bardos (Harriman Institute)
|
|
Challenges of Education Reform: Central Asia in Global Context
Friday, 23 January 2009–Saturday, 24 January 2009
1501 International Affairs Building
The Harriman Institute hosts "Challenges of Education Reform: Central Asia in Global Context" a conference on the path to education reform in Central Asia.
Please Register for this Event by following the link below:
Click Here to Register
|
|
Forgotten Communities of Inner Eurasia
China, Central Asia, and the Uyghurs: Exploring the Challenges of
Cultural Hybridity
Friday, 07 November 2008, 6:00pm–8:00pm
707 International Affairs Building
The Organization for the Advancement of Studies of Inner Eurasian Societies (OASIES) presents a conversation moderated by Robert Barnett with leading scholars of the Uyghurs.
Panelists Include:
Sean Roberts (George Washington University)
Nabijan Tursun (Radio Free Asia)
Gardner Bovingdon (Indiana University)
James Millward (Georgetown University)
For more information about this or other events visit www.oasies.org or send an email to contact@oasies.org
|
|
The Impact of Jadidism on the Kazakh Modernist Movement Alash
Friday, 31 October 2008, 12:00pm–1:00pm
1219 International Affairs Building
Join the Organization for the Advancement of Studies of Inner Eurasian Societies (OASIES) for a Brown Bag Lunch with Gulnar Kendirbai.
Despite representing one of Central Asia's two major reformist movements (the other movement originated in Russian Turkestan) that emerged in the last decades of the Russian empire, the story of Alash has remained largely unknown to mainstream Russian and Soviet histories. This talk seeks to place the Alash phenomenon in a broader social and cultural context, by bringing into focus an analysis of the impact of the Tatar Muslim reformist movement, jadidism (from usul-i jadid, new method), founded by the Crimean modernist Ismail Bey Gasprinskii (Gaspirali) on the formation of Alash views.
See www.oasies.org for more details
|
|
Lost in Transition: Living With Radical Change in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Monday, 20 October 2008, 12:10pm–1:30pm
1219 International Affairs Building
Join the Harriman Institute for a talk by Morten Axel Pedersen, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Professor Pedersen explores how, among low-income families of mixed Mongolian and Russian background, the radical changes brought about by the ‘transition’ from state socialism to democracy and capitalism has become a permanent condition of life. Inspired by Alexei Yurchak’s work on the ‘last Soviet generation’, he argues that the members of this lost Mongolian generation, who grew up expecting to live their entire lives beneath the empty shell of official state discourse, has become permanently stuck in the youth culture of late socialism.
|
|
Pax Mongolica: Area Studies and the Mongol Legacy
Thursday, 16 October 2008, 6:00pm–8:00pm
1219 International Affairs Building
The Organization for the Advancement of Studies of Inner Eurasian Societies (OASIES) presents a conversation with Morris Rossabi and scholars of the Mongols.
Panelists Include:
Nicola di Cosmo(Institute for Advanced Study)
Ladan Akbarnia(Brooklyn Museum of Art)
Peter Golden(Rutgers University)
For more information about this or other events visit www.oasies.org or send an email to contact@oasies.org
|
|
Film: Mongol (2007, Kazakhstan)
Thursday, 03 April 2008, 6:30pm–9:00pm
1219 International Affairs Building
Central Asia Studies Program, Eurasia Initiative (EI) student groups with the support of the Harriman Institute, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University present:
MONGOL (Kazakhstan, 2007)
Oscar-nominated epic adventure from writer-director Sergei Bodrov -
The first in a trilogy that spans the life story of Genghis Khan.
Introduction by Rafis Abazov, author of The Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics; Presentation by Eurasia Initiative (SIPA)
The event is free and open for public
For further info and questions, please contact Rafis Abazov at ra2044@columbia.edu
|
|
Adventurers from Kazakhstan: Where the Nomads Go these Days?
Thursday, 27 March 2008, 6:30pm–8:00pm
1219 International Affairs Building
Central Asia Studies Program, Eurasia Initiative (EI) student groups with the support of the Harriman Institute, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University present:
"Adventurers from Kazakhstan: Where the Nomads Go these Days?"
Grigoriy Evseev, President, Central Asian Geographic Society
H.E. Grigoriy Evseev will talk about the around the world marathon launched from Kazakhstan and organized by the Central Asian Geographic Society
Introduction by Rafis Abazov, author of Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia
The event is free and open for public
For further info and questions, please contact Rafis Abazov at ra2044@columbia.edu
|
|
Film: NOMAD (KÖŞPENDİLER), (Kazakhstan, 2005)
Thursday, 28 February 2008, 6:30pm–9:00pm
1219 International Affairs Building
Central Asia Studies Program, Eurasia Initiative (EI) student groups with the support of the Harriman Institute, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University present:
NOMAD (KÖŞPENDİLER) (Kazakhstan, 2005)
A young boy prophesied to unite the warring tribes of his country grows up to face rivalry, bloodshed and perhaps a little romance in this first-time big-budget historical production from and about Kazakhstan. A haunting Golden Globe-nominated score accompanies this epic film.
Introduction by Rafis Abazov, author of The Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics; Presentation by Eurasia Initiative (SIPA)
The event is free and open for public
For further info and questions, please contact Rafis Abazov at ra2044@columbia.edu
|
|
Institution Building in the Transition following Independence in Kyrgyzstan: International Organizations and Development Agendas
Tuesday, 12 February 2008, 12:00pm–1:30pm
1219 Inernational Affairs Building
Nina Bagdasarova, visiting scholar, UC Berkeley
The institutional approach to an exploration of a post-socialist transition points to the importance of the shifts in laws, governmental structures, everyday norms, and attitudes. According Foucault, state-exerted regulative power is a one of the main sources of these shifts. However, in the context of the weak Kyrgyz state, new norms and attitudes have been created by non-state agents like developmental international organizations; furthermore, the continued implementation of these norms required control of external agents. Yet, the power that these agents manifest is different from the power that the state manifests. This presentation will suggest a series of variables that characterize the process of social transformation that is affected by the donors', specifically the UNDP's, intervention in rural Kyrgyz communities in 2001. Using "micro-analysis" for describing institutional building in post-soviet Kyrgyzstan, this paper argues that new local community organizations created by UNDP support altered social relationships, norms and values.
|
|
Film screening: Tikhaya Nevestka (Quiet Daughter-in-Law)
Thursday, 31 January 2008, 6:30pm–9:00pm
1219 International Affairs Building
Central Asian Studies Program, Eurasia Initiative (EI) student group
with the support of the Harriman Institute, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University present the film:
Tikhaya Nevestka (Quiet Daughter-in-Law)
Hilarious Comedy from Turkmenistan
Tikhaya Nevestka, directed by S. Karazhayev, is Soviet-era classic. This beloved Turkmen comedy narrates the adventures of a “modern” Turkmen girl who marries her sweetheart and deals with traditional Turkmen and Islamic family customs. The heroine falls into intrigue with her mother-in-law and faces comical misunderstandings from her extended family. A film thick with humor, this splendid comedy illuminates the difficulties of everyday life in a small Turkmen town.
Introduction by Rafis Abazov, author of The Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics;
Presentation by Maral Ryzykuliyeva (GSAS)
COME AND JOIN US TO LEARN ABOUT CENTRAL ASIA!
This event is free and open to the public
For further info and questions, please contact Rafis Abazov ra2044@columbia.edu
|
|
Columbia University World Leaders Forum and the Harriman Institute present: Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, President of Turkmenistan
Monday, 24 September 2007, 9:00am
The Italian Academy, 1161 Amsterdam Avenue at 117th Street
Gurbanguly Malikgulyyevich Berdymukhammedov was born in the village of Barabab in the Geoktepe district in 1957. He graduated from the Turkmen State Medical Institute in 1979. He holds a master's degree in medical sciences.
From 1979 to 1997, he occupied various posts in the system of the Ministry of Healthcare and medical industry of Turkmenistan: teacher; associate professor of preventive dentistry chair; dean of the stomatology department of the Turkmen State Medical Institute; director of the Stomatology Center of the Ministry of healthcare and medical industry of Turkmenistan. In 1997, he was appointed minister of healthcare and medical industry of Turkmenistan, chief executive of the State fund for development of healthcare of Turkmenistan and acting rector of the Turkmen State Medical Institute.
On April 3, 2001, by the decree of the President of Turkmenistan, he was appointed deputy chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan.
By resolution of the State Security Council of Turkmenistan and the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, he was appointed acting president of Turkmenistan, supreme commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Turkmenistan on December 21, 2006.
He was awarded Orders "Galkynys" ("Revival"), "Prezidentin Yyldyzy" ("Star of the President") as well as the Order of the President of Turkmenistan "Garassyz Turkmenistana bolan beyik soygusi ucin" ("For the great love of independent Turkmenistan"), and Medals "Watana bolan soygusi ucin" ("For the love of Motherland"), "Turkmenistanyn Garassyzlygynyn 11 yyllygyna" ("the 11th anniversary of independence of Turkmenistan").
On February 14, 2007, he was elected president of Turkmenistan for a 5-year term.
|
|
CHANGING CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF CENTRAL ASIA
Tuesday, 04 September 2007–Friday, 28 September 2007
Harriman Institute, International Affairs Building, 12th Floor
PHOTOGRAPHS BY RAFIS ABAZOV
This exhibition displays a series of photographs taken by Dr. Rafis Abazov during his trips to Central Asia in 2005, 2006, and 2007, for his book The Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics (2007) and for his forthcoming book on Central Asian history.
Abazov’s exhibition illustrates the most recent cultural changes that the region, once known as the “jewel of the Great Silk Road,” experienced during the past 3-4 years. After the 1990s, a decade of steep decline and negligence, the Central Asian artistic communities were able to benefit from double-digit economic growth, an inflow of investments, and oil windfall.
A new post-Soviet generation of artists attempts at integrating the region’s traditional cultural heritage, which has unique historical, cosmological and metaphysical roots in the interchange on the Great Silk Road, with the modern artistic expressions of the globalized world.
This exhibition includes both published and unpublished photos. In addition, it presents some rare images from 19th century Central Asia.
Rafis Abazov is an adjunct Assistant Professor at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University. His teaching interests involve modern politics, social, cultural and economic development in Third World countries, with focus on Central Asia. Dr. Abazov has been contracted as a consultant for various projects, including the Freedom House Nations in Transit project and the annual reports of Transition-On-Line on Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. He has published four books and a number of other articles on economic and political development in Eurasia. His most recent book, The Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics, was published in January 2007.
OPENING RECEPTION ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH AT 6:30PM
|
 - "Aksakal Central Asian Elder"
 - "Turkmen Women Selling Carpets"
 - "Folk Singer Performs on the Street During Navrooz Festival"
|
Photography Exhibition: Kyrgyzstan - People and Places
Monday, 12 March 2007, 12:00pm–Sunday, 15 April 2007, 12:00pm
Harriman Institute International Affairs Building
Photographs by Edward Beliaev
This photography exhibition features images taken by Edward Beliaev during a trip to Kyrgyzstan in the summer 2005. The photographer visited all major parts of the country. Showing these photographs to the viewers the artist has no special statement to deliver, except one: to show what the country looks like today, its beauty, its people. Of course, the exhibition is too small to show all the variety of Kyrgyzstan. The photographer took almost 1500 pictures during the trip, but fewer than two dozen are displayed here. The photographer could have shown more pleasing, more “esthetic” pictures so to speak, but decided to select 2-3 images from each part of the country. The photographer strongly believes that if one studies a country then one has to have a visual, palpable understanding of that country. In this exhibition, the photographer is trying to give a glimpse of Kyrgyzstan and offer new ways to help understand it.
About the photographer
Professor Edward Beliaev teaches a SIPA course on Recent Political and Economic Development in Russia. He has been associated with the Harriman Institute since the late 1970s. He is trained as a sociologist and has a PhD in mathematical methods in sociology. He also has an MBA degree from New York University. He has worked as Senior Scientist at the Institute of Sociology at the USSR Academy of Sciences, at the National Center for Scientific Research (Paris) and at the National Opinion Research Center (Chicago and New York). Recently, he has become interested in Central Asia and especially Kyrgyzstan, a country which is trying to transform its social-political and economic system.
|
|
Trends in the Labor Market in Transition Economies and Implications for Higher Education
Monday, 05 February 2007, 12:00pm–1:00pm
1219 International Affairs Building
Eduardo Tugendhat (President and CEO, CARANA Corporation)
Among the features that characterize the global economy are:
1) value added is increasingly driven by "knowledge" and
2) the increasingly important role of services.
In this context, the quality of "human capital" becomes particularly critical in determining both competitiveness and income levels, and hence the ability of economies to develop and grow. However, providers of educational services (especially higher education and specialized training), are generally too rigid to respond to the changing requirements of the labor market. This is true even in countries where educational levels are considered very high, such as the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. This lecture look at this issue, drawing on empirical experience with multiple programs, including Bulgaria, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
CARANA Corporation is a leading provider of global economic development services to government, private business, individuals, and international donor agencies. CARANA designs and implements results-oriented stategies for competing in the global economy.
|
|
Roots and Routes of Koreans in Kazakhstan: Migrations of a Soviet and Post-soviet Minority
Thursday, 30 November 2006, 12:00pm–1:30pm
918 International Affairs Building
German Kim (Head of the Department of Korean Studies, Kazakh National University)
This event is co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute
|
|
Kymyz: Fermented Horse Milk
Monday, 20 February 2006, 6:00pm–9:00pm
Sixth-floor lounge, IAB
The Central Asia Group (CAG), the Eurasia Initiative (EI) student groups, and the EPD Workshop on Kyrgyzstan with the support of the Harriman Institute and SIPASA present:
The first public tasting in the U.S. of Kyrgyzstan's favorite drink.
The Kyrgyz favorite drink, kymyz, is made from horse milk, which is poured into a special leather bag and then stirred with a special wooden stick that is called a "pishkek".
Program:
1. Presentation on health benefits of drinking horse milk
2. Photo slide show
3. Traditional Kyrgyz music
4. Exhibit of Kyrgyz carpets and handicraft
5. Costume show
6. Tasting of traditional drinks and dishes
Menu*:
1. KYMYZ - fermented horse milk(delivered directly from Bishkek)
2. BORSOK - fried pastries
3. CHAK-CHAK - sweet desert
4. BATYR-NAN - traditional flat bread
5. IKRA - caviar
*Other traditional Kyrgyz dishes such as sheep brain and horse sausage will not be served.
Free Admission. Everyone is welcome.
For further info and questions, please contact Rafis Abazov at ra2044@columbia.edu or Talant Sultanov at tis2102@columbia.edu.
|
|
|
