240035 VO BM6 Central and Inner Asia Viewed through Anthropological Lenses (2026W)

Central Asia mainly refers to the cultural-geographical area comprised by the contemporary states Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, while Inner Asia to the area to the east, encompassing Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Southern Siberia, and Manchuria. Mountains, deserts, steppes, and a harsh climate characterize the natural environment; pastoralism is the predominant traditional economic activity; and Islam in the west, Buddhism in the east, and shamanistic practices shape the cultures of the region.
The course´s goal is on the one hand to convey an overview of the economic, ethnic, political, and religious developments in the region in past and present; and on the other hand, to show how anthropological research has contributed—and continues to contribute—to our understanding of them.
Course contents:
• Attempts of Definitions of Terms “Central Asia”, “Inner Asia” etc.;
• Geography: landscapes, climate, flora, fauna, natural resources;
• Research History: early Chinese and Arabic sources, European travel accounts from the 13th to the 20th century, Soviet ethnography, Western research, current approaches;
• History: Silk Road, steppe empires, Mongol Empire, Russian, Chinese, British colonialism, socialism, post-socialism;
• Ethnology:
- Nationalities and ethnic groups: Turkmen, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Tibetans, Uigurs, Mongols, Buryats, Evenks, Tuvans, Khakas, Altaians, Oirats/Kalmyks;
- Economic systems: nomadic pastoralism, agriculture in oases and fertile valleys; trade
- Processes of modernization and re-traditionalization;
- Social organizations: traditional kinship and social systems, changes over time;
- Religions: shamanism, Buddhism, Islam;
- Material culture: traditional dwellings, tools, weapons, clothing, jewelry, and today’s consumer culture;
- Intellectual culture: literature, science, art, sports, games, and their transformations;
• Analyses of:
- migrations and conquests;
- colonial suppression;
- modernization processes;
- socialist and post-socialist transformation processes;
- ethnic tensions and their consequences;
- old and new constructions of ethnic and national identities and the
- rise of ethnocentric and nationalist ideologies;
- rise of religious fundamentalisms;
- changing and challenged gender roles and relations;
- the stunning constancy of the human-animal relations in the area;
- impacts of the war in Ukraine;
- ecological destructions.

Teaching Methods:
• Primarily lectures by course instructors supported by visual aids;
• Additional lectures by guest speakers specialized in specific subject areas;
• Students should attend the classroom meetings regularly and participate actively in them and read and discuss the mandatory literature.