CASNiG – Central Asian Studies Network
Founded in February 2020 at a first meeting at Augsburg University, the main aim of CASNiG is to bring together Central Asia researchers to exchange ideas, concepts and findings and to promote collaboration, mutual support and solidarity.
From 2013 to 2018, the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH) in Hamburg had already initiated an annual ‘Interdisciplinary Central Asia Day’ to enable networking and sharing knowledge between researchers and practitioners based in German-speaking countries. The CASNiG network is inspired by these events that enabled a lively discussion on various themes concerning the region. It aims at establishing a regularised and systematic exchange between researchers and scholars at any stage at their academic career who research on and have an interest in societally relevant topics in Central Asia. We define Central Asia in geographical terms to include all countries and regions in the centre of the Asian continent that are characterized by close historical and cultural ties.
CASNiG was founded by a group of Central Asia enthusiasts living in Germany and neighboring countries and primarily addresses academia, but we warmly welcome members based in other regions (especially Central Asia) as well as practitioners and activists working in/on Central Asia. Annual events to foster disciplinary and personal relationships, scholarly exchange, and the transmission of knowledge about Central Asia are planned and will be announced on this website.
The first CASNiG workshop was held at Augsburg University on February 7–8, 2020 (“Transformationen nach der Transformation: Zentralasien im Fokus von Humangeographie und Sozialwissenschaften”) and hosted by Prof. Matthias Schmidt (Chair of Human Geography and Transition Research). The second and third annual workshop/conference were organised and hosted by University of Sustainable Development in Eberswalde, Germany (March 4-5, 2021) and University of Fribourg, Switzerland (August 25–26, 2022).