Documenting Local Knowledge in Central Asia

A major reason for the lack of consideration given to traditional networks and knowledge systems has been the dominance of a discourse of modernity. In the case of Central Asia, there has been an imposition of numerous trajectories of modernity: starting with the Soviet version of central planning and the subsequent shift to post-Soviet transitions; to the increasingly ubiquitous notion of Western modernity with its particularistic trappings of a unique development path; and growing relevance accorded to reformism in Islam as a new basis of organising society. This project on networks and knowledge in Central Asia will address the culture and the environment of Central Asia in a holistic framework encompassing research on indigenous responses to the environment, the development of technical expertise within the region as well as institutional capacity-building. Recognising the comparatively high level of human capital in Central Asia, the project aims to build on existing expertise in the region by facilitating channels of intellectual exchange across the region, whilst linking these up to global networks of research. (Saxena, Fennell, McDonald, Skaer,Waljee (London), Potrata (Manchester). For the first phase report click here.