SATURDAY 4 OCT 2008  | 09.30-19.00 | BP LECTURE THEATRE, THE BRITISH MUSEUM

This study day focuses on the history and culture of Kazakhstan. It will include lectures by noted academics and writers on the archaeology, history, art and music of Kazakhstan providing an introduction to this vast country of diverse landscapes and a rich cultural heritage. There will also be a performance by renowned Kazakh musicians of traditional music, an exhibition of photographs and a reception at the end of the day.

£28, Members £25, Concessions and Members of the Royal Asiatic Society and British-Kazakh Society £18 | For booking: +44 (0)20 7323 8181

In association with:
British Museum | Royal Asiatic Society | The British-Kazakh Society

Main sponsor:

PROGRAMME

9.00 Registration

09.30
Welcome – Opening Remarks
HE Mr Kairat Abuseitov Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Professor Anthony Stockwell, President, Royal Asiatic Society
Dr. Sheila Canby, British Museum

Introducing Kazakhstan

10-10.30
Apples are from Kazakhstan
Christopher Robbins
Author
This introduction provides a mixture of travelogue, history, and a picture of the oil rich country Kazakhstan has become. It will also give a brief biography of the country’s fascinating and controversial strong-man president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

10.30-11.00
Astrakhan to Almaty by Bicycle
Alex Meredith
Adventurer
During the summer of 2008, Alex Meredith spent a month cycling the length of Kazakhstan, from Astrakhan to Almaty.  His route took him from the fertile shores of the Caspian through the wild western steppe and up to the sub-Siberian cities of the north. 

11.00-11.30 Coffee

11.30-12.00
Habitats, human impact and conservation
Elizabeth Waters
University of Middlesex
Kazakhstan is a zone of high bio-diversity with large numbers of species, many endemic: 178 species of mammals, 500 birds, 107 fishes and more than 6000 plant species of which over 500 are endemic.

Archaeology of Kazakhstan

12.00-12.30
Ancient Nomads of the Kazakh Steppes
Z. Samashev
Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Almaty
The recent excavations and research which demonstrate the cultural achievements of the peoples of the Kazakh steppes between 1000 BC and the common era will form the theme of this paper.

12.30-13.30 Lunch – please make your own arrangements

13.30–14.00
The archaeological and written evidence
for the Kanguyj State in Kazakhstan (400BC-600CE)
Alexander Podushkin
University of Shymkent
The Kangyuj state left important traces of its existence in the ancient history of Kazakhstan. Since the 1960s, a substantial body of archaeological research has been carried out which has deepened our understanding of the ancient states of Central Asia.

14.00-14.30
Rock art in the Republic of Kazakhstan
Kenneth Lymer
Wessex Archaeology
This talk provides an introduction to the richness of Kazakhstan’s rock art imagery which spans several millennia from the Bronze Age (c. 1500 bce) up to recent times.

Historical and Cultural Identities

14.30-15.00
Time, Space, and Spirit: The Kazakh Traditional Worldview
Alma Kunanbaeva
Stanford University, California
This paper will discuss the interaction between the nomadic world view: the circle and arrow, horse and movement, Tengri and Umai and classical and folk Islam. 

15.00-15.30
The Kazakh Khanate in the 15th -18th century
Meruert Abusseitova
Director, R.B. Suleimenov Institute of Oriental Studies, Almaty
In this presentation a new approach to the study of Kazakh statehood is suggested. New evidence has allowed us to acquire more information on political, social, cultural events and thereby to reconstruct the main stages of history of Kazakh society. 

15.30-16.00
From Kasteev to Meldibekov, or the Question of Alternative Modern Art
Aliya de Tiesenhausen
Courtauld Institute
In the 1930s, following the turbulent years of the early Soviet era, Kazakhstan was put on a rapid road of cultural change. New and alien forms of art were introduced. Kazakh artists’ work possessed qualities of Critical Realism, post-Impressionism, Symbolism, Cubism and Expressionism.

16.00-16.30 Tea

16.30- 17.00 
Kazakh qobyz: between tradition and modernity
Saida Daukeyeva
School of Oriental and African Studies
The two-stringed fiddle qobyz holds a special status and dignity among the Kazakhs as the instrument of mediation with ancestral spirits believed to have been invented by the legendary hero Korkyt to overcome death.

17.15-17.45
Music of the Kazakh Steppes
Bakhtiyar and Gulzhan Amanzhol
A performance of traditional and contemporary Kazakh music.

17.45 Closing remarks
18.00 Reception