Asiac yearly conference 2020
3 – 4 – 5 December 2020
Due to the global pandemic and its repercussions on travel, we will offer an online-only format this year: participants will be able to join remotely via e-conferencing tools.
On Thursday 3, Friday 4, and Saturday 5 December 2020, the Sapienza Università di Roma will coordinate the annual conference of the Italian Association for the study of Central Asia and the Caucasus (Asiac).
This conference is organised by professor Gabriele Natalizia of Sapienza Università di Roma and Asiac’s board of directors: Aldo Ferrari, Vittorio Springfield Tomelleri, Fabio Indeo, Gabriele Natalizia, Daniele Artoni, and Paolo Sorbello
Thursday, 3 December 2020
Introductory Session – Opening greetings – 9:15 to 9:45
Aldo Ferrari – Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, President of ASIAC
Antonello Biagini – Rettore UNITELMA Sapienza e Presidente della Fondazione Roma Sapienza
Session 1 – Central Asia and Caucasus Art – 9:45 to 11:00
Chair: Paolo Sorbello, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Karolina Kluczewska, University of Giessen, Creating at the periphery: Artists’ subjectivities and perceptions of freedom in Soviet and post-Soviet Tajikistan
Giovanni De Zorzi, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Notes on the Birth of Art Music (On Ikki Muqam) among Uyghurs
Break – 11:00 to 11:15
Session 2 – Identity, Access, and Labour in Kazakhstan’s Oil Sector – 11:15 to 13:00
Chair: Tommaso Trevisani, Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”
Maurizio Totaro, Ghent University, Governing Extraction and Making Neoliberal Subjects in Kazakhstan’s “Troublesome” Oil Region
Paolo Sorbello, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Transmission belts of hegemony: Trade Unions in Kazakhstan’s Oil Sector
Aydyin Lukpanov, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Professional and Labor Identity of Oil and Gas Industry Employees in the Atyrau Region: Methodology of Sociological Research
Break – 13:00 to 14:30
Session 3 – Regime legitimation and social change in contemporary Azerbaijan – 14:30 to 16:00
Chair: Carlo Frappi, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Cristina Boboc, Ghent University, Modernization in steel and glass. The politics of social change in the capital city of post-Soviet Azerbaijan
Eske van Gils, Leiden University, Azerbaijan as a transport hub and implications for authoritarian regime legitimacy
Laura Luciani, Ghent University, Practices of (in)visibility in the authoritarian state: human rights activists and the EU in Azerbaijan
Break – 16:00 to 16:15
Session 4 – Change and Continuity in Central Asia – 16:15 to 17:30
Chair: Fabio Indeo, OACC
Guido Orange, Independent researcher, The intricate cultural policy of Central Asia: A reflection on the Turkmen case
Alberto Turkstra, European Institute for Asian Studies, Uzbekistan – a two-speed reform process
ASIAC Assembly – 17:45 to 18.45 (In Italian)
Friday, 4 December 2020
Session 5 – Ossetian Studies – 1 – 9:30 to 11:00
Chair: Vittorio Springfield Tomelleri, University of Macerata
Diana Sokaeva, SOIGSI of V.I. Abaev, Sacral characters of Ossetian folklore and mythological and religious belief systems: their connection with Scythian, Sarmatian and Alanian mythology
Madina Tezieva, Journalist Union of the Russian Federation, The epos David Sasunsky and Shah-name in the light of the markers of the patrimonial history of the ancient Ossetian clan Tsargasat
Elmira Gutieva, SOIGSI of V.I. Abaev, Longevity of Historical Heroes in Epics
M.A. Tsalikova, North Ossetian State University, Reflection of gender stratification in North Ossetian society in the media
Break – 11:00 to 11:15
Session 6 – Ossetian Studies – 2 – 11:15 to 13:00
Chair: TBD
Izeta Mamieva, SOIGSI of V.I. Abaev, Syrdon’s Priestly Essence in the Ossetian Narts Epic and its Refraction in Fiction
Elizaveta Dzaparova, SOIGSI of V.I. Abaev, The contribution of Russian poets-translators to the Ossetian literary process
Indira Cherdzhieva, Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation, Cinema of North Ossetia. Origin and developmental features
Break – 13:00 to 14:30
Session 7 – Echoes of Tragedies between Caucasus and Black Sea: Events, Documents, Heritage – 14:30 to 16:00
Chair: Andrea Carteny, Sapienza University – Rome
Fabio L. Grassi, Sapienza University – Rome, A Survey on the Oral History of the Circassians of Turkey
Valentina Sommella, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Pan-Turanism in Turkey and in the Caucasus in the eyes of Italian diplomats (1919-1922)
Giuseppe Motta, Sapienza University – Rome, The Trial of Soghomon Tehlirian and its impact for the New Perspective of International Law
Alessandro Vagnini, Sapienza University – Rome, Civil War, Refugees and the Great Powers: the Italian Navy in the Black Sea (1919-1922)
Break – 16:00 to 16:15
Session 8 – Literature and Tradition – 16:15 to 17:30
Chair: Daniel Pommier, Sapienza University – Rome
Andriy Danylenko, Pace University, Bridging al-Qabq (Caucasus) with Aldeigjuborg (Old Ladoga): Ibn al-Nadīm on Rus’ Writing
Elisabetta Ragagnin, University of Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Gastronomica in Bābur-nāma
Alessio Giordano and Vittorio Spriengfield Tomelleri, IUSS Pavia and University of Macerata, Khetagurov’s Dodoj. Between written and oral tradition
Saturday, 5 December 2020
Session 9 – Caucasus History and Records – 9:30 to 11:00
Chair: Aldo Ferrari, University of Ca’ Foscari, Venice
Manuel Castelluccia, Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”, From Chiefdoms to Kingdom: Military Elites in the Caucasus in the First Millennium BC
Irakli Tskhvediani, Akaki Tsereteli State University, “Across the Main Caucasus Ridge”: The Caucasus Writings of George Kennan
Ana Cheishvili, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Importance of Correspondence in Studying the Activities of 19th Century Researchers: Expedition of Stephen Sommier and Emile Levier to the Caucasus
Break – 11:00 to 11:15
Session 10 – Eurasia between the EU and the BRI – 11:15 to 13:00
Chair: Fabio Indeo, OACC
Rustami Suhrob, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, The new European Union strategy for Central Asia
Paolo Sorbello and Gian Marco Moisé, University of Ca’ Foscari, Venice and DCU, Reframing Geopolitics in the Energy Sector of Central Asia
Giulia Sciorati, University of Trento, Looking East? An Analysis of Kazakhstan’s Geopolitical Code after the Launch of the Belt and Road Initiative
Break – 13:00 to 14:30
Session 11 – Contemporary Caucasus Language and Literature – 14:30 to 16:00
Chair: Daniele Artoni, University of Verona
Ketevan Gadiliya, Russian State University for Humanities, The early stage of Georgian-Russian language contacts
Elena Simonato, University of Lausanne, Swiss communities in the Caucasus, 19-20th centuries
Tamari Lomtadze, Akaki Tsereteli State University, Georgian Language in the Educational System
Valentina Marcati, Università degli Studi di Milano, Identity construction and fragmentation in contemporary Russophone literature by North Caucasian writers: the case of German Sadulaev
Break – 16:00 to 16:15
Session 12 – Gender and Political Discourse – 16:15 to 17:30
Chair: Giorgio Comai, OBCT/CCI
Claudia Ditel, University of Graz, Challenges and Opportunities of Women’s Transformative Power in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Flavia Lucenti, Roma Tre University, Discussing Russia’s Growing Dissatisfaction: a Political Discourse Analysis
17:30 End of conference
