The European Society for Central Asian Studies (ESCAS) seeks to support the study of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and adjacent regions of the Caucasus, Russia, China, Afghanistan and Iran. Its main activity is a biennial conference hosted in one of the European countries or in Central Asia.
ESCAS Board 2022-2024
- Abel Polese (President), Dublin City University
- Adrien Fauve (Treasurer), IFEAC, Bishkek
- Mélanie Sadozaï (Secretary), George Washington University
- Alberica Camerani, Dublin City University
- Slavomír Horák, Charles University, Prague
- Eugenia Pesci, Aleksanteri Institute, Helsinki
- Gulmira Sultangaliyeva, Al-Farabi, Kazakh National University
- Sevara Usmanova, , University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Tashkent
To Keep Up-to-date on ESCAS Activities
E-mail contact: escastudies@protonmail.com
For current information about ESCAS activities, see these pages:
— The ESCAS page on Facebook
You can join the ESCAS mailing list to receive information about conference, calls for papers, elections, and other ESCAS activities:
— Join the ESCAS Mailing List
A Brief History of ESCAS
In 1985 a group of scholars from the Netherlands, Germany, France, Great Britain, and Denmark, working within Central Asian Studies decided to establish informal cooperation with the purpose of promoting joint research and interdisciplinary studies among European scholars on Central Asia.
The Department of Oriental Languages and Cultures of the University of Utrecht took the initiative to organise the first and founding conference of what was then called the “European Seminar for Central Asian Studies,” inviting also scholars from Central Asia.
The immediate purpose of the conference was to define the geographic area of Central Asia which would be dealt with. It was agreed to include the Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as well as adjacent areas of Mongolia, Northern Iran, Northern Afghanistan and Northwestern China. A primary reason for establishing ESCAS was to give Central Asian Studies the status of a separate research field in its own right, independent of Soviet and Eastern European studies, to establish research links with disciplines working within the same historical and cultural continuum in adjacent areas, and to create opportunities for direct cooperation between scholars of the former Soviet Central Asia and scholars in adjacent areas. It was agreed to hold conferences in order to maintain and develop European research cooperation and the exchange of information.
In 1995, at the Fifth ESCAS Conference in Copenhagen, ESCAS was formally established as a scholarly association under the name “European Society for Central Asian Studies,” with Dr. Ewa Chylinski as its first President. In 2002, Dr. Gabriele Rasuly-Paleczek, the Vice-President of ESCAS, published a brief overview of ESCAS’s activities and history. Additional historical information about ESCAS can be found on archived versions of its website: 1997-2002, 2006-2011, and 2011-2015.
ESCAS Conferences
Registration Details
Registration No. W751270087
“Societé européenne d’études sur l’Asie centrale – European Society for Central Asian Studies (ESCAS)
Registered by Préfecture de Police de Paris on 23.6.2023