Please join the Fletcher Eurasia Club for a lunch seminar with Nargis Kassenova, Senior Fellow and Director of the Program on Central Asia at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. Central Asian governments and societies are facing major challenges across the board and across borders. Last year was marked by bloody events in Kazakhstan in January, violence in Uzbekistan’s autonomous republic Karakalpakstan in July, clashes on the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border in September, and the all-year-round harsh crackdown on the Pamiri community in Tajikistan. The Russia-Ukraine war has shaken the political and economic order in post-Soviet Eurasia. The ongoing shifts are causing fears and anxieties but also creating new opportunities for the countries of the region.

We encourage you to read her recent articles on China’s foreign aid to Central Asia, Kazakhstan’s foreign policy, Kazakhstan’s relations with Russia and the West, and the future of politics in Kazakhstan. The Eurasia Club weekly lunch seminar series engages with students, faculty, staff, and researchers to foster a better understanding of the region among members of the Fletcher community. Members of the wider Tufts community are also welcome to attend. Lunch will be served. Click here to register.

Nargis Kassenova is Senior Fellow and director of the Program on Central Asia at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies (Harvard University), and Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations and Regional Studies of KIMEP University (Almaty, Kazakhstan). She is the former founder and director of the KIMEP Central Asian Studies Center (CASC) and the China and Central Asia Studies Center (CCASC). Kassenova holds a PhD in International Cooperation Studies from the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University (Japan). Her research focuses on Central Asian politics and security, Eurasian geopolitics, China’s Belt and Road Initiative and governance in Central Asia, and history of state-making in Central Asia. Kassenova is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) Europe and Central Asia Division, the UN High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs, Central Eurasian Studies Society board, and the Steering Committee of the OSCE Network of Thinktanks and Academic Institutions. She is on the editorial boards of Central Asian Survey, Central Asian Affairs, and REGION: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia journals.