Abstract:

In 1992 Andre Gunder Frank wrote the essay “The Centrality of Central Asia” in which he argued for that Central Asia was viewed as a hole in world history, a dark tabula rosa--- when in fact it was essential for the understanding of world history. He particularly noted that Central Asia was a place where historians could consider: “the process of accumulation, core-periphery structure, hegemony-rivalry alternation, and political economic cycles.” In placing Central Asia at the center of world systems analysis of the Afro-Eurasian system over thirty-years ago, the question of the centrality of Central Asia is now well-established. The use of world systems analysis to explain how Central Asia, the Silk Route(s) trope, and the role of Nomadic states and empires by archaeologists, sociologists, and historians such as Nikolai Kradin, Thomas Hall, William Thompson, and Christopher Chase-Dunn. Yet the time has come to encourage a new generation of archaeologists, historians, and other social scientists to re-examine Frank’s assertion through the presentation of their own research in Central Asia.