- Convenors:
-
Mary Bernadette Conde
(American University of Central Asia)
Aijamal Sarybaeva (American University of Central Asia)
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- Discussants:
-
James Hart
(the American University of Central Asia)
Aida Aidarova (American University of Central Asia)
Jannat Kovalchuk (American University in Central Asia)
- Format:
- Roundtable
- Mode:
- Face-to-face part of the conference
- Theme:
- Cultural Studies, Art History & Fine Art
- Location:
- Lindner
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 19 November, -
Time zone: America/New_York
Short Abstract
This panel explores the evolving role of visual culture in teaching and research in Central Asian studies, emphasizing how women in visual media—ranging from historical manuscripts and contemporary digital art to films and popular media—has become an increasingly vital lens for reframing narratives.
Abstract
This panel explores the evolving role of visual culture in teaching and research in Central Asian studies, emphasizing how women in visual media—ranging from historical manuscripts and contemporary digital art to films and popular media—has become an increasingly vital lens for engaging with the region’s rich historical, cultural, and political dynamics. As scholars offer shifting paradigms and frameworks of analyses of knowledge production and women representations in post-socialist and postcolonial contexts, visual culture offers a powerful tool to reframe narratives, revisit perspectives and text-based methodologies traditionally dominant in area studies.
The panel brings together researchers and educators who critically engage with visual materials in their work, examining how images function and represent not merely as illustrative sources but as active agents in (de)constructing identities, collective memory, and geopolitical discourses. Contributions will explore the methodological challenges and teaching strategies involved in integrating visual sources into curricula—particularly in an era when AI raises concerns about the authenticity and reliability of visual materials. Panelists will also reflect on how women in visual culture mediates local and global perceptions of Central Asia. It will underscore the urgency of visual literacy as a critical skill in navigating the complex representations of Central Asia in both academic and public spheres.
Accepted contributions
Session 1 Wednesday 19 November, 2025, -Abstract
In this presentation, ‘Representations of Gender in Pre-Islamic Religions of Central Asia,’ we will examine just that, representations of gender. The traditions in question, Tengrism, Judaism, Mazdeism, and the great missionary religions, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Buddhism, all paid attention to gender, but as we shall see, gender expectations underwent a subtle change with the advent of these expansionist faiths. This included a widening of options for the direct participation of women in religious life as both religious specialists and supporters of these religions. This is intimately connected to the promotion of ascetic behaviors in all three of the missionary religions as a challenge to procreative expectations especially relevant but not strictly limited to women’s gender roles. A closely related ascetic practice evident in all three is poverty, the intentional abnegation of wealth, wealth which was often safeguarded by strict border maintenance through social constraints on marriage and birth. But ascetic celibacy and poverty were not at all widespread, and the new and expanding religions found room for those unable to take special vows - procreation and wealth were also used to further the goals of expansion as represented in depictions of donors, both male and female. One of the perhaps more surprising findings of an examination of gender roles in each of these respective religions is how similar these representations are, rather than how different they are. This is especially noteworthy coming from our contemporary perspective of emphasis on distinctions, the specificity of religious traditions, ethnic culture, gender determinations, and even personal identity. This is by no means coincidental - it is determined by the demands of missionary religions to expand beyond the boundaries of the specific environment in which each religion originated, thereby requiring a new conception of self that allowed for a great deal of syncretism to take place. Our sources are primarily written, but we will pay special attention to visual representations, although we are significantly hampered by the fragmentary nature of surviving resources, both visual and textual.
Abstract
The paper will feature major points of the study on how local commercials and advertisements define and portray the female images and contribute to the shaping of female identity accepted by society in the Kyrgyz Republic by exploring the image of a married woman. The research is based on analysis of visuals of females in commercials and psychosocial reasons behind the images, proposes suggestions and outlooks through content analysis and qualitative case studies. The existing literature on the rights of women in Central Asia suggests the description of “kelin” (translated from most of the Turkic languages as the one who came –daughter-in-law) as having the lowest status in family hierarchy, submissive and subservient as well as having almost no rights or say in her husband’s family. Research undertaken on the topic of daughters-in-law in different Central Asian countries revealed that kelins undergo discriminatory and exploitative treatment from the side of their in-laws. Most often times, fall out of even the gender relations in society as these married young females are regarded as almost the third gender against the background of different treatment toward unmarried daughters. Popular media, films and local TV series had long utilized the topic of daughters-in-law in the family hierarchy, often forming and transmitting desired behavior and values. However, the same image or at least the image of a married woman depicted in advertisements are overlooked in Central Asia.