Description

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Central Asia, the 'heart' of the Eurasian landmass, has through the centuries been the hub of diverse and varied cultures. These cultures have encompassed pre-Islamic religions and Islam, sedentary and nomadic lifestyles and lived through rapid transitions from feudal, capitalist and socialist economies, from Tsarist to Soviet and post-Soviet formations. The essays in this volume examine the cultural exchanges and encounters that have occurred in the region through a vast timeline that extends from the premedieval to the medieval and modern periods. The writers are academics, as well as art practitioners and independent researchers who belong to a wide spectrum of disciplines: Central Asian and Russian Studies, Architecture, Ethno-Musicology, History, Painting, Film Studies, Art History, Textiles, Literature and International Relations. The volume presents a colourful mosaic of views on the many cultural histories of Central Asia.

About the Author

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Rashmi Doraiswamy is Professor at the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She was the recipient of the National Award for the Best Film Critic (1994). In December 2007, she was an International Observer for the Presidential Elections in Uzbekistan. She is the author of The Post-Soviet Condition: Chingiz Aitmatov in the '90s (Aakar, 2005) and Guru Dutt: Through Light and Shade (Wisdom Tree, 2008). She is co-editor of the book Being and Becoming: The Cinemas of Asia (Macmillan, 2002). Her entry on 'Film and Literature (India)' has appeared in the Encyclopedia of Post-colonial Literatures in English (Routledge, 2005).