The Fifth European Seminar on Central Asian Studies

By Ingrid Nooijens

The participants were welcomed by Mr Vahman of the organizing Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near-Oriental Studies and Mr. Madsen of the University of Copenhagen.
Mr. Christensen, lord chamberlain to the Danish Royal Court, who spoke a word of welcome on behalf of the crown prince, characterized Central Asia as the melting pot, the meeting point ánd the conflict area between Europe and Asia.
Mr. Tønnesson, of the co-organizing Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, enthralled the audience with a flamboyant speech that gave the innocent, mostly non-Nordic listeners, an unexpected insight into the turbulent past of the Nordic countries. At least as far as Asian studies is concerned, this animosity is a thing of the past. The governments of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden chose to cooperate peacefully in this field and founded the NIAS.
The Nordic countries have no firm tradition in Central Asian Studies but they are planning inter-disciplinary area studies in which Central Asia can have a place.

Diversity.
At the opening plenary the wide range of the conference became immediately clear.
Participants came from more than twelve countries, spoke English, French, German, Danish, Russian, Persian, and so on, had different disciplinary backgrounds, had been brought up in different schools of thought ('East' versus 'West'), and differed greatly in age. But all were attracted by one of the various aspects concerning Central Asian culture or civilization.
The first speaker was Mr. Mozaffari, originally from Khorasan, Iran, but who has worked at the Department of Political Science of the University of Aarhus, Denmark, for many years. He presented a paper on a political subject. He argued that the Commonwealth of Independent states (CIS) represents an interesting laboratory where almost all experiments are allowed as long as they have to do with cooperation and integration. So far the CIS has not produced any workable product. An analysis of the different experiments will probably help the scholar to provide a more qualified assessment of various future scenarios in the CIS and in the regional cooperation networks to which the Central Asian and Caucasian states have committed themselves.
The second speaker at the plenary, Mr. Gladney, from the University of Hawai'i, presented an anthropological view on a hotly debated issue; the question of national identity.
He treated the phenomenon of the nation transgressing the nation- state in particular. The idea of a shifting context of identities was put forward.
Gladney painted a picture of the diaspora of three social groups, known as Hui, Uygür, and Kazakh. In the presentation, enlivened by slides and clarifying statements about the above- mentioned groups, he tried to unravel the problem of multi- identity;" how can a person who calls himself a 'Turkestani' be both Kasghari and Uyghür, Muslim and Turk, Chinese and Central Asian?". He concludes that "identities are formed in relation to others across the field of social and political interactions". The question may not be "i.e. what is an Uyghür but when is an Uyghür." Poetically expressed by the words of Chuang Tzu, cited by Gladney: "if there is no 'other' then we do not have a 'self', if there is no 'self' then we do not have anything to grasp." The relevance of the topic became clear in the days which followed; many people referred to the ideas reflected in this presentation. During the next four days the conference was split into four workshops entitled; 'Past and Present', 'Identity and Nation', 'Central Asia's Place in the World', and 'Environment, Society' A wide range of topics were past in review. Two of the papers presented are published in this IIAS newsletter. The full number will be published by the ESCAS in the near future.

'I love spring'
Probably one of the most 'speaking' parts of the conference was the charming video of Ali Attar about the traditional festivities around Nawruz. 'I Swear, I Love Spring' is a natural record of the celebration of this New Year's feast in a Tajik town. The ceremony begins on March 21 and goes on for many days. According to Ali Attar, who is an anthropologist himself, "the Nawruz feast is one of the few pre-Islamic rituals which is practised today. It is not just a New Year's ceremony but it also relates to spring and fertility rituals. After having been restricted for many years, the changed political situation in Tajikistan has now given the people the opportunity to celebrate Nawruz again. Nowadays it is an official holiday".

To relax the brains a trip to the National Museum was organized. A Dane in traditional Mongolian dress guided the scholars to a theme exhibition entitled: "The Mongols; the Nomads of the Steppe." In the 1930s the Danish Mongolist Henning Haslund-Christensen brought collections from Inner and Outer Mongolia to Denmark. The exhibition consists of pieces from these collections together with objects from Tibet collected by Prince Peter in the 1950s. In 500 square metres it is hoped the visitor will be able to grasp an understanding of the traditional nomad life in the grasslands. To heighten the experience a ger, imported from Mongolia, has been erected, and many daily utensils, as horse-tackle and cooking pots, are on display. Traditional clothing and jewellery can also be admired. Photographs show some scenes from the present life of the Mongols, who are now trying to find a new direction after the years of communism.

The five days conference enriched the audience with information on a great variety of topics. The different views mingled and clashed. During the week a Society for Central Asian Studies was founded. In the field of Central Asian Studies lots of thinking still has to be done. So: it's high time to return to the study!