DKU invites you to participate in the DKU International Conference

The Kazakh-German University in Almaty invites scholars of Regional Studies, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Economics, History, Sociology, Anthropology, Linguistics and related disciplines to submit proposals for full panels, roundtables and individual papers for the upcoming DKU International Conference «Kazakhstan between East and West: Ideas, Identities and Interests».

The aim of this conference is to discuss the political, economic and social trends in Kazakhstan's development between East and West.

For centuries, Kazakhstan's geographical location in the middle of Eurasia has shaped its history, culture, trade and identity in a unique way. In the Middle Ages, the country was the middle and transit point for the famous Silk Road, which connected East and West with trade routes and led to the flourishing of many cultures and religions along the caravan routes. According to historical accounts, the region of Central Asia from 800 to 1100 was a wealthy trading region and a renowned intellectual center, boasting mathematicians, chemists, astronomers, philosophers, and musicians. In modern times, the country became the arena for bitter struggles between indigenous tribes and intruders from the west and east of the Eurasian continent. In this struggle, Kazakhstan developed into a sovereign country with a unique economic and social structure, power and military organisation and an independent foreign policy.

Taking this constellation as a starting point, this conference will examine Kazakhstan's history, politics, economy, society and culture from various theoretical and methodological perspectives. The conference organisers have decided to keep the format of the conference thematically broad in order to consider as many theoretical perspectives on the development in the country as possible. The individual sections will include but not limited to the following themes:

• Kazakhstan's foreign policy: from multi-vector to «Eurasianism' to «medium-state' diplomacy.

• Opportunities and challenges for the development of Kazakhstan's trade and logistics.

• Political transformation of the country: from «weak state' towards resilience or other way round.

• Kazakhstan and Central Asia: gains and pains of regional integration.

• Portrayal of identity and gender in Kazakhstan.

• Development of information technologies and digitalization in Kazakhstan.

• Education patterns in Kazakhstan between East and West.

• Environment and climate in Kazakhstan: agenda towards fossil-free and decarbonised future.

• Kazakhstan at intersection of culture, ideologies, and religion: where East meets West.

• Contemporary Kazakhstani identity between East and West.

The conference begins with the plenary session on Friday 29 April and ends on Sunday 01 May. The conference programme includes academic panels on individual thematic areas, roundtable discussions, book discussions and plenary sessions. Keynote speeches will be delivered by renowned scholars from Kazakhstan, Central Asia and Europe (requested).

Participants:

The conference is primarily aimed at young scholars of all disciplines from the Central Asian region (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan), but is also open to participants from other post-Soviet countries.

Working languages:

The conference will use English, German, Russian and Kazakh as working languages. To make the panel discussion more efficient, simultaneous interpreters for all four languages will work during the conference. When submitting individual papers, the organising committee will consider submissions in all four languages. However, when submitting abstracts in Kazakh or Russian, participants must include an abstract in English.

Conference format:

We intend to hold the conference in a presence format. However, as the situation with indoor events in Kazakhstan is still not reliable due to the pandemic, we reserve the right to change the conference to a hybrid format. We will do our best to inform the conference participants as early as possible about the situation on the ground and the conference schedule.

Guidelines for the submission of abstracts:

All interested applicants can submit their abstracts by 01 April 2022. All submitted proposals will be subject to a selection process. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 10 April.

. Abstracts should include the following information:

• Title of the paper;

• First and last name of author (s);

• Institutional affiliation;

• Current position and academic title;

• E-mail address;

• and an abstract of the paper (no more than 350 words)

Accepted participants are expected to register by 17 April: https://forms.gle/ujkcigdcV6YXVVx9A

Publication of the conference papers:

After the conference, it is planned to publish the conference papers in a collection of conference proceedings «Kazakhstan between East and West: ideas, identities and interests». Conference participants who wish to publish their papers are requested to submit their complete manuscripts by 15.06.2022 at the latest.

The following guidelines must be observed:

• max. 10.000 words including appendices and references

• Times New Roman font, font size 12, line spacing 1.5

• The articles must be clearly structured and show original research

• Citations and references style — MLA

The Organising Committee reserves the right to reject articles that do not meet these formal and textual requirements.

Organising Committee:

The Organising Committee is interdisciplinary staffed. This reflects the interdisciplinary character of the conference. The members of the committee are as follows:

• Dr. phil. Serik Beimenbetov, DKU, Political Science

• Dr. Dinara Tyulyubaeva, DKU, Engineering and Telecommunications

• Saduakassova Akbota, DKU, MSc., Law

• Dr Sebastian Mayer, DKU, Political Science

• Dr. Stefan Dilfer, DKU, Computer Sciences and Telecommunications

Contact details:

Abstracts for the conference as well as any organisational queries should be sent to: conference@dku.kz