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Read the latest news from the Steppe Sisters group, including information about our conference in Tashkent, new online library, and grant database! Click here to read the Winter 2023 newsletter, or enter your email in our "Contact Us" box to subscribe to our mailing list to receive this directly to your inbox. 

This article by Steppe Sister Elissa Bullion and her colleagues discusses the discovery and excavation of an early Islamic cemetery in the highlands of Central Asia at the site of Tashbulak, in modern-day Uzbekistan. The Tashbulak cemetery demonstrates the presence of an early Islamic community in a rural region, challenging narratives that Islam was slowly adopted in these areas as it diffused from urban centers. 

Find the article here (open access):

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/community-practice-and-religion-at-an-early-islamic-cemetery-in-highland-central-asia/4C292A5614CFA03DF5059B1798B70990

Duturaeva, Dilnoza. Qarakhanid Roads to China: A History of Sino-Turkic Relations. Leiden: Brill, 2022.

Qarakhanid Roads to China reconsiders the diplomacy, trade and geography of transcontinental networks between Central Asia and China from the 10th to the 12th centuries and challenges the concept of “the Silk Road crisis” in the period between the fall of the Tang Dynasty and the rise of the Mongols. Utilizing a broad range of Islamic and Chinese primary sources together with archaeological data, Dilnoza Duturaeva demonstrates the complexity of interaction along the Silk Roads and beyond that, revolutionizes our understanding of the Qarakhanid world and Song-era China’s relations with neighboring regions. 

The e-book version of this publication is available in Open Access: https://brill.com/view/title/61452

The Steppe Sisters Network supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation will hold a conference for early career researchers at the National Center of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan in Tashkent from September 5-7, 2022. The training workshop is designed to enhance the capacity of women researchers in history, archaeology, ecology and anthropology and create a community of scholars interested in Central and Inner Asian Research. The conference will focus on topics to help early career researchers and students succeed in a wide range of academic fields.

For information see: https://www.steppesisters.org/early-career-conference

The School of History, Archaeology and Religion wishes to appoint a fixed-term full-time lecturer in Russian History. The post is for 12 months to cover a period of externally funded leave. You will possess a record or potential for excellence in research in modern Russian History and evidence of high-quality teaching at undergraduate level.

For more information see:

https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CNS437/lecturer-in-modern-russian-history

PAUSE is the French Program for the Urgent Aid and Reception of Scientists and Artists in Exile (Programme National d'Accueil en Urgence des Scientifiques et Artistes en Exile).

The next deadline is April 8, 2022.

https://www.college-de-france.fr/site/en-program-pause/Presentation-of-the-program.htm

Under this topic the German Archaeological Institute offers several short-term fellowships for young scholars. With these fellowships, we also want to specifically support at-risk colleagues from Ukraine to conduct research at one of the DAI sites in Germany or abroad, and we expressly welcome their applications.

Questions related to the field of comparative global archaeology represent a major element of DAI’s research themes. However, “global archaeology” is also interpreted in the sense of how archaeological research is conducted in a globalized world. The connected topic of “sustainable archaeology” encompasses a variety of aspects associated with this theme, such as (and not limited to) community archaeology, public engagement or postcolonial studies. Related to this, the DAI is also interested in “archaeology of sustainability”, i.e., investigating how past cultures sought sustainable solutions or how they reflected upon the sustainability of their actions and practices.

Applications may be submitted no later than 29.04.2022.

For more information: 

https://www.dainst.org/en/-/research-fellowship-global-archaeology-sustainable-archaeology-and-the-archaeology-of-sustainability-deadline-29-04-2022-

UNESCO IESALC and the National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia) will hold the International Conference on Higher Education Developments in the former Soviet Space, 30 years since the end of the Soviet Union, on February 14-15, 2022.

For further information see: https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/en/evento/next-generation-reflections-and-future-perspectives-on-higher-education-in-the-former-soviet-union/

The Caspian Sea is the most extensive inland water system globally, situated at the crossroads between Europe and Asia. It resembles marine ecosystems, but it has similar characteristics to lakes with some salinity which vary as per the location and the regional water balance. Being an endorheic basin, the Caspian Sea is highly susceptible to climatic and hydrological changes from natural and human-induced factors.

The objective of this Special Issue is to identify the major sustainability and environmental challenges and the initiatives and policies to be adopted for sustainable water management of the Caspian Sea in a national and regional context.

We encourage the interested authors to send a concept note to stefanos.xenarios@nu.edu.kz  until 28^th February 2022 about their topic of interest before the submission process.

For more information: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/sustainability-environmental-challenges-caspian-sea/?utm_source=TFO&utm_medium=cms&utm_campaign=JPG15743#?utm_source=CPB&utm_medium=cms&utm_campaign=JPG15743

École des hautes études en sciences sociales has opened 10 postdoctoral positions for a period of one year including 2 positions in the medieval history of the Islamic world (7^th-16^th centuries) and imperial institutions and practices in Muslim Asia.

Deadline: February 2, 2022

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