Everyone is welcome.
Abstract: The conversation will use the lens of connected histories to explore Central Asia and Afghanistan’s present and prospects for the future. The focus will be on discussing the ways in which the peoples in this geography have interacted and lived with each other over the longue durée of history.
Said Reza Huseini (King’s Silk Roads Programme) specialises in Indo-Persian and Islamic history in the connected regions of Khurasan and North India over the longue durée, from Late Antiquity to the early modern era. His research is based on a wide range of documentary and literary sources in Persian, Middle Persian, Bactrian, Sogdian and Arabic. He completed his PhD Dissertation on Arab Muslim conquests of Bactria at Leiden University. He is currently working as part of King’s Silk Roads Programme, writing a monograph entitled The Mongols in Persian Discourse: Continuity and Changes 1252-1582. He has published various articles on the socio-political situation in late antique Bactria, fiscal system in pre-Mongol Khurasan and co-authored several articles on Neoplatunic kingship in Mughal India. His first book, The Arab Conquests of Bactria: Local Power Politics and Arab Domination (651–750 CE), will be published by Edinburgh University Press.
Prajakti Kalra (Cambridge Central Asia Forum & Wolfson College) is trained as a historian, political scientist and a psychologist. Her interests are in the areas of the history of the Mongol Empire and Central Asia. Her focus is on building avenues of communication and exchanges based on historical precedents and bringing local narratives into global speak in order to best facilitate interaction and knowledge production. Her manuscript, ‘The Silk Road and the Political Economy of the Mongol Empire’, came out in 2018 (Routledge). Her latest publications include, “Intercontinental and Long Distance Trade in Medieval Eurasia” in Routledge Medieval Studies; “Pax Mongolica: Trade and Traders in the Mongol Empire” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History (OUP); "The Case for Science Diplomacy in Mongol Eurasia" in the Journal of Eurasian Studies; "Locating Central Eurasia's Inherent Resilience" in Cambridge Review of International Affairs (CUP); and her article on “Mongol International Law in the 13th Century” will come out in Cambridge History of International Law Volume 2 (CUP) in 2025.