Talk by Boram Shin, Jeonbuk National University, South Korea on Central Asian Writers on a Mission: Soviet Cultural Diplomacy in WWII Years

Cambridge Central Asia Forum invites you to a talk by

Boram Shin, Jeonbuk National University, South Korea

on

Central Asian Writers on a Mission: Soviet Cultural Diplomacy in WWII Years

Date: 16 February 2024

Time: 11am-1pm

In person: Venue: Room SG2, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DT 

Online: Zoom Registration: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIrf-uhrz8sG9ToxANGS2trU5JbGLSpmw-A

Abstract: Central Asia’s interactions with regions outside the Soviet borders during the Cold War have been largely ignored, despite evidence of the vital role it played in Soviet engagement with decolonising nations in Asia, as a model for a developed, decolonized, socialist nation. Central Asia was essential to Soviet cultural diplomacy, as Moscow sought to establish an anti-imperialist alliance with decolonizing countries in Asia and Africa. The paper explores the implications of encounters of Central Asians in Asia on the Soviet interpretation of post-WWII Asia and the role of Central Asia in promoting anti-imperialist solidarity domestically and internationally. 

Biography: Prof Boram Shin is Assistant Professor at the School of International Studies at Jeonbuk National University, South Korea. She received a PhD degree in Slavonic Studies from University of Cambridge with a dissertation that explored national identity construction in Uzbekistan through Soviet culture from the 1930s to the 1940s. Currently Prof Shin is working on Soviet and Central Asian cultural and science diplomacy during the Cold War.