Alun Thomas
@alunrthomas.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Eurasian Studies at University of Staffordshire. Interested in Central Asia and Russia. Branch Development Officer for Staffs UCU.
Reposted by Alun Thomas
The book is out! www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
November 2, 2025 at 5:21 PM
The book is out! www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
A PhD opportunity at Malmö University, 'with a focus on administrative law reform and authoritarian legitimation in Central Asia'. Deadline 31st Jan. If anyone's interested I can put you in touch with people at Malmö.
web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/101...
web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/101...
Employment as a doctoral student in Global politics
Malmö University is an innovative, urban, and internationally-oriented academic institution that, thanks to its committed
web103.reachmee.com
January 16, 2026 at 12:55 PM
A PhD opportunity at Malmö University, 'with a focus on administrative law reform and authoritarian legitimation in Central Asia'. Deadline 31st Jan. If anyone's interested I can put you in touch with people at Malmö.
web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/101...
web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/101...
Reposted by Alun Thomas
Much has been said about the colonial roots of anthropology. Area studies have been criticized for being an arm of US soft power. Western academia and soft power structures provided employment for those with niche interests in other places. But what happens now that it’s all crumbling?
January 10, 2026 at 12:37 PM
Much has been said about the colonial roots of anthropology. Area studies have been criticized for being an arm of US soft power. Western academia and soft power structures provided employment for those with niche interests in other places. But what happens now that it’s all crumbling?
Honest question, not at all snarky: why don't journal editors ever send brief notes of thanks to peer reviewers? I always submit prompt and (I'd like to think) fair, thorough peer reviews, and a two-sentence email of thanks would really hit the spot sometimes.
January 10, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Honest question, not at all snarky: why don't journal editors ever send brief notes of thanks to peer reviewers? I always submit prompt and (I'd like to think) fair, thorough peer reviews, and a two-sentence email of thanks would really hit the spot sometimes.
'Eurasian exchanges: Central Asian nomadic pastoralists, mountain ecosystems, and market economies in the early twentieth century', by Jennifer Keating UCD [open access]
www.cambridge.org/core/service...
www.cambridge.org/core/service...
www.cambridge.org
December 19, 2025 at 4:53 PM
'Eurasian exchanges: Central Asian nomadic pastoralists, mountain ecosystems, and market economies in the early twentieth century', by Jennifer Keating UCD [open access]
www.cambridge.org/core/service...
www.cambridge.org/core/service...
Reposted by Alun Thomas
Congratulations to Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky, winner of the Barbara Jelavich Book Prize for Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State with Stanford University Press.
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/rh9Tt7b
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/rh9Tt7b
October 17, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Congratulations to Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky, winner of the Barbara Jelavich Book Prize for Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State with Stanford University Press.
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/rh9Tt7b
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/rh9Tt7b
Reposted by Alun Thomas
Since this wound up being a popular thread, sharing an excellent backgrounder on the elections in Kyrgyzstan from @aijanco.bsky.social in The Diplomat: thediplomat.com/2025/11/is-p...
Is Politics Dead in Kyrgyzstan?
As snap parliamentary elections approach, there’s a distinct lack of energy or interest.
thediplomat.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Since this wound up being a popular thread, sharing an excellent backgrounder on the elections in Kyrgyzstan from @aijanco.bsky.social in The Diplomat: thediplomat.com/2025/11/is-p...
Reposted by Alun Thomas
We're advertising!!! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK289/a...
Assistant Professor in Environmental History (111009-1125) at University of Warwick
Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Assistant Professor in Environmental History (111009-1125) on jobs.ac.uk!
www.jobs.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 3:47 PM
We're advertising!!! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK289/a...
Incredible resource for Central Asianists, just as you'd expect from Sergei Abashin: abashin.org
История и Антропология Центральной Азии — Сайт Сергея Абашина
abashin.org
November 6, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Incredible resource for Central Asianists, just as you'd expect from Sergei Abashin: abashin.org
Returning to teaching materials that I devised years ago provides a vivid sense of how far we've moved. The agonising efforts I made to force students to really think about the minutiae of bias, subjectivity, (in)accuracy, in source material; it all seems so quaint in the era of Google's AI summary.
October 31, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Returning to teaching materials that I devised years ago provides a vivid sense of how far we've moved. The agonising efforts I made to force students to really think about the minutiae of bias, subjectivity, (in)accuracy, in source material; it all seems so quaint in the era of Google's AI summary.
Reposted by Alun Thomas
Instead of building on Bishkek’s advantages (it was such a lush and green city, trolleybuses, new bike lanes). The authorities are going tabula rasa with the promise of a bombastic leap into the future, an attempt to imitate Almaty, Tashkent and the Gulf states all at once
October 27, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Instead of building on Bishkek’s advantages (it was such a lush and green city, trolleybuses, new bike lanes). The authorities are going tabula rasa with the promise of a bombastic leap into the future, an attempt to imitate Almaty, Tashkent and the Gulf states all at once
My new article has just been made available online, open access, with Urban History. It looks at how Kyrgyz pastoralists, returning to the Chui Valley after the violence of 1916, were received in their new capital city in the early Soviet period 1/2
doi.org/10.1017/S096...
doi.org/10.1017/S096...
‘Since it’s about to be a capital’: managing urban growth and pasturage in early Soviet Bishkek | Urban History | Cambridge Core
‘Since it’s about to be a capital’: managing urban growth and pasturage in early Soviet Bishkek
doi.org
September 29, 2025 at 11:45 AM
My new article has just been made available online, open access, with Urban History. It looks at how Kyrgyz pastoralists, returning to the Chui Valley after the violence of 1916, were received in their new capital city in the early Soviet period 1/2
doi.org/10.1017/S096...
doi.org/10.1017/S096...
Manas Airport in Bishkek finally changes its IATA code from FRU (to BSZ). FRU was a legacy of the Soviet era when Bishkek was named after Mikhail Frunze, a Bolshevik revolutionary born in the city.
24.kg/english/3391...
24.kg/english/3391...
Manas Airport officially changes IATA code from FRU to BSZ - | 24.KG
Manas International Airport has officially changed its IATA code from FRU to BSZ. The press service of Airports of Kyrgyzstan JSC reported.
24.kg
August 12, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Manas Airport in Bishkek finally changes its IATA code from FRU (to BSZ). FRU was a legacy of the Soviet era when Bishkek was named after Mikhail Frunze, a Bolshevik revolutionary born in the city.
24.kg/english/3391...
24.kg/english/3391...
Reposted by Alun Thomas
The BASEES Eurasian Regions Study Group have put together a roundtable at #ICCEES on publishing in academic journals for postgraduates and early career researchers. Come along to meet friendly editors and ask questions! You can submit questions anonymously here too: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
July 21, 2025 at 6:36 AM
The BASEES Eurasian Regions Study Group have put together a roundtable at #ICCEES on publishing in academic journals for postgraduates and early career researchers. Come along to meet friendly editors and ask questions! You can submit questions anonymously here too: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Alun Thomas
Heading to #ICCEES2025 next week? We have put together a list of sessions that may be of interest to Peripheral Histories? readers here: www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/iccees-...
ICCEES XI World Congress 2025
The ICCEES XI World Congress is being hosted by UCL in London in 2025, and will run from Monday 21st July to Friday 25th July. There is a large and diverse range of panels and roundtables to view, ei...
www.peripheralhistories.co.uk
July 18, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Heading to #ICCEES2025 next week? We have put together a list of sessions that may be of interest to Peripheral Histories? readers here: www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/iccees-...
Reposted by Alun Thomas
My forthcoming article on the Thaw in Tatarstan is now available online through The Russian Review. Thanks to colleagues and friends who helped make it possible!
“I Wanted to Bite at the Chauvinists”: Tatar History, Culture, and Politics during the Thaw
This article assesses the activities of Tatar intellectual and cultural elites during the decade and a half following Stalin's death in 1953. The climate of reform and de-Stalinization under Nikita K...
doi.org
June 30, 2025 at 3:51 PM
My forthcoming article on the Thaw in Tatarstan is now available online through The Russian Review. Thanks to colleagues and friends who helped make it possible!
It's easy to roll your eyes at much of the research governance jargon, but 'original contribution to knowledge' does neatly encapsulate some of what we do that ChatGPT absolutely does not do.
June 24, 2025 at 11:28 AM
It's easy to roll your eyes at much of the research governance jargon, but 'original contribution to knowledge' does neatly encapsulate some of what we do that ChatGPT absolutely does not do.
Reposted by Alun Thomas
Delighted to contribute to this book of essays by authors around the world examining 35 of the world's pressing problems - for me it was "Is Democracy Under Threat?" Thanks to Dosym Satpayev for being the inspiration for the book. Now in bookshops in Kazakhstan + on Kaspi - buy it!
June 12, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Delighted to contribute to this book of essays by authors around the world examining 35 of the world's pressing problems - for me it was "Is Democracy Under Threat?" Thanks to Dosym Satpayev for being the inspiration for the book. Now in bookshops in Kazakhstan + on Kaspi - buy it!
Reposted by Alun Thomas
Today's Central Asian Photo of the Day:
📷 The statue of Lenin in Osh, a city in southern Kyrgyzstan. Once the biggest Lenin in Central Asia, Kyrgyz authorities took it down this week.
lifeincentralasia.picfair.com/images/02163...
📷 The statue of Lenin in Osh, a city in southern Kyrgyzstan. Once the biggest Lenin in Central Asia, Kyrgyz authorities took it down this week.
lifeincentralasia.picfair.com/images/02163...
Lenin, Osh by Jonathan Campion - buy prints & digital downloads
Lenin, Osh by Jonathan Campion - buy prints, or license images for editorial, commercial or advertising use.
lifeincentralasia.picfair.com
June 7, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Today's Central Asian Photo of the Day:
📷 The statue of Lenin in Osh, a city in southern Kyrgyzstan. Once the biggest Lenin in Central Asia, Kyrgyz authorities took it down this week.
lifeincentralasia.picfair.com/images/02163...
📷 The statue of Lenin in Osh, a city in southern Kyrgyzstan. Once the biggest Lenin in Central Asia, Kyrgyz authorities took it down this week.
lifeincentralasia.picfair.com/images/02163...
Reposted by Alun Thomas
Basically I said the statue story is about the local politics of Osh, and the big question (which I don't think I've seen answered yet?) is less why Lenin came down, but who replaces him on that plinth...
June 7, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Basically I said the statue story is about the local politics of Osh, and the big question (which I don't think I've seen answered yet?) is less why Lenin came down, but who replaces him on that plinth...
Assuming they use the interview I'll be on the BBC World Service tonight at 10pm chatting to Lyse Doucet(!) about Kyrgyzstan.
June 7, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Assuming they use the interview I'll be on the BBC World Service tonight at 10pm chatting to Lyse Doucet(!) about Kyrgyzstan.
Reposted by Alun Thomas
The last two days have seen 2 bits of bad news in academic publishing: Oxford UP using AI copyediting, and now Amsterdam UP being gobbled up by T&F. The journal I edit, @contemplevant.bsky.social, is published by T&F, and that’s not something that can be changed in the short/medium term, but…
June 6, 2025 at 1:34 PM
The last two days have seen 2 bits of bad news in academic publishing: Oxford UP using AI copyediting, and now Amsterdam UP being gobbled up by T&F. The journal I edit, @contemplevant.bsky.social, is published by T&F, and that’s not something that can be changed in the short/medium term, but…
Reposted by Alun Thomas
We are heading to Alaska with our latest post. Many thanks to Aglaia Gulakova for sharing her fascinating research on the history of Old Believers’ migration and resettlement www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/in-purs...
In Pursuit of Home: The History of Old Believers’ Resettlement in Alaska
Aglaia GulakovaThese remaining Old Believers must be seen – their strength, their conviction, their selfless nightly prayers (no longer feasible for us), their vital courage and determination – in tho...
www.peripheralhistories.co.uk
June 3, 2025 at 8:15 AM
We are heading to Alaska with our latest post. Many thanks to Aglaia Gulakova for sharing her fascinating research on the history of Old Believers’ migration and resettlement www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/in-purs...
I was Chair of my union branch when my university made 10% cuts in staffing and it was extremely tough. I don't have any special insight into how the sector is faring, but what I keep thinking is: in c. 10 years the press/business/civil service are going to ask for an expert in x or y... 1/2
May 18, 2025 at 7:59 PM
I was Chair of my union branch when my university made 10% cuts in staffing and it was extremely tough. I don't have any special insight into how the sector is faring, but what I keep thinking is: in c. 10 years the press/business/civil service are going to ask for an expert in x or y... 1/2
Reposted by Alun Thomas
BASEES is delighted to announce three annual prizes recognising the contribution of those teaching Slavonic, East European and Eurasian Studies (and the languages thereof).
* Early Career Excellence
* Distinguished Excellence
* Language Teaching Excellence
Full information basees.org/teaching-exc...
* Early Career Excellence
* Distinguished Excellence
* Language Teaching Excellence
Full information basees.org/teaching-exc...
April 23, 2025 at 11:34 AM
BASEES is delighted to announce three annual prizes recognising the contribution of those teaching Slavonic, East European and Eurasian Studies (and the languages thereof).
* Early Career Excellence
* Distinguished Excellence
* Language Teaching Excellence
Full information basees.org/teaching-exc...
* Early Career Excellence
* Distinguished Excellence
* Language Teaching Excellence
Full information basees.org/teaching-exc...