About the Program

• The first multi-disciplinary Area Studies program in

Kazakhstan and the wider region focusing on Eurasia

• 2-year

funded all-English MA

program

• Taught by

internationally recognized faculty

drawn from

North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia

• Advised and actively supported by the partnership with the

University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA)

• An

exciting opportunity

to explore the cultures, languages,

histories, communities, societies, and politics of Eurasia

• Includes the five post-Soviet Central Asian states, Russia,

Eastern Europe, Mongolia, Xinjiang, and neighboring regions

of South Asia, China and the Middle East

• An

unrivalled concentration

of scholars with Eurasian

expertise, spanning the disciplines of Anthropology,

Economics, History, Literature, Oriental Studies, Philosophy,

Political Science, and Sociology

•

Advanced academic training

for pursuing careers in

research, government, international organizations, academia,

or other fields

• Study in Astana, at the heart of Eurasia, with

unparalleled

access

to archives, fieldwork sites, government agencies,

international organizations, and foreign diplomats

•

Housing

on campus with modern facilities, labs, library and

sports center and a

monthly stipend

(only for Kazakhstani

citizens).

• Awards

“Master of Arts in Eurasian Studies”

degree

What will you gain?

Eurasian Studies graduates will gain the following academic,

research and analytical skills:

i. A solid foundation in research methods and skills across a

range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

ii. Interdisciplinary knowledge and critical and comparative

understanding of major issues in the history, society,

economy, culture and politics of the Eurasian region.

iii. The ability to apply their methodological training and research

findings across a wide range of scholarly and practical

settings.

iv. The ability to read, write and speak at least one of the

languages of the Eurasian region.

How will you gain these skills?

Eurasian Studies students will gain these skills through:

i. Training in research methods and scholarly enquiry

ii. Individual and group presentations

iii. Fieldwork projects.

iv. Writing Theoretical and methodological papers in different

disciplinary areas

v. Writing Research papers on specific topics in Eurasian

studies

vi. Proposing and developing an individual research project for

a Graduate Thesis.

Sample of courses offered

Politics of Eurasia

The Politics of Eurasia course introduces the students to the

comparative analysis of political institutions, ideas and practices

in the former Soviet countries of Eurasia. We will assess the

political legacies of the Soviet system, address the challenges of

political reforms, and analyze the origins, functioning and impact

of formal and informal political institutions. We will learn how to

construct a comparative framework and build arguments for

explaining the different political processes and outcomes post-

Soviet countries have experienced.

Post-Socialist Capitalism and Development

The main objective of this course is to examine ideological

underpinnings and social implications of post-socialist economic

transformations in the Post-Soviet Space, East-Central Europe

and China. We will approach complex economic issues such

as development policies, investment strategies, economic

boom and bust cycles from an anthropological perspective by

analyzing the norms and values that drive both institutional

policies and people’s market behavior. More specific topics will

include: liberalization/globalization, neo-liberal reforms, foreign

investment, state-capital interaction, formal/informal sectors

of economy, urban development, construction boom, capital

accumulation and dispossession.

Social Problems and Issues in Eurasia

This course will examine sociological theories of regional social

problems. The first half of the course is devoted to understanding

theories of global inequality in their many dimensions and

how they are applied. In the second half of the course we

will investigate different issues, such as Population growth,

Migration, Environmental problems, and Education in Eurasia.

Buddhism in Central Asia

This course will explore the diffusion and evolution of

Buddhism within Central Asia and along the Silk Road. We

will study the relationship between Buddhism and politics

within the Kushan and Sogdian empires as well as the

kingdoms of Kucha and Khotan. Additionally, the relationship

between Buddhism and commerce as well as the evolution

of Buddhist art and iconography will be explored. Particular

attention will be paid to the Sarvastivada, Dharmaguptaka,

and Mulasarvastivada sects of Buddhism.

Sample of courses offered

Utopia in Russian and Soviet Literature

Examining contemporary novels and poems alongside modernday

historical scholarship, this course traces the history of utopia

in Russian and Soviet literature between the revolution of 1905

and the collapse of the USSR in 1991. It examines how Russian

and Soviet writers constructed visions of ideal societies and

thereby seeks to understand the changing roots, nature, and

limits of revolutionary dreams in Tsarist Russia and the USSR. We

will further reflect on the role that literature played in questioning

narratives of progress, exploring dystopian science-fiction visions

of the future along with satirical portrayals of the Soviet present

and idealised accounts of the pre-industrial past.

The Russian Empire in Asia

and its neighbours, 1552 – 1919

This course is a detailed study of the international relations

and diplomacy of the Russian empire in Asia from the early

modern period to the October Revolution and Civil War. We will

reflect on Russia’s place in Asia, and the various competing

ideologies that have been used to justify it, from Christianity and

the conventional European civilizing mission to mystical ideas

of Russia’s spiritual affinity with ‘The East’. Beginning with the

campaigns to conquer Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia that first

turned Muscovy into a multi-confessional empire, the course

will cover Russian expansion in Asia up until the revolutionary

crisis of 1916 – 1919. The aim is to understand the possibilities

and limits of Russia claim to ‘Great Power’ status in Asia, and the

political, ideological and cultural effects on both metropole and

colony of this series of conquests and annexations.

Cotton, Irrigation and Power

This class will explore the history of production and consumption

of cotton and cotton textiles in the Russian empire and Central

Asia itself from the 18th century to the Soviets. We will gauge

the importance of cotton culture and exports from Central Asia

into Russia on the eve of the conquest. Then, we will discuss the

Turkestani ‘cotton boom’ and the conflicting agency of colonial

authorities, imperial ministers, local merchants, Russian

industrialists and banks, and small-holding Turkestani farmers.

The developments in Russian colonial knowledge about the

‘native’ irrigation networks of Turkestan will be studied parallel

to the efforts to expand land for resettlement and cotton, with or

without the involvement of private investors, in Turkestan and in

the protectorates. Comparisons will be drawn with analogous

developments in Russian Transcaucasia. The final part of the

class will be consecrated to a discussion of the differences and

similarities between Tsarist and Soviet policies in these fields.

Admission

International and Kazakhstani graduates of a recognised

undergraduate program with a

minimum CGPA of 3.45 of 5.0 or

2.75 of 4.0

or above are welcome to apply. Applicants must have

achieved a

minimum IELTS score of not less than 7.0, with no

sub-score lower than 6.0

, or the equivalent TOEFL score as

posted on the ETS website; (or evidence of native competence),

for admission. *Applicants with IELTS 6.5 or equivalent TOEFL

may be admitted conditionally.

Applicants must submit:

• application form available online at

http://admissions.nu.edu.kz

• CV/resume

• personal essay

• three confidential letters of recommendation

• notarized copy of Bachelor’s or other degree diplomas

with transcript(s)

• notarized copy of passport or identity card

• valid GRE test report (if available)

• language proficiency test reports (IELTS or TOEFL) valid as

of the commencement of the Eurasian Studies program

(for non-native English speakers)

Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview with the

Admissions Committee, which will consist of members of the

faculty and an external member from a leading international

university. The Admissions Committee will evaluate applications

on the basis of the information submitted in English. Incomplete

or late applications will not be considered by the Admissions

Committee. The Admissions Committee reserves the right

to request a completed application package in hard copy.

Submission of a completed application package by the applicant

does not guarantee admissions to the Eurasian Studies program.

Faculty Profiles:

Alima Bissenova

PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology, Cornell University, 2012

Economic Anthropology; Development; Urban Anthropology;

Anthropology of Islam.

Mwita Chacha

PhD in Political Science, University of Georgia, 2011

International political economy and cooperation.

David Hammerbeck

PhD in Theater Literature and Philosophy,

School of Theater, Film and Television,

University of California-Los Angeles, 2002

Theatre and Orientalism; South Asian Literature; Soviet and

Russian Theater and Arts; Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism

in Central Asia.

Barbara Junisbai

Ph.D. in Political Science

Indiana University, 2009

Comparative Political Regimes;

Political Economy of Post-Soviet Countries

Meiramgul Kussainova

Candidate of Science in History,

Abay Almaty State University, 2009

History of Kazakhs Elites under Russian Rule in the 19th

Century; Use of Oral Epic Poetry in the Study of 18th- and

19th-Century Kazakh History.

Munkh-Erdene Lhamsuren

Ph.D. in History & Anthropology, Hokkaido University, 2004.

Early Modern Mongolia;

contemporary Eurasian Politics and Society

Gwen McEvoy

PhD in Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, 2011

Work/Employment; Gender; Class; Qualitative Methods; East

Central Europe.

Gabriel McGuire

PhD in Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University, 2013

Central Asian Literature and Culture; Village Ethnography.

Alexander Morrison

PhD in History, University of Oxford, 2005

Colonial Turkestan; India and the British Raj; Administrative,

Institutional and Military History of the Russian Empire.

Beatrice Penati

PhD in History & Civilisations, Ecole des Hautes Etudes

en Sciences Sociales/Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, 2008

History of Tsarist and Soviet Central Asia;

Rural and Economic History.

Faculty Profiles:

Scott Savran

PhD in History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2011

Pre-modern Middle East, History of the early Islamic caliphate,

the Arab conquest of Iran.

Caress Schenk

PhD in Political Science, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, 2010

National Identity and Multiethnic States; Political Economy of

Migration; Political Corruption. Post-Soviet region.

John Schoeberlein

PhD in Social Anthropology, Harvard University, 1994

Anthropology of Religion and Secularism; Political

Anthropology; Islam; Identity; Cultural Revival; Soviet Legacy;

Changing Cultural Orientations in Eurasia; New Social Groups;

Conflict.

Charles Sullivan

PhD in Political Science, George Washington University, 2014

Russian politics; Russian political culture.

Victoria Thorstensson

PhD in Slavic Languages and Literature,

University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2013

Russian and Soviet intellectual and cultural history.

Alexei Trochev

PhD in Political Science, University of Toronto, 2005

Comparative Politics; Law and Society; Judicial Politics;

International Law; Human Rights.

Siegfried Van Duffel

PhD in Law, Ghent University, 2003

Political Theory; Ethics; Human Rights; Cultural Differences.

Christopher Whitsel

PhD in Sociology, Indiana University, 2009

Stratification; Sociology of Education; Post-Soviet Transition;

Central Asia.

Matthew Wilhite

PhD in Religious Studies, University of Iowa, 2013

East Asian Religions; Religion and Violence.

Spencer Willardson

PhD in Political Science, University of Iowa, 2013

Security Issues and Foreign Policy decision making in post-

Soviet Eurasia.

Mahire Yakup

PhD in Linguistics, University of Kansas, 2013.

Uighur language, linguistics and culture.

Sofia An

PhD University of Toronto, 2014

Child Welfare, social policy and welfare institutions

in post-Soviet Eurasia.

School of Humanities and Social Sciences,

Nazarbayev University

53 Kabanbai batyr ave,

Astana, 010000, Republic of Kazakhstan

Tel.: +7 7172 706638

E-mail: MA-Eurasia@nu.edu.kz

Web: www.shss.nu.edu.kz