Social Science Research Council

The Eurasia program of the Social Science Research Council seeks to develop new directions for scholarship on this region, and to provide opportunities for international networking and collaborative research. The program's geographical reach includes the new states of Eurasia as well as Eastern European countries. The tremendous upheaval that this region has seen and continues to experience poses challenges for understanding societal transformations and also for existing modes of research and the training of a new generation of scholars. Researchers have to question the very notion of "region" given recent geo-political changes and have to avail themselves of resources and training that generally are assigned to different area studies departments.

With this in mind, program boundaries are kept deliberately vague between the Eurasia program, the Europe program, and the Middle East and North Africa Program since Eastern European and Central Asian countries could be included within different regions. Rather than imposing strict geographical boundaries, the Eurasia program determines geographies according to the themes and the theoretical and empirical questions under consideration in any given project. These projects are developed through consultation with a wide range of scholars, including the Regional Advisory Panel for Eurasia and the Eurasia Program's Title VIII Committee.

 
The objectives of the Eurasia program are:

• To identify and chart new directions of research that promote a better understanding of the changes occurring in the region, including changing boundaries and the rise of new regionalisms.

• To contribute to the strengthening of research infrastructure both in the U.S. and in the countries of the region, through sponsorship of research, faculty development, student training, curriculum development, supporting the development of professional associations and dissemination of information on social science research and resources.

• To support the development of international and regional research networks as well as comparative cross-regional research.

Current Activities

The long-standing Title VIII Program continues to provide important support and funding for U.S. scholars working on the region through various means, including:

• An individual fellowship program for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral research, training, and curriculum development. 

• An institutional grants program in support of summer language programs at U.S. universities. Applications for summer 2008 programs are now available.

• Dissertation Development Workshops
  Workshops have included:
  "Violence in Eurasia: Historical and Contemporary Approaches."

Teaching Islam in Eurasia: A Series of Summer Institutes
This project creates and improves both institutional and individual networking and addresses methodological and pedagogic issues related to teaching Islam in a manner that takes into account differing political and cultural contexts, theological pluralism and freedom of belief, while furthering academic rigor and disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards. No longer accepting applications.

On-line Teaching Resource Tool: Histories of Central Asia
The SSRC, working in collaboration with leading American scholars and international research teams, will provide university instructors from a variety of disciplines with supplementary course material related to the greater Central Asia region.

Kyrgyz Educational Partnership Program
This three-year Educational Partnerships Program (2003-06) addresses the teaching of Islam, Islamic Studies, and Comparative Religions at the Islamic University of Kyrgyzstan, in collaboration with a number of U.S. partner universities, including Harvard University, Indiana University, the University of Washington in Seattle, and Stanford University.

Additional information about other projects and initiatives that are underway will be posted to this site as details develop.