Social Science Research Council

Between 2001 and 2003, the Eurasia Program held three very sucessful workshops on Central Asia and the Caucasus. The Program feels it met its overall objectives of exploring the state of Caucasus and Central Asian studies, encouraging new approaches through multidisciplinary and comparative perspectives, and reflecting on how new research on these areas is changing prevalent understandings of the "field" (in terms of discipline and/or area studies). In 2004, additional funds obtained through the efforts of the committee members allowed the SSRC to hold two workshops rather than one. The first, "Governance in Eurasia: Historical and Contemporary Approaches", focused on the thematic issue of governance. Participants addressed a variety of topics including, state and society relations, political and economic administration and (de)centralization, and familial and social interactions.

The second workshop, "Russia/Eurasia in World Context: A Dialogue with Middle East Studies", picked up where the Central Asia and Caucasus workshops left off, by asking participants to address changing geographic definitions.

In 2005, the Eurasia Program held a dissertation development workshop, "Governing Eurasia: Social Transformations and Governance Through Time" which further explored the themes generated at the 2004 "Governance in Eurasia," workshop. Participants in this workshop, held at the Davis Center, Harvard University, were encouraged to explore the ways in which social science systems produce and reproduce governing relationships, understanding that these exist both within and outside of state institutions and that they change over time.

In 2006, as in 2004, the SSRC will hold two dissertation development workshops. The spring workshop continued to address issues of governance but further complexified the topic by examining the link and intersection of governance with mobility, both social and locational. This fall's workshop will open up area studies boundaries, encourage interdisciplinary conversations and explore the continuities, connections and contrasts that can be investigated across the Eurasian/East Asian regions.

Additional information on all previous workshops, including lists of faculty and student participants, can be found by clicking the relevant link/s on the right.