On September 28, the Oxus Society, a new Washington-based nonprofit organization, will launch its website, opening a new forum for those interested in Central Asia to connect, exchange ideas, and post material on a variety of topics having to do with the region, including the area now called Xinjiang in western China that historically has been connected with Central Asia.
It is an ambitious but timely project and, ahead of the launch, the Majlis podcast wanted to learn more about who is involved and what some of their goals are.
On this week's show, RFE/RL's media-relations manager for South and Central Asia, Muhammad Tahir, moderates a discussion on this new organization.
This week’s guests are all involved in the project.
From Washington, we're joined by Edward Lemon, assistant professor at the Department of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service and the president of the Oxus Society; and Sher Khasimov, research assistant at the Oxus Society and co-author of an upcoming article in The Calvert Journal on how civil war memories and access to the Internet in Tajikistan are affecting social activism.
From Kyrgyzstan, we're joined by Niva Yau, a graduate of the University of Hong Kong who is currently a researcher at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek specializing in Chinese foreign policy and engagement in Central Asia and Afghanistan. She is the author of a recently published article titled Russia And China’s Quiet Rivalry In Central Asia.
And the author of RFE/RL's Qishloq Ovozi blog, Bruce Pannier, also joins the discussion from Prague.
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Majlis Podcast: What Is The Oxus Society?
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