CfP - 2026 Central Asian Studies Conference, University of Chicago

We are excited to announce the Central Asian Studies Conference at the University of Chicago, organized by the university's Central Asian Studies Society and taking place on April 17–18, 2026.

 

Call for Papers. We are now accepting abstracts of papers, mainly from graduate students, but also from postdoctoral fellows, faculty members, and independent scholars. We invite historians, linguists, anthropologists, art historians, literary scholars, sociologists, musicologists, and scholars of religion whose work engages with Central Asia—conceived broadly: from the Mongolian Plateau in the east to the Urals in the west, from Afghanistan in the south to the Altai Mountains in the north—between late antiquity to the present.

 

We particularly encourage submissions related to this inaugural conference’s theme: “Voices through Art and Culture: Identity Formation in Central Asia, from Music to Architecture.” What can art and culture tell us about the process of identity formation? What is the relationship between culture and politics? How were the responses to historical events that affected the whole of Central Asia, in political, ecological, economical realms differ and take shape in the forms of art and culture? How does art and culture reflect Central Asianness, whether as a unified identity and/or a condition of great diversity and difference? 

 

Keynote Speakers: The keynote speakers for the Conference are distinguished scholar of ethnomusicology Professor Theodore C. Levin and prominent Kazakh artist Gulnur Mukazhanova. 

 

Submissions. Please send submissions electronically to caconferenceuofc@gmail.com no later than Sunday, February 1, 2026. Please include your name, institutional affiliation, program of study or position, a 250-word abstract, and a tentative title. If you are unsure about the suitability of your topic, please feel free to email us at the above address. Applicants will hear back from us by late February 2026. 

 

Limited funds for travel will be available to presenters without access to institutional funding. Please indicate if you are interested in being considered for this funding in your email.