Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Today I received some of the best, kindest peer review I've ever had, and on a piece I am extremely excited about. Can't wait to get it revised and in print (yes, we are entering a post-literate age and LLMs will feast on it immediately; allow me a moment's joy nonetheless). 020
Reposted by Alun ThomasYan Matusevich @ymatusik.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan used to be the two most remittance dependent countries in the world back in 2017 and 2018, but have gone on completely different trajectories since. In 2025, remittances make up almost 60% of Tajikistan's GDP whereas that number has dropped to just 17% in Kyrgyzstan. 182
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 15/08/2026The Arday story is tragic and complex. What institution should be better suited to navigate that complexity in the public conversation than a university? But the structure of UK HE has created institutions which balk at such a challenge. And so we are once again left at the mercy of the polemicists. 000
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 01/07/2026An actual academic job! At a UK university! Temporary but full-time! Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Intelligence Studies. Deadline for applications is very soon. Please share widely. Contact me for more info. uk.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk...uk.indeed.comLecturer/Senior Lecturer in Intelligence Studies - Stoke-on-Trent - Indeed.comApply for the Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Intelligence Studies job in Stoke-on-Trent! Learn more about the job description, salary and job details to see if you qualify on Indeed today. 153
Reposted by Alun ThomasPeripheral Histories? @peripheralhist.bsky.social · 21/05/2026For all those interested in the history of the Second World War and Latvia, we have a new author interview for you. Check out our conversation with @harrymerritt.bsky.social on his recently-published book 'Latvian Soldiers of World War II' www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/latvian...peripheralhistories.co.ukLatvian Soldiers of World War II: Fighting for the Homeland in Nazi and Soviet ServiceIn Latvian Soldiers of World War II: Fighting for the Homeland in Nazi and Soviet Service (Oxford University Press, 2026), Harry C. Merritt explores the wartime experiences and postwar legacies of the... 085
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 06/05/2026I'll be leading the Uni of Staffordshire UCU AGM this afternoon at 13.00 - Staffs members please contact me if you'd like more details (or consult the posters that I've carpet bombed campus with of late). @staffsucu.bsky.social we have a lot to discuss. 📢 000
Reposted by Alun ThomasYan Matusevich @ymatusik.bsky.social · 17/04/2026Recorded the first episode of my new monthly Central Asia infused musical radio hour at Sphere Radio, an independent radio station in Leipzig The first mix includes some of my favorite retro gems from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan on.soundcloud.com/29fjCOYHfGzS...soundcloud.comOrta #1 - Aralash - yaxshiyan - 14.04.2026The first edition of ORTA is called Aralash, which means “mix” in Kyrgyz and is also the name of a popular Central Asian fizzy drink. This episode shakes things up with an eclectic outburst of tunes f 1138
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 13/04/2026Rejection from Leverhulme, so no book on the origins of Kyrgyzstan from me! Not complaining; no doubt my bid was reviewed fairly, and all the best bids were moved to detailed application stage (congrats to those who were!). But it's tough working in an ever tightening national research environment. 240
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 27/03/2026Be sure to check out the latest fascinating post on the @peripheralhist.bsky.social website! Peasant Memoirs from Interwar Poland and 'the Power of Irony'. We are always seeking new academic contributors, get in touch if you'd like to know more! www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/peasant...peripheralhistories.co.ukPeasant Memoirs from Interwar Northeastern Poland and the Power of IronyStanisław Edward Boridczenko Writing from the MarginsIn much of Eastern Europe, as elsewhere, contemporary national histories have traditionally been written from the perspective of elites, with a fe... 000
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 26/03/2026Many congratulations to @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social on winning the Nove Prize for her book The Kazakh Spring! There is no more deserving scholar! 110
Reposted by Alun ThomasPeripheral Histories? @peripheralhist.bsky.social · 20/03/2026New post alert! This week we have Stanisław Edward Boridczenko on interwar Polish memoirs and the power of irony www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/peasant...peripheralhistories.co.ukPeasant Memoirs from Interwar Northeastern Poland and the Power of IronyStanisław Edward Boridczenko Writing from the MarginsIn much of Eastern Europe, as elsewhere, contemporary national histories have traditionally been written from the perspective of elites, with a fe... 033
Reposted by Alun ThomasPeter Whitewood @pwhitewood.bsky.social · 11/03/2026The Smolensk archive, one of the most famous collections for the study of Stalinism and Soviet provincial government, and which supported pioneering research from the 1950s can now be found onlinecatalog.archives.govThe online portal to the records held at the National Archives, and information about those records. 074
Reposted by Alun ThomasJoanna Lillis @joannalillis.bsky.social · 09/03/2026Join us tomorrow for a webinar on #CentralAsia-#China relations, hosted by @caspiancenter.bsky.social er.bsky.social. Register here to tune in on Tuesday 10 March, 1000 UK time, 1500 in #Kazakhstan #Uzbekistan www.caspianpolicy.org/events/detai...caspianpolicy.orgCPC | Events - Central Asia and China: Partnership or Dependence?Central Asia and China: Partnership or Dependence? 032
Reposted by Alun ThomasDr Frank Maracchione - 马峰澜 @frankmaracchione.bsky.social · 06/03/2026Super excited to have this out! Please listen and share! :) With @juanitamarieelias.bsky.social @mybisa.bsky.social! 022
Reposted by Alun ThomasRian Thum @rianthum.bsky.social · 02/11/2025The book is out! www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067... 3234
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 16/01/2026A PhD opportunity at Malmö University, 'with a focus on administrative law reform and authoritarian legitimation in Central Asia'. Deadline 31st Jan. If anyone's interested I can put you in touch with people at Malmö. web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/101...web103.reachmee.comEmployment as a doctoral student in Global politicsMalmö University is an innovative, urban, and internationally-oriented academic institution that, thanks to its committed 001
Reposted by Alun ThomasYan Matusevich @ymatusik.bsky.social · 10/01/2026Much has been said about the colonial roots of anthropology. Area studies have been criticized for being an arm of US soft power. Western academia and soft power structures provided employment for those with niche interests in other places. But what happens now that it’s all crumbling? 1224
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 10/01/2026Honest question, not at all snarky: why don't journal editors ever send brief notes of thanks to peer reviewers? I always submit prompt and (I'd like to think) fair, thorough peer reviews, and a two-sentence email of thanks would really hit the spot sometimes. 140
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 19/12/2025'Eurasian exchanges: Central Asian nomadic pastoralists, mountain ecosystems, and market economies in the early twentieth century', by Jennifer Keating UCD [open access] www.cambridge.org/core/service...cambridge.org 252
Reposted by Alun ThomasASEEES Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies @aseees.bsky.social · 17/10/2025Congratulations to Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky, winner of the Barbara Jelavich Book Prize for Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State with Stanford University Press. #ASEEESPrizes See all winners: buff.ly/rh9Tt7b 0115
Reposted by Alun ThomasNate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 22/11/2025Since this wound up being a popular thread, sharing an excellent backgrounder on the elections in Kyrgyzstan from @aijanco.bsky.social in The Diplomat: thediplomat.com/2025/11/is-p...thediplomat.comIs Politics Dead in Kyrgyzstan?As snap parliamentary elections approach, there’s a distinct lack of energy or interest. 1126
Reposted by Alun ThomasD. Anca Cretu @dacretu.bsky.social · 12/11/2025We're advertising!!! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK289/a...jobs.ac.ukAssistant Professor in Environmental History (111009-1125) at University of WarwickLooking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Assistant Professor in Environmental History (111009-1125) on jobs.ac.uk! 014
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 06/11/2025Incredible resource for Central Asianists, just as you'd expect from Sergei Abashin: abashin.orgabashin.orgИстория и Антропология Центральной Азии — Сайт Сергея Абашина 071
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 31/10/2025Returning to teaching materials that I devised years ago provides a vivid sense of how far we've moved. The agonising efforts I made to force students to really think about the minutiae of bias, subjectivity, (in)accuracy, in source material; it all seems so quaint in the era of Google's AI summary. 030
Reposted by Alun ThomasYan Matusevich @ymatusik.bsky.social · 27/10/2025Instead of building on Bishkek’s advantages (it was such a lush and green city, trolleybuses, new bike lanes). The authorities are going tabula rasa with the promise of a bombastic leap into the future, an attempt to imitate Almaty, Tashkent and the Gulf states all at once 052
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 29/09/2025My new article has just been made available online, open access, with Urban History. It looks at how Kyrgyz pastoralists, returning to the Chui Valley after the violence of 1916, were received in their new capital city in the early Soviet period 1/2 doi.org/10.1017/S096...doi.org‘Since it’s about to be a capital’: managing urban growth and pasturage in early Soviet Bishkek | Urban History | Cambridge Core‘Since it’s about to be a capital’: managing urban growth and pasturage in early Soviet Bishkek 130
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 12/08/2025Manas Airport in Bishkek finally changes its IATA code from FRU (to BSZ). FRU was a legacy of the Soviet era when Bishkek was named after Mikhail Frunze, a Bolshevik revolutionary born in the city. 24.kg/english/3391...24.kgManas Airport officially changes IATA code from FRU to BSZ - | 24.KGManas International Airport has officially changed its IATA code from FRU to BSZ. The press service of Airports of Kyrgyzstan JSC reported. 120
Reposted by Alun ThomasPeripheral Histories? @peripheralhist.bsky.social · 21/07/2025The BASEES Eurasian Regions Study Group have put together a roundtable at #ICCEES on publishing in academic journals for postgraduates and early career researchers. Come along to meet friendly editors and ask questions! You can submit questions anonymously here too: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 044
Reposted by Alun ThomasPeripheral Histories? @peripheralhist.bsky.social · 18/07/2025Heading to #ICCEES2025 next week? We have put together a list of sessions that may be of interest to Peripheral Histories? readers here: www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/iccees-...peripheralhistories.co.ukICCEES XI World Congress 2025The ICCEES XI World Congress is being hosted by UCL in London in 2025, and will run from Monday 21st July to Friday 25th July. There is a large and diverse range of panels and roundtables to view, ei... 1177
Reposted by Alun ThomasJohn M. Romero @romerojohnm.bsky.social · 30/06/2025My forthcoming article on the Thaw in Tatarstan is now available online through The Russian Review. Thanks to colleagues and friends who helped make it possible!doi.org“I Wanted to Bite at the Chauvinists”: Tatar History, Culture, and Politics during the ThawThis article assesses the activities of Tatar intellectual and cultural elites during the decade and a half following Stalin's death in 1953. The climate of reform and de-Stalinization under Nikita K... 0173
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 24/06/2025It's easy to roll your eyes at much of the research governance jargon, but 'original contribution to knowledge' does neatly encapsulate some of what we do that ChatGPT absolutely does not do. 000
Reposted by Alun ThomasJoanna Lillis @joannalillis.bsky.social · 12/06/2025Delighted to contribute to this book of essays by authors around the world examining 35 of the world's pressing problems - for me it was "Is Democracy Under Threat?" Thanks to Dosym Satpayev for being the inspiration for the book. Now in bookshops in Kazakhstan + on Kaspi - buy it! 021
Reposted by Alun ThomasJonathan Campion @jonathancampion.com · 07/06/2025Today's Central Asian Photo of the Day: 📷 The statue of Lenin in Osh, a city in southern Kyrgyzstan. Once the biggest Lenin in Central Asia, Kyrgyz authorities took it down this week. lifeincentralasia.picfair.com/images/02163...lifeincentralasia.picfair.comLenin, Osh by Jonathan Campion - buy prints & digital downloadsLenin, Osh by Jonathan Campion - buy prints, or license images for editorial, commercial or advertising use. 021
Reposted by Alun ThomasAlun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 07/06/2025Basically I said the statue story is about the local politics of Osh, and the big question (which I don't think I've seen answered yet?) is less why Lenin came down, but who replaces him on that plinth... 121
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 07/06/2025Assuming they use the interview I'll be on the BBC World Service tonight at 10pm chatting to Lyse Doucet(!) about Kyrgyzstan. 140
Reposted by Alun ThomasDr Sarah Irving @drtermagant.bsky.social · 06/06/2025The last two days have seen 2 bits of bad news in academic publishing: Oxford UP using AI copyediting, and now Amsterdam UP being gobbled up by T&F. The journal I edit, @contemplevant.bsky.social, is published by T&F, and that’s not something that can be changed in the short/medium term, but… 1184
Reposted by Alun ThomasPeripheral Histories? @peripheralhist.bsky.social · 03/06/2025We are heading to Alaska with our latest post. Many thanks to Aglaia Gulakova for sharing her fascinating research on the history of Old Believers’ migration and resettlement www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/in-purs...peripheralhistories.co.ukIn Pursuit of Home: The History of Old Believers’ Resettlement in AlaskaAglaia GulakovaThese remaining Old Believers must be seen – their strength, their conviction, their selfless nightly prayers (no longer feasible for us), their vital courage and determination – in tho... 1166
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 18/05/2025I was Chair of my union branch when my university made 10% cuts in staffing and it was extremely tough. I don't have any special insight into how the sector is faring, but what I keep thinking is: in c. 10 years the press/business/civil service are going to ask for an expert in x or y... 1/2 282
Reposted by Alun ThomasBritish Association for Slavonic and East European Studies @basees.bsky.social · 23/04/2025BASEES is delighted to announce three annual prizes recognising the contribution of those teaching Slavonic, East European and Eurasian Studies (and the languages thereof). * Early Career Excellence * Distinguished Excellence * Language Teaching Excellence Full information basees.org/teaching-exc... 025
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 22/04/2025Last week we ran a workshop together with Kyrgyz scholars entitled 'Power and Space in Kyrgyzstan', kindly hosted by the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. I am very grateful to have such generous colleagues. www.osce-academy.net/en/news/full...osce-academy.netOSCE Academy Hosts Workshop on Power and Space in KyrgyzstanO Aril 17, 2025, te OSCE Acey i Bikek ote te worko title “Power Sce i Kyrgyzt, 1924–2024.” Ti evet w rt of te... 051
Reposted by Alun ThomasCatherine Gibson @catherinegibson.bsky.social · 22/04/2025Heading to Cambridge this week for the Conference on Baltic Studies in Europe? Here's a sneak peek of our 📹 documentary film 🎬 with the wonderful Maarja Merivoo-Parro and Sanita Reinsone for our panel on solidarity in the Baltics in the long 20th century! 📆 25 April 15:30 @balticstudies.bsky.social 1114
Alun Thomas @alunrthomas.bsky.social · 12/04/2025Slightly obsessed with this little shoe repair place in central Osh. 1234
Reposted by Alun ThomasJonathan Campion @jonathancampion.com · 08/04/2025I've changed my Bluesky handle. It's now the same as my website: @jonathancampion.com. Take a look at the newly updated jonathancampion.com for: – Some escapism, with photographs and stories from Eurasia; – My bio / life story; – Posts about cricket, travel, camel's milk, and Uzbek wine.jonathancampion.comEURASIAN ECHOESStories and photographs from Eastern Europe to Central Asia 041
Reposted by Alun ThomasJonathan Campion @jonathancampion.com · 07/04/2025Finding your bearings in Osh, Kyrgyzstan: jonathancampion.com/2024/11/06/f...jonathancampion.comFinding your bearings in Osh, KyrgyzstanThe centre of Osh is the mesh of quiet streets between the central bazaar – just up from Alisher Navoi Park, full of children’s rides – and the imposing statue of Lenin, opposite the mayor… 031