Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026One of the mothers of the deceased soldiers found out about her son’s tragic death while in chemotherapy. The family’s bank accounts are frozen due to unpaid debts. They live in a house that’s falling apart. She sits there on the floor crying non-stop. It’s so devastating 💔😭 021
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I wish my social skills were better and I wouldn't just talk about "work" all the time. Meanwhile my mind is predominantly occupied by art, writing about art, unfinished ethnographies, Michele Foucault, Lisa Wedeen, "where to find a bookstore here" and "when can I escape to the library?". 021
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026manifesting that the editor from my dream press reaches out to me out of the blue asking if I have a new book. I do. Or at least for my old editor to respond to me about my revisions submitted almost two months ago. I do not like sending these emails. But I have to at some point :( 240
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenPaul Goode @jpaulgoode.bsky.social · 15/09/2026🚨 New publication alert (open access) 🚨 I've been working on everyday nationalism for a good portion of my career, so it was a genuine privilege to contribute to this exchange along with @davidstroup.bsky.social, Jon Fox & Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Kanchan Chandra, and @tptrost.bsky.social. 1126
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenThe Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 09/09/2026⚡️Russian attacks kill at least 12, injure 66 across Ukraine as Russia continues relentless strikes on Kyiv In Kyiv's Darnytskyi district, five people were injured after a Russian morning strike hit a 24-story residential building, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Sept. 9.kyivindependent.comRussian attacks kill at least 12, injure 66 across Ukraine as Russia continues relentless strikes on KyivIn Kyiv's Darnytskyi district, five people were injured after a Russian morning strike hit a 24-story residential building, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Sept. 9. 410148
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026we had a fascinating panel today with Selbi Durdiyeva and Aksana Ismailbekova at SRC in Hokkaido at the workshop on Everyday Politics in Central Asia. I wanted to highlight Selbi's recent paper on family archives and hauntology she discussed today. <3 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....tandfonline.comAudre Lorde, (post)colonial hauntings of socialist archive and the “emancipated” women write backThis paper engages with Audre Lorde’s journal entry, ‘Notes from a Trip to Russia’, as a framework for locating haunting hegemonic feminist imaginaries fed by the narratives of state-managed social... 000
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 01/09/2026reading Selbi Durdiyeva's draft work for tomorrow's workshop at the SRC in Sapporo and reading Madina Tlostanova's latest book gives me hope there's a lot to both theory & creative approaches to writing on coloniality. Both captured me so much that I lost a sense of time <3 I highly recommend. 010
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenThe Times of Central Asia @timesca.com · 01/09/2026Turkmen designers will take ready-to-wear collections to Paris for the Who’s Next fashion trade show, showcasing contemporary work rooted in traditional textiles and techniques ow.ly/YQlV50ZHl4f #Turkmenistan #WhosNextParis #Fashion #Textiles #Design #Paris #TextileArt #TurkmenDesignersow.lyTurkmen Fashion Heads to Paris - The Times Of Central AsiaDesigners from Turkmenistan will display their ready-to-wear clothing at Who's Next in Paris, an international fashion trade show that runs from September 5–7. 022
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenDr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Plus, check out our most recent special issue on decolonial dialogues across Central Asia and Eastern Europe! It's Open Access --> brill.com/view/journal...brill.com 011
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Just today so many papers got accepted or reviewed or sent to production and a lot more is coming. My fav in the forthcoming is on gambling & debt, and on body as a disciplining site. Check out the journal for more and I'll share new papers once these come out online! 120
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Just a reminder that this great academic journal of CENTRAL ASIAN AFFAIRS exists and we are working very hard at the editorial team to make it a platform for some of the most innovative discussions in the field. brill.com/view/journal... Please download, read, discuss and cite! 000
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 24/08/2026I grew up in Kazakhstan so earthquakes are naturally part of my habitus 🫣 & some funny stories from childhood. Then I lived in Ashgabat where I also experienced bunch of earthquakes. No panic, always laughing. But Hokkaido earthquakes disorient me which is the worst 🥹 130
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Such good news. North Caspian sees the rise of water!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏 010
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenTereza Hendl @terezahendl.bsky.social · 22/08/2026❤️🔥 Also hoping that many people will read it and have the courage to sit with the discomfort that the many silenced critical perspectives might bring up—and, instead of dismissing them, grapple with them and let them unsettle old assumptions, legacies of injustice, and exceptionalist double standards 011
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Such an important issue!!! And it’s OPEN ACCESS! Hope many people will read it. Thank YOU Tereza!!!! 185
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Super excited about this special issue just published OPEN ACCESS by the Central Asian Affairs Journal! Looking Back, Moving Forward: Interdisciplinary Decolonial Dialogues on Central Asia and Eastern Europe: A Special Forum, ed: Nodira Kholmatova, Olga Burlyuk and Gulnaz Sibgatullina.brill.com 041
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Waking up in Japan to find out my book is trending on Instagram 🫶 🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿 030
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 27/07/2026The beauty of academia is sharing ideas and having insightful conversations. Gave a talk at Tokyo University today. Decided to finish this book and also start writing another one ahahaha “this one” has been on my table for 10 years 🫢 020
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenASEEES Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies @aseees.bsky.social · 22/07/2026ASEEES Syllabus Bank ASEEES invites the submission of any syllabi related to Slavic, East European, and Eurasian studies. The ASEEES Syllabus Bank brings together syllabi from across the field, submitted by faculty and instructors within Slavic, East European, and Eurasian studies. buff.ly/dBgcBQs 071
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenHawkeye 🚫👑 💙👊🏼 @dontdeflect.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Liz, a teacher friend of mine, points out that Damon is Nomad spelled backwards. 🤣 21972791153
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 15/07/2026July is truly the fastest week of the whole summer. 000
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 14/07/2026just attended my best panel online, middle of the night where I am, people gathering at RUTA in Ukraine & almost all my co-panelists joining from different sides of the world. Yet we speak of the same pain, of the same embodied knowledges and of the type of violence shared across and beyond borders 172
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 14/07/2026Central Asian Affairs journal June issue is out, check it out! Papers on ethnographies of Osh bazaars, Kelin discourses in Uzbek cinema, Basmachi movements in Kyrgyzstan, dissertation review on disabilities in Uzbekistan and a lot more! brill.com/view/journal...brill.com 020
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 14/07/2026I spoke to Cholpon Ramizova this spring about my latest published book & it just came out in the podcast on New Books Network for Central Asian Studies. So grateful for these inspiring conversations among Central Asians <3 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/d...podcasts.apple.comDiana T. Kudaibergen, "What Does It Mean to Be Kazakhstani?: Power, Identity and Nation-Building" (Oxford UP, 2024)Podcast Episode · New Books in Central Asian Studies · 11 July · 58min 130
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 22/06/2026It will be exactly 53 weeks tomorrow since I didn't send my editor the revised manuscript I thought I'd do in six weeks over the summer. 53 Weeks of exhaustion, weeks and days of reading to find meaning, months of re-reading, printing, revising, hating the draft & going back weeks later. 030
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 16/06/2026New book alert! Bravo, Riccardo! I'm looking forward to reading it soon.cornellpress.cornell.eduThe Last Purge by Riccardo Mario Cucciolla | Hardcover | Cornell University PressThe Last Purge explores the political ramifications of what is now known as the Cotton Affair, the largest and final purge in the post-Stalin Soviet Union. A significant yet underexamined episode of..... 011
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 15/06/2026my face when I want to say: "I'm on research leave, see you in September" hahaha (evil laugh). But for real, let some magic happen! 040
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 11/06/2026Thank you so much! I also dedicated a huge chapter in my latest book, “What does it mean to be Kazakhstani” precisely to this issue. More needs to be written and talked about though 🙏 0166
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 24/05/2026People who send emails on weekends. Why? 130
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 15/05/2026Thank you so much for having me, Oxford! I gave a talk, attended a formal, had fascinating conversations with Tamar Koplatadze who invited me (thank you!!!!) and Bota Kassymbekova while we celebrated my BASEES book prize ❤️ 160
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 07/05/2026One BIG problem though. Kazakhstan pavilion in Venice was supposed to have this work of Asel Kadyrkhanova on Stalinist repressions as one of the central pieces at the exhibit. The vice minister of culture of Kazakhstan came to “inspect” it the day before pre-opening & ordered to remove it 22620
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 04/05/2026I'm still in awe reading someone's citations of my earlier works where they highlight the things I've been struggling with in my next-next book and I'm like, "Did I really write this in 2019? And OMG it was so well-written!" I should stop living under the rock of my own self-doubtmedia.tenor.coma man in a suit and tie looks surprisedALT: a man in a suit and tie looks surprised 120
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenTereza Hendl @terezahendl.bsky.social · 04/05/2026If in London, make sure to see Almagul Menlibayeva’s exhibition 062
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenErrant Journal @errantjournal.bsky.social · 01/05/2026NEW PODCAST! This episode is a recording of the talk given by Keto Gorgadze at the launch of Errant Journal's ninth issue titled Companions at Framer Framed in Amsterdam on 18 April 2026. soundcloud.com/errant-podca... 083
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 01/05/2026It’s been a busy week. We’ve installed and opened Qazaq artist Almagul Menlibayeva’s solo show at No.9 Cork street. Come and see “Contested Cosmos:Women, Myth, and Technology Across Central Asia” curated by yours truly. The exhibition will run till the end of May with planned artist talk mid-May 061
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 20/04/2026in the past two years I came across several mistranslations from Qazaq to English. Reading beautiful Qazaq texts in English with russian translations in the middle is just breaking my heart. It breaks and cuts the text, it loses & misses its meaning & beauty. Why not to translate Qazaq directly? 172
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 11/04/2026A lot of friends are asking me about my current fieldwork. I’m used to doing things in solitude but this time and due to my digitalisation, it’s quite collective. Reflecting on these questions actually allows me to think more abt my overall project & loose ends of it. It’s a beautiful experience 🧿 030
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 11/04/2026Join us today at Spore Berlin! Our conversation on decoloniality starts today at 1 pm. And I’m in Berlin till tomorrow morning 🧿🙏 spore-initiative.org/en/programmi... 052
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenJenny Mathers @jgmaber.bsky.social · 30/03/2026Congratulations @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social 🎉 161
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenTereza Hendl @terezahendl.bsky.social · 30/03/2026Wonderful news. This book is a crucial read that tells on what it takes to overthrow a dictatorship and honours the efforts of those who try, even when success isn’t linear or instant and can take generations. There might soon be a symposium published about the book and several revolutionary Springs 1105
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 30/03/2026Thank you so much for all your messages pouring in. I'm very grateful for the kind words! 020
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 26/03/2026Celebrating with @uclssees.bsky.social www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...ucl.ac.ukDr Diana Kudaibergen Wins 2026 Alexander Nove PrizeWe are delighted to announce that Dr Diana Kudaibergen has been awarded the 2026 BASEES Alexander Nove Prize for her book The Kazakh Spring: Digital Activism and the Challenge to Dictatorship 3174
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 24/03/2026The Kazakh Spring by Cambridge University Press is the winner of the BASEEES Alexander Nove Prize ❤️ Thank you so much!!! basees.org/nove-prize 6356
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 22/03/2026I got invited to the super cool decolonial conference as a speaker & it’s in one of my fav contemporary art museums in Berlin. The only problem is that it’s on the same day I was supposed to receive my Alexander Nove prize for best book in person at BASEEES. I guess I’ll get the prize by post 😩 1100
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 20/03/2026Follow Mariya Levitanus work on decolonial queerness in Central Asia! To talk about scraps, drafts, failures & things that can be reconciled was superb this Thursday @uclssees.bsky.social Look out for Mariya’s & Mohira Suyarkulova’s book “In our Words” coming out open access on the 1st of April 002
Reposted by Dr Diana T. KudaibergenTereza Hendl @terezahendl.bsky.social · 20/03/2026Nodira Kholmatova on how migration governance produces social hierarchies: drawing on research spanning Central Asia, Russia, Serbia, and beyond, the conversation explores the racialization of Central Asian migrants, deportation regimes, and the enduring legacies of empire in contemporary mobility 053
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 19/03/2026Job in Politics at @uclssees.bsky.social www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...ucl.ac.ukUCL – University College LondonUCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021). 021
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 18/03/2026embedding the sounds of the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site sound artwork by my friend Kamila Narysheva into today's lecture on decolonial art and you take a peak too: antonspice.substack.com/p/vicky-clar...antonspice.substack.comSonic traces of a Soviet nuclear test siteArtists Vicky Clarke and Kamila Narysheva expose the acoustic residues of trauma, toxicity and renewal at Kazakhstan's now defunct Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. 0104
Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social · 18/03/2026accidentally found this old paper of mine on decolonial art of Central Asia. Written in English on one fine night in Dushanbe (in-between fieldworks writing through the night to the early morning) it was an act of rebellion. Then they translated it to Russian.. magazines.gorky.media/nlo/2020/1/p...magazines.gorky.mediaПризраки, манкурты и прочее: «постколониальное» искусство Центральной Азии — Журнальный зал 021