Kazakhstan
From São Paulo to Central Asia: How Brazilian Funk Found an Unexpected Audience
Brazilian DJ Guilherme never expected his music to reach Central Asia. Yet his tracks have appeared on streaming charts in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, finding new life in TikTok videos featuring… [...]
“Accessibility Is About Independence and Equal Opportunities”: Ziyat Abdykaimov on Kazakhstan’s Digital Divide
Kazakhstan is embracing digital transformation, but are its services accessible to everyone? Ziyat Abdykaimov, an accessibility expert at Nazarbayev University, discusses the barriers facing people with disabilities, the opportunities and… [...]
Mosaics – 4 – Banners
A torch being carried, smiling gymnasts, a colourful composition showcasing the full range of sporting disciplines: everything suggests that this mosaic was created on the occasion of the 1980… [...]
Mosaics – 2 – A fragmented image
Karaganda is a city built from scratch from 1934 onwards, under the direction of architect and urban planner Alexander Ivanovich Kuznetsov. Like many Soviet cities shaped by large-scale construction… [...]
A Taste of Summer – Homemade Preserves
Jars filled with pickled vegetables, spicy adjika, and homemade specialties. In Kazakhstan, food preservation has a long tradition: the harvest from the warmer months is carefully stored to… [...]
Support Novastan, the European Central Asia magazine
By supporting Novastan, you are supporting the only English, French and German-language media specialising in Central Asia. We're independent and we need your help to stay that way!Olga Korotko: “The film is a comedy in its construction and a tragedy in its outcome”
In Crickets, It's Your Turn, Kazakh filmmaker Olga Korotko explores gender-based violence, complicity and the structures of power that sustain them. Ahead of the film's Spanish premiere in Barcelona, she… [...]
In Kazakhstan, Military Service Continues to Worry Young Men
As Kazakhstan launches its autumn conscription campaign, many young men are going to great lengths to avoid military service. In Astana, accounts of forced recruitment, violence and abuse in the… [...]
How Kazakh NGOs and Farmers Are Adapting to Climate Change
From snow retention in Kazakhstan's western steppes to the restoration of Lake Zhumay, local farmers and conservationists are developing affordable responses to drought and water scarcity. But can these grassroots… [...]
‘I am a German from Kazakhstan’: Lena Wolf on deportation, memory and finding home
Lena Wolf, a German from Kazakhstan, reflects on her family’s deportation, Soviet-era Russification, migration to Germany and the search for identity across generations. [...]
Kazakhstan’s AI Ambitions Face an Energy and Water Test in Ekibastuz
Kazakhstan wants to turn Ekibastuz into a major hub for AI computing. But as its Data Center Valley could eventually reach 1 GW, questions are mounting over electricity, water and… [...]
Between grandeur and everyday life in Astana
Spectators are waiting for the doors of the Astana Opera House to open. The building’s strict symmetry contrasts with the hustle and bustle of the crowd. Credits… [...]
“Ghérip-Senem”: The visualization of Persianate poetic symbolism in Uyghur cinema
Diego Benning Wang explores how the 1981 Uyghur film Ghérip-Senem turns a shared Persianate-Turkic romance into distinctly Uyghur cinema through poetry, music and visual symbolism. [...]
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