Dapter – For Research in Central Asia

Dapter

Welcome to Dapter, a new podcast for research in Central Asia bringing you the voices of scholars who have explored this region in their academic journeys, hosted by Paolo Sorbello, Vlast.kz’s English-language editor. “Dapter” is the Kazakh word for notebook—the companion of all researchers doing fieldwork in Central Asia. This podcast opens that notebook, featuring scholars reflecting on the stories behind their work in Central Asia and discussing what their research reveals about the region’s past, present, and future.

Episodes

  1. FEB 15

    Researching Polygyny in Kazakhstan, with Hélène Thibault

    In this episode, Paolo speaks to Dr. Hélène Thibault, associate professor of political science at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan, whose work explores religion, secularism, and the Soviet legacy. Hélène has lived and worked in Kazakhstan for a decade and her research has focused, also through ethnography, on gender dynamics in Central Asia, more specifically, marriage, sex work, and domestic violence. At the crossroads between sociology, anthropology, and political studies, Hélène’s work on gender dynamics is best introduced with the short piece The Many Faces of Polygyny in Kazakhstan, which is today’s main topic. In this episode, we will also focus on her more recent research and publications focusing on Kazakhstan and the wider Central Asian region.Dapter is hosted by Vlast.kz, produced by Oliver Fisk, and features music and design by Daniyar Mussirov. Tune in next month for a new episode, spread the word to your colleagues, and send us some love and support at patreon.com/vlastkz

    34 min

  2. JAN 1

    Researching Extractive Industries in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, with Asel Doolotkeldieva

    In this episode, Paolo speaks to Asel Doolotkeldieva, a research fellow at the University of Potsdam in Germany, whose work explores the intersection of political conflict and extractivism in Kyrgyzstan, and more recently, across Central Asia. Asel has a couple of decades of experience researching the political ecology of large-scale extraction and how it affects domestic societies and local communities. Asel expanded her focus to encompass the geopolitical encroachment of foreign powers in Central Asia's mining projects and whether the role of Russia, China, or the EU led to "variegated sovereignty" perceptions among the local population. At the crux of domestic and global politics, corporate power, and global capital, some of Asel's work can be accessed online in open access. This episodes focuses mostly on the article Mining for Norms: International Extractivism, Chinese Business, and the Indeterminacy of Compliance in Kyrgyzstan, but also touches on her more recent research endeavors in Kazakhstan. Dapter is hosted by Vlast.kz, produced by Oliver Fisk, and features music and design by Daniyar Mussirov. Tune in next month for a new episode, spread the word to your colleagues, and send us some love and support at patreon.com/vlastkz

    48 min
  3. How Kazakhstan Gave Up The Bomb, with Togzhan Kassenova

    12/01/2025

    How Kazakhstan Gave Up The Bomb, with Togzhan Kassenova

    In this episode, Paolo speaks to Togzhan Kassenova, author of Atomic Steppe: How Kazakhstan Gave Up the Bomb, taking listeners into two of the most consequential chapters of Kazakhstan’s modern history, the country’s experience under the Soviet nuclear testing program, and its decision to give up nuclear weapons after independence. As Togzhan explains, her extensive fieldwork made the book possible — it was both conducting archival research in the US and Russia and speaking to policymakers, diplomats, and nuclear test survivors in Kazakhstan that allowed that allowed her to properly tell the country’s nuclear story Atomic Steppe has gone on to become part of a renewed cultural discourse regarding Kazakhstan’s Soviet past and its current post-independence identity. This episode examines both the making of the book and the research journey behind it. Dapter is hosted by Vlast.kz, produced by Oliver Fisk, and features music and design by Daniyar Mussirov. Tune in next month for a new episode, spread the word to your colleagues, and send us some love and support at patreon.com/vlastkz

    36 min
  • 3 Episodes

About

Welcome to Dapter, a new podcast for research in Central Asia bringing you the voices of scholars who have explored this region in their academic journeys, hosted by Paolo Sorbello, Vlast.kz’s English-language editor. “Dapter” is the Kazakh word for notebook—the companion of all researchers doing fieldwork in Central Asia. This podcast opens that notebook, featuring scholars reflecting on the stories behind their work in Central Asia and discussing what their research reveals about the region’s past, present, and future.

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