HISTORICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CENTRAL ASIA IN WESTERN SCHOLARSHIP: FROM ORIENTALISM TO POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES

Abstract

This article provides a historiographical analysis of the formation of Western historical and anthropological knowledge about Central Asia with particular attention to the study of regional identities. It examines the institutional and theoretical foundations of Western scholarship and traces the evolution of research paradigms from colonial and orientalist frameworks during the Cold War to postcolonial and postsocialist approaches of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The study addresses terminological debates surrounding regional classification, the influence of political contexts on academic interpretations, and the growing importance of field research in revising earlier perspectives. The findings demonstrate that Central Asia has emerged within Western academia as an independent interdisciplinary field reflecting the complexity of historical, cultural, and social transformations. A historiographical analysis of Western historical and anthropological studies of Central Asia demonstrates that the formation of scientific knowledge about the region was closely linked to changes in the global political context, the institutional development of the academic environment and the evolution of research
paradigms.