GLOBAL EASTS

This invitation-only conference brings together scholars to explore how to study, research, and teach the Global Easts. We approach the Global Easts as a heterogeneous region shaped by shared historical trajectories as well as by diverse and often divergent contemporary dynamics. At the same time, the region is marked by its own epistemic traditions, which must be taken into account when developing research and teaching agendas for this fluid and evolving space.

This qunique event is two-fold – on the first day it is open to the public, whilst the proceedings on the following two days are held behind closed doors.

We cordially invite all to join us for the open public discussion on 24 September 2026 at 4.00 pm (Faculty of Culture and Arts Builiding, Room 108) to debate why Global Easts should be the new perspective while researching countries and societies that do not fit neatly into the familiar binary of the Global North and the Global South. Since the Cold War, this binary has shaped how global difference is imagined, yet it obscures regions that occupy an in-between, interstitial, and ambivalent position. Marked by a dual positionality - simultaneously marginalized and privileged, peripheral and central—the Global Easts carry the legacies of multiple empires while often aspiring to Western models and producing their own visions of modernity.

During the closed-door sessions (25-26 September 2026), we will be exploring the following questions: 

Panel 1: How Do Imperial Legacies Shape and Influence Global Easts? 

• Widely-used academic and business languages in the Global Easts (English and Russian, but also Chinese and Arabic, etc.) are imperial languages—how can we challenge these linguistic hegemonies, researching, teaching, and using local languages while making research intelligible regionally and globally?
• Across the Global Easts, multiple religions and faiths shape institutions, culture, politics, economy, and daily life in profound, intersecting ways—how do we take these seriously, with emic perspectives, while also retaining a reflexive lens?
• Each of us has been trained and shaped in specific academic traditions—how does this impact our thinking and research, and how do we make room for other traditions and perspectives in our own research and analysis? 

Panel 2: Ethical, Epistemological, Political Considerations of Global Easts

• Who has the authority to produce knowledge, and whose knowledge is treated as raw data or “biased”?
• How can we move behind overly-restrictive “methodological nationalism” while seriously analyzing the many political, sociocultural, and practical mobilizations of “the nation”?
• What does it mean to conduct ethical fieldwork in diverse, sensitive, and, sometimes, authoritarian contexts, and how can we conceptualize research ethics beyond the Western “risk assessment” model?  
• What would it mean to study religion in the Global Easts if we took seriously questions of epistemic authority, moved beyond dominant secular frameworks, and rethought research ethics in light of the region’s complex, multi-perspectival, and often politically sensitive contexts?

Panel 3: Assessing Impacts of Geopolitical Changes on Global Easts

• As US funding for NGOs, civic activism and MA programs abroad disappears, along with the mandate to educate students in an American style, what are the opportunities and challenges of designing a new program, drawing inspiration from other models and styles?
• Which methods and theories can students, lecturers, and researchers use (and develop) to study rapid geopolitical changes, wherein positionality; economic, natural and political conditions; and risk can transform overnight?
• Religions often are omitted from discussions about geopolitics and decolonization: political scientists focus on mostly secular elites, while anthropologists stay within their localities and do not venture towards broader geopolitical perspectives. How can we teach and research religions and all their broader implications, particularly in the context of shifting geopolitical alignments and changing funding landscapes?

Panel 4: Pedagogy and Knowledge Production in the Global Easts

• How do different Global Easts areas teach and define Global Easts and Global Wests while interacting with Global Norths and Global Souths, and how can these various perspectives help reimagine pedagogy? 
• What are the underutilized methods, data types, and theoretical opportunities within Global Easts intellectual traditions, within and beyond the academy?
• Which methods and types of data are routinely (over)used in the Global Easts, and what are their shortcomings? 
• How best to design an MA program in a shifting, multipolar world, especially as conflicts, natural disasters, and changing visa/mobility requirements constantly and unpredictably unfold?

Closing Discussion: Gateways to Global Easts

• What are the most promising directions and opportunities for joint research in and of the Global Easts?
• How can we move beyond simple interdisciplinarity to break down hierarchies of knowledge, language, nationality, and positionality (among others) in the academy? How can we foster teaching and research that takes seriously multiple, border-crossing and time-spanning lived realities, layers of memory, histories, religions, politics, and cultures, and how could this meaningfully challenge the binary East/West views so prevalent in academia, business, politics, and media?

We are proud to gather distinguished scholars for the upcoming discussions:

• Jens Adam, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg (Germany)
• Zuzanna Bogumił, University of Warsaw (Poland)
• Margaret Comer, University of Warsaw (Poland)
• Alicja Curanović, University of Warsaw (Poland)
• Emilbek Dzhuraev, OSCE Academy in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)
• Florence Frohlig, Södertörn University (Sweden)
• Joanna Getka, University of Warsaw (Poland)
• Mykola Homanyuk, Kherson State University (Ukraine)
• Izabela Kalinowska-Blackwood, Stony Brook University (US)
• Iwona Kaliszewska, University of Warsaw (Poland)
• Tamta Khalvashi, Ilia State University (Georgia)
• Benjamin Klasche, Tallin University (Estonia)
• Iwa Kołodziejska, University of Warsaw (Poland)
• Jeanne Kormina, Yerean Center for International Education (Armenia)
• Natalia Królikowska-Jedlińska, University of Warsaw (Poland)
• Jie-Hyun Lim, Sogang University (South Korea)
• Eugenijus Liutkevičius, Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania)
• Martin Müller, University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
• Ibadildin Nygmedin, KIMEP University (Kazakhstan) 
• Abel Polese,  Dublin City University  (Ireland)
• Ieva Puzo, Rīga Stradiņš University (Latvia)
• Anton Saifullayeu, University of Warsaw (Poland)
• Aneta Strzemżalska, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)
• Anar Valiyev, ADA University (Azerbaijan)
• Catherine Wanner, Pennsylvania State University (US)
• Tomasz Zarycki, University of Warsaw (Poland)

During the conference, special attention will be devoted to identifying key conceptual and empirical challenges in studying and teaching the Global Easts. These include the region’s entanglement in multiple imperial formations, its complex linguistic and religious landscapes, and the uneven and non-strategic forms of economic interdependence that connect it. It will also enable participants to exchange perspectives on methodological and interpretive challenges. The conference will provide a space to examine how these conditions shape knowledge production about the Global Easts and contribute to building a sustained network of collaboration among scholars engaged in the study and teaching of the Global Easts.

The conference will prioritize discussion over formal presentations and aim to advance research and scholarly exchange on the Global Easts. Participants will engage in cross-disciplinary dialogue on key conceptual, methodological, and pedagogical challenges. It will serve as a platform for developing new research agendas, innovative approaches, and collaborative initiatives.

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Conference Committee: Iwona Kaliszewska (i.kaliszewska[et]uw.edu.pl), Zuzanna Bogumił (z.bogumil[et]uw.edu.pl)

Conference Secretary: Anna Radecka (annaradecka14[et]gmail.com)

The term Global Easts refers to countries and societies that do not fit neatly into the familiar binary of the Global North and the Global South. Since the Cold War, this binary has shaped how global difference is imagined, yet it obscures regions that occupy an in-between, interstitial, and ambivalent position. Marked by a dual positionality - simultaneously marginalized and privileged, peripheral and central—the Global Easts carry the legacies of multiple empires while often aspiring to Western models and producing their own visions of modernity. Their histories show that understanding the modern world requires engaging with societies that stand outside the spotlight of Euro-American narratives.

The Global Easts Centre is a pioneering hub for research and teaching on societies situated between the Global North and the Global South, with a particular focus on Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Placing fieldwork-driven anthropology at its core, the Centre integrates empirical research with innovative theoretical reflection.

Our approach is distinctive: grounded in fieldwork, multilingual, and committed to understanding the ambivalent positionality of the Global Easts - regions where diverse traditions, religions, languages, and identities intersect. The Centre expands long-standing initiatives such as onsite workshops, online seminars, international summer schools, and research fellowships, creating a dynamic platform for global scholarly exchange.

Coming soon

The MA in Global Easts Studies is an interdisciplinary, research-driven program that blends social theory/anthropology, geopolitics and history with hands-on ethnographic fieldwork. Students work with key analytical frameworks while developing practical skills through field research conducted in diverse “Easts” societies. All courses are taught in English, supported by training in selected Global Easts languages to prepare students for on-site research.

The program fosters critical thinking and equips students to address complex questions arising in societies situated between the Global North and the Global South. Alongside core courses on political, social, economic, and cultural transformations in the Global Easts, students can choose from a wide range of anthropological electives that build both regional specialization and methodological expertise.

Timeline of Easts Research at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology:

• since 1935 – research in Poland
• 1968–1974 – first fieldwork in Mongolia
• 1989–2019 – field research (students and staff) in Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, Russia (Kaluga, Kaliningrad Oblast), Estonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and Georgia
• 1991–2002 – long-term fieldwork in Lithuania
• since 1997 – long-term fieldwork in Ukraine
• 1993–2020 – long-term fieldwork in Belarus
• 1993–2018 – long-term fieldwork in Siberia: Altai, Tuva, Khakassia, Yakutia
• 2004–2021 – fieldwork in the North Caucasus: Dagestan, Chechnya
• 2011–2018 – renewed fieldwork in Mongolia and Central Asia
• 2025 – ongoing research in Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, and Central Asia

Memories of Soviet Repressions in Post-Multi-Colonial Post-Soviet Spaces 

Principal Investigator: Zuzanna Bogumił 
Project duration: 2020-2024 (PAN) 2024-2027 (UW)
Funding: National Science Centre (NCN), OPUS 20 (Grant No. 2020/39/B/HS6/02809) 

Project Website

The project aims to examine how Soviet repressions are remembered in post-multi-colonial, post-Soviet spaces and in countries that were formerly dependent on the Soviet Union. It assumes that these regions are characterized by the coexistence of diverse cultural, religious, discursive, and aesthetic patterns of memory, where different memory policies are enacted and various religious denominations shape collective memories. Therefore, the project's hypothesis suggests that the memory of Soviet repressions is not monolithic or homogeneous, but rather consists of multiple facets, dimensions, and textures. The project seeks to describe this heterogeneous nature of memories of Soviet repressions and determine what the heritage of these repressions in post-Soviet spaces is.
 

Analysis of Memorial Museums of Soviet Repressions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia 

Principal Investigator: Margaret Comer
Project duration: 2025
Funding: IDUB University of Warsaw, Q Centre Grant (No. 12/2025) 

This funding was awarded to support fieldwork in preparation of a grant application (48 months’ duration) for the National Science Centre (NCN)’s OPUS 30 call for applications. After completing more than a month of fieldwork in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, I needed to conduct additional fieldwork in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and Poland, in order to prove the feasibility and decide the research questions and parameters of the future OPUS grant. This fieldwork substantially and critically broadened the horizons of current research on heritage and memory of Soviet repressions, leading the field away from overly broad models of “post-Soviet” memorialization and theories of “dark heritage” that hinge on a narrow perspective of trauma, traumatic memory, and working through the difficult past. Some of the symbols, imagery, and language used in Kazakh and Kyrgyz memorial museums would be highly controversial (in some cases, illegal) to display in Poland and the Baltic states, so we aimed to discern the exact tessellations and fault lines between and among these sites. The co-investigator and/or I visited 28 sites in the Baltic states and Poland, using a combination of participant-ethnographic techniques and critical discourse analysis suitable for museum studies. As feasible, we also conducted semi-structured interviews with museum curators and other management stakeholders.
 

Living in the shadows of Empire: Affective Politics and Russian Infra-Imperialism in the Borderlands 

Principal Investigator: Iwona Kaliszewska
Project duration: 2025
Funding: IDUB University of Warsaw, Q Centre Grant (No.11/2025)

The project examines how Russia maintains influence in borderland regions through emotions, memory, senses of belonging, and alternative social communities. It introduces the concept of affective infra-imperialism to describe informal forms of imperial power operating beyond official state structures. Based on ethnographic research conducted in the borderlands of Lithuania and Moldova, the project develops new tools for studying Russian soft power and the emotional dimensions of geopolitics.
 

Ukraine's War Plant Landscapes. Resilience, Resourcefulness, Solastalgia and Nation Building Discourses 

Principal Investigator: Iwa Kołodziejska
Project duration: 2025-2028
Funding: National Science Centre (NCN), OPUS 27 (Grant No. 2024/53/B/HS3/03571)

The project investigates human–plant relations in the context of the war in Ukraine, examining how environmental destruction shapes experiences of loss, social resilience, and survival strategies. Particular attention is paid to solastalgia, everyday practices involving plants, and the role of nature in nation-building discourses. Drawing on ethnographic research, the project explores how war transforms relationships between people, landscapes, and other-than-human participants in social life.

Corridors, Canals, and Chokepoints: Retrofitting Transborder Connections in Eastern Europe’s Shifting Geopolitical Landscape (RETRACE) 

Principal Investigator: Claudia Eggart
Project duration: 2026-2029
Funding: National Science Centre (NCN), OPUS 29 (Grant No. 2025/57/B/HS3/00575)

RETRACE explores the geopolitical, socio-technical, and environmental challenges of retrofitting transborder connections in Eastern Europe following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. When Black Sea ports were blocked, emergency rerouting via Poland, Moldova, and Romania through EU "Solidarity Lanes" evolved from a crisis response into a major long-term political and economic investment. Grounded in infrastructure anthropology and political ecology, RETRACE argues that retrofitting amid war and EU enlargement is deeply political, shaped by contested sovereignty and imperial legacies.
The project investigates three key cases using ethnographic fieldwork, discourse analysis, and multi-modal mapping: Polish–Ukrainian border blockades by farmers, Danube navigation disputes, and Moldova’s fragmented railway integration. RETRACE shows that infrastructure is a contested volumetric space where geopolitical ambitions, ecological vulnerabilities, and local resistance intersect.

Aliaksei Kazharski and Andrey Makarychev | 9 June, 2026
"Eastern Europe" and War. A New Kindapping?

What have been the effects of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 on Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)? How have countries in the region positioned themselves vis-à-vis the war, and how are they (re)defining their regional identities and geopolitical belonging?
These are the questions explored by the contributors to this volume, whose chapters examine how these transformations are being understood, debated, and contested across the region. During the seminar, the editors, Aliaksei Kazharski and Andrey Makarychev, will reflect on how local post-2022 discourses and perspectives capture the region in all its complexity and diversity.

Georgia in Turbulent Times | Apr 24, 2026

The international conference “Georgia in Turbulent Times: Political Developments and the Future of Knowledge Production”  was organized by the Global Easts Centre and Studies at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw. The event, held in a hybrid format, brought together invited international guests and a large audience, participating both in person and online.

The conference focused on the current political situation in Georgia and reflected on the condition of academic research in a country facing increasing pressures and restrictions, particularly in the field of anthropology and, more broadly, the social sciences. Presentations and discussions addressed, among other topics, social protests, legislative changes affecting university autonomy, and tensions surrounding international academic collaboration.

Participants agreed that the developments unfolding in Georgia extend beyond the national context. Situated at the intersection of European and Russian spheres of influence, the country constitutes an important laboratory of regional and global transformations, particularly in the context of the so-called Global Easts.

Beyond Eurocentric Memory Models Workshop | Dec 10, 2025

An international workshop entitled “Beyond Eurocentric Memory Models: Political Repression and Remembrance in Mongolia” brought together scholars from Mongolia, Poland, and the United States to engage in an in-depth discussion on the history, meanings, and long-term impact of memories of political repression in Mongolia, with particular attention to the religious and Buddhist dimensions of these memory processes. The event was held both onsite and online.

Workshop Program and Book of Abstracts

The workshop was organized with the financial support of the Warsaw Centre for Global History, the Faculty of History, University of Warsaw, and the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw. It was held within the frameworks of the Marian Małowist Seminar and the Postcolonial Perspectives – Postdependence Entanglements Seminar Series.

Coordinators:

ZUZANNA BOGUMIŁ is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Warsaw. She specializes in memory studies, museum studies and anthropology of religion, as well as secular and orthodox memories of Soviet repressions in Russia. Her publications include: Gulag Memories: The Rediscovery and Commemoration of Russia's Repressive Past (2018), More than Alive: The Dead, Orthodoxy and Remembrance in Post-Soviet Russia (with Tatiana Voronina, 2023), Memory and Religion from a Postsecular Perspective (with Yuliya Yurchuk, 2022), Towards Postsecular Memory Studies (with Kamila Baraniecka-Olszewska, forthcoming).

CONTACT: z.bogumil[et]uw.edu.pl

IWONA KALISZEWSKA is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Warsaw. Her research focuses on intersections among Islam, state and anti-state violence, and, more recently on war and humanitarian crisis. Iwona has been conducting research projects in Dagestan and Chechnya since 2004 and, lately in the Polish-Ukrainian borderlands. Her most recent book, For Putin and for Sharia. Dagestani Muslims and the Islamic State, has recently been published by Cornell University Press.

CONTACT: i.kaliszewska[et]uw.edu.pl

Researchers: 

MARGARET COMER is Research Assistant on the NCN-funded project "Memories of Soviet Repressions in Post-Multi-Colonial Post-Soviet Spaces" (grant no. 501-D131-66-0006664), Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw. Her research focuses on the heritage of mass repression, Soviet and post-Soviet memorialization and heritagization, Holocaust memorialization and heritagization, grievability and memory, and contested memory. Her publications include "Portraying Perpetration, Victimhood, and Implication at Sites of Soviet Repression in Moscow,"  Slavic and East European Journal (2023) 67, no. 3: 303-323 (part of a special forum coedited by herself and Eneken Laanes); and "Lubyanka: Dissonant Memories of Violence in the Heart of Moscow," Memory Studies (2023) 16, no. 3: 561-575.

CONTACT: m.comer[et]uw.edu.pl

IWA KOŁODZIEJSKA, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist and biologist. She is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw. In 2024, she was awarded a research grant from the National Science Centre, Poland, for the project Ukraine’s War Plant Landscapes: Resilience, Resourcefulness, Solastalgia, and Nation-Building Discourses. Her research focuses on more-than-human anthropology, particularly human-plant relations, knowledge production, and medical anthropology, with a special interest in self-medication across diverse medical landscapes. She has conducted fieldwork in Ukraine, Dagestan, Romania, and Poland. Since 2014, she has collaborated with artists on artistic research projects and exhibitions, primarily at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art.

CONTACT: iu.kolodziejska[et]uw.edu.pl