Faculty & Staff

Cholpon Turdalieva, Ph.D.

Ph.D., Professor

Non-departmental General Education Faculty

Division of Arts, Humanities and Communication

Email: [javascript protected email address]

Phone: +996 (312) 915000 ext. 434

Room: 315

Dr. Cholpon Turdalieva is a Professor in the non-degree General Education Program at the American University of Central Asia. She received her Ph.D. from Humboldt University (2022, Germany), a post-doctorate degree in History and Anthropology at the Institute of History from Kyrgyz National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic (2010, Kyrgyzstan), and a specialized degree in History from Jusup Balasagyn Kyrgyz State National University (1989, Kyrgyzstan).

Dr. Turdalieva joined AUCA in 2006 as an Associate Professor in the Anthropology program. She is an OSUN Research Fellow at Bard College Berlin (2023-2024, Germany), and was a Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University (2016, USA), a Fulbright visiting scholar at the University of Washington (2004-2005, USA). She was a member of the European Society for Central Asian Studies Advising Committee (ESCAS, 2014-2018) and the Fulbright Association of Kyrgyzstan President for two terms (2019-2021, 2021-2023).

Currently, she is a member of the Central Eurasian Scholarly Society (CESS) Public Outreach Award Committee (since 2023), a member of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (since 2000, USA), a member of the Oral History Association (IOHA) (since 2019), a member of the State Commission on Learning and Researching History of Kyrgyzstan under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic (since 2012), a member of the “Tarykh Koomu” Association of Historians of the Kyrgyz Republic (since 2013, Kyrgyzstan), a member of the Dissertation Commission on Anthropology and Archeology at National Academy of Sciences of KR (2015), and a Board member of the Fulbright Association of Kyrgyzstan NGO (since 2019).

Dr. Turdalieva was a founder and director of the “Center for Museum Initiatives” NGO, which conducted numerous international and national projects funded by the Ambassadorial Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), the Soros Foundation, the Christensen Fund, Kimtor Gold Company, UNESCO, and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic. The most notable projects were focused on the protection and restoration of the 11th-century Burana Tower (2021-2023) and the 15th-century Shakh-Fazl Mausoleum (2000-2001). She conducted museum management projects with the Kyrgyz National Historical Museum (2001), Naryn Historical and Ethnographical Museum (2012-2015), Jalal-Abad Museum (2017), Ak-Tala Museum (2018), and Burana Museum-Complex (2021-2023) supported by donors.

The Honorary Scientist of the Kyrgyz Republic, certificate presented by President of the Kyrgyz Republic, 2020
Ph.D. Fellowship Award at Humboldt University, Volkswagen Foundation, 2016-2019
The Excellent Worker in Culture presented by the Ministry of Culture, Information, and Tourism of the Kyrgyz Republic, 2013
Central Asian Research and Initiative Fellow (CARTI), OSI, 2008-2010
Fulbright Visiting Scholar, University of Washington, USA, 2004-2005
Central Asian Research Initiative Fellow (CARI), OSI, 2002-2004
IREX Fellow, Washington State University, Pullman, USA, 1999

Anthropology of Migration
Colonial Studies and the XIX Century Central Asia Travel Writing
Cultural Concepts and Social Network
Cultural Heritage and Bi-cultural Diversity
Diaspora Studies
Gender, Family, and Kinship
Gendered Mobility and Public Transport
Great Game: Competition for Central Asia
History and Geography of Kyrgyzstan
History and Culture of Central Asia and Kyrgyzstan
Museum Studies and Museum Practice

"Encountering the multiple semiotics of marshrutka surfaces – what can marshrutka decorations and advertisements tell us about its everyday actors?" in Mobilities, Volume 4, issue 6, pages 809-824. (co-author T. Weicker), 2019
“Western Travel Literature about the Kyrgyz and Kyrgyzstan: new interpretations and paradigms” (2018) in Making the Kyrgyz. Ed.Janie Wardle and Prajakti Karla, Cambridge: Cambridge Scientific Publishers, ch.15, pp.221‐ 240.
“Women, the Parliament and Political Participation in Post‐Soviet Kyrgyzstan” (2018) in Central Asian Affairs, Volume 5, Issue 2, pages 134 – 159, (Co‐author M.Tiulegenov).
“Women’s mobility and ‘transport‐related social exclusion’ in Bishkek” (2017) in Mobilities. London: Routledge, Vol. 13 (4):535‐550. (Co‐author C. Edling).
“Dynamics of Reciprocity and Networks of the Kyrgyz through Bishkek Toi Making” (2017) in Central Asian Affairs (4): 197‐216. (Co‐author R.Provis), at https://www.academia.edu/33758401
“Diaspora Pamirskikh kyrgyzov v Turtsii” (2015) in Ethnographicheskoe obozrenie.Moscow, #3, pp.132‐146. (Co‐author A.Marat).
“Education in India and Central Asia” (2014): in Building Bridges in India and Central Asia. Exploring New Horizons for Cooperation. Delhi: Shipra, pp.243‐ 253. (Co‐author A.Marat).
Imperskoe nasilie v trudah zapadnyh puteshestvennikov (2009): in Vestnik Karahandinskogo Universiteta, Karaganda, #2, p.34‐37.
La femme kirghize Ю travers les rИcits de voyage (fin XIXe siХcle‐dИbut XXe siХcle) (2007): in Habiba FATHI (ed.), Femmes d'Asie centrale, Genre et Mutations dans l'espace islamique soviИtisИ, Paris, L'Harmattan, pp.51‐75
The Kyrgyz in Western Travel books of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries (2005) in Central Eurasian Studies Review, Vol.4, No 2, pp.25‐30

Cultural Concepts and Social Network (Introduction to Anthropology)
Gender, Family, and Kinship
History of Kyrgyzstan