Cultural transfers in Central Asia: before, during and after the Silk Road

This collection of essays is the result of the International Symposium “Cultural Transfers in Central
Asia: before, during and after the Silk Road”, held in Samarkand on 12–14 September 2013. Expanding the
original Eurocentric orientation in a broad chronological and interdisciplinary perspective and involving
new materials, the participants have attempted to test the methodological approach of the “cultural
transfers” and the effectiveness of their basic concepts (ways of travel, guides, translators, innovation,
assimilation of “new” assignments, semantic shifts, etc.) in the Central Asian context. In these studies
Central Asia includes mainly the post-Soviet space and its Central Asian neighbors like Siberia, Xinjiang,
Afghanistan, Iran and Azerbaijan. The purpose of the collection is to determine the significance of the
theory of the “cultural transfers” and, if possible, the range of its applications.