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East

WOMEN IN MUSLIM SOCIETIES

Power, Politics, and the Myth of Exceptionalism

~ 12 min read
People

A BRIEF HISTORY OF WOMEN'S FREEDOM

How the World Denied Women Their Rights — and What Came of It

~ 1 min read
Repressions in the USSR

OPERATION ‘LENTIL’

The History of One of the Most Brutal Deportations in the USSR

~ 16 min read

The Evolution of the ‘Toi’

How the Kazakh Wedding Survived Revolution, Bans, and a Changing World

~ 18 min read

FROM SAUKELE TO VEILS AND BACK

What Kazakh Brides Traditionally Wore on Their Wedding Day

~ 13 min read

CENTRAL ASIA: FROM EMPIRE TO SOVIET RULE

Historian Adeeb Khalid on Colonialism, Nation-Building, and the Enduring Myths That Shape Our Understanding of the Region

~ 11 min read

PASSPORTS, INNS, AND EXPRESS DELIVERY IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY

What Travel Was Really Like on the Silk Road—and Why It Was Far More than a Caravan Highway

~ 16 min read

THE MAGIC OF METAL

From Ancient Rituals to Modern Technology: How Copper Became an Essential Part of Nomadic Culture

~ 12 min read
East

THE EVOLUTION OF THE KURULTAI

From the Xiongnu Empire to the Turkish Republic

~ 11 min read
Kazakhstan

THE ART OF KAZAKH ETIQUETTE

Ethnographer Dosymbek Qatyran on ancient greetings and forgotten rituals

~ 10 min read
East

WAR AND PEACE IN THE MONGOL EMPIRE

Timothy May on Chinggis Khan, Warfare, and the Limits of Conquest

~ 13 min read
People

WHO WAS THE REAL KHOJA NASREDDIN?

From Medieval Folk Hero to Soviet Screen Icon

~ 15 min read
People

SHOQAN WALIKHANOV: BETWEEN EMPIRE AND STEPPE

Politics, Ethnography, and a Kazakh Scholar’s Uneasy Legacy

~ 14 min read
East

THE KAZAKH FOLK CALENDAR: SEASONS AND NATURAL CYCLES

How the Nomadic Way of Life Gave Rise to an Ancient Science

~ 18 min read
Hieronymus Bosch. The Temptation of St. Anthony. 1500-1510 / Wikimedia Commons

What is this?

Guess what this thing was used for.

Central Asia

WHAT TO READ IN THE NEW YEAR

Qalam’s Curated History Reading List

~ 6 min read
Kazakhstan

HORSES, TEA, AND THE WORD OF THE NOMAD

How the Kazakh Khanate’s Economy Worked—and Why It Was Far More Complex Than It Seems

~ 11 min read
People

THE LEGACY OF ASANALI ASHIMOV

The Actor Who Became the Face of an Era

~ 13 min read
USE OF INFORMATION Privacy policy About the project Advertisement in Qalam OUR AUTHORS

© QALAM 2026. All rights reserved


Certificate of Registration of a Periodical Print and Online Publication No. KZ04VPY00140219. Issued on January 26, 2026, by the Information Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

© QALAM 2026. All rights reserved


Certificate of Registration of a Periodical Print and Online Publication No. KZ04VPY00140219. Issued on January 26, 2026, by the Information Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan.