About the project

БАХЫТ БАПИШЕВ Дух Горы

BAKHYT BAPISHEV Spirit of the Mountain

QALAM is a new multimedia project dedicated to the human history and culture as seen from Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

For centuries, this country and Central Asia as a whole has been a place of interaction of ideologies, religions and cultures leaving a great mark on the fate of this land and its unique diversity. As a link between East and West, North and South, a meeting place for peoples, ideas and goods, Central Asia has influenced neighbouring regions and cultures from India, Iran and China to the Islamic caliphates, the Ottoman Empire and Russia.

Although historiography originated simultaneously in different regions of the world, dominated by concepts and constructs in historical scholarship has been evolved primarily from Western Europe data. "Nations", "ethnic groups", "feudalism", "archaicism", "Middle Ages", "modernity" - how suitable are these terms to tell about the past of Kazakhstan, Japan or China? The colonial discourse in describing the world remains dominant to this day. The historical view from London, Paris or Moscow still dominates in minds of public not only in Europe or the United States, but also often in Asia or Africa.

We are going to change this colonial prism by giving a new perspective on the past in the context of both domestic and global events and processes. The “tunnel vision” of the prevailing approaches are obvious to many scientists in the world.

Science knows no boundaries. Researchers from different countries, including Kazakhstan, USA, Canada, UK, and Russia are already involved in our project. In our project, we adhere to commonly accepted scholarly standards, but also try to write our articles in an engaging way, using a variety of genres, formats, and delivery options. Eventually, history emerged from entertaining stories of the past and has been preserved for ages in epics, ballads, chivalric romances, sagas, bylinas, and kuis. We respect and understand this tradition. History is interesting.

Currently, Qalam is available in Kazakh and Russian. However, we going to launch an English version in the near future. And we hope more languages will follow.

TIMUR TURLOV

The Qalam project founder

TIMUR TURLOV

He is a successful Kazakhstani entrepreneur and financial expert, founder and owner of the publicly traded company Freedom Holding Corp. whose shares are traded on the U.S. Nasdaq Stock Exchange since 2019. Timur Turlov invests in IT startups in Kazakhstan, actively supports a number of charitable and social projects in the humanitarian, public and sports spheres. Since January 2023, he is head of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation. An acknowledged expert in financial and economic issues. He has regular publications in international business magazines, gives lectures and reports at global conferences.

About the project

ZHAR ZARDYKHAN

Editor-in-Chief

ZHAR ZARDYKHAN

In 2007, he defended his doctoral dissertation (Ph.D.) at Bilkent University on the policy of the Ottoman Empire towards the Muslim and Turkic population of the Russian Empire during the First World War. He studied history, international relations and social anthropology at universities in Turkey, Hungary and Germany. From 2008 to 2020, he taught at KIMEP University in the Department of International Relations and Regional Studies. Zhar Zardykhan speaks several Central Asian, Middle Eastern and European languages.

NIKOLAY USKOV

Project Consultant

NIKOLAY USKOV

He is a journalist and medievalist historian, PhD in history. For about 10 years, he taught history of the Middle Ages and church history at Lomonosov Moscow State University. Nikolay Uskov is an author of the monograph “Christianity and Monasticism in Early Medieval Western Europe”. Since 2000, he has been in the media business, and headed Men's Health, GQ (Gentlemen's Quarterly) magazines in Conde Nast publishing house, and Snob magazine. From 2016 to 2018, he was an editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of Forbes. Since August 2018, Nikolai Uskov is an editorial director of Forbes Russia and a member of the Board of Directors of Forbes Russia.

Adil Kozhikhov

Chairman of the Editorial Board

Adil Kozhikhov

In 2000, he graduated from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University majoring in polotology. He has worked for over 20 years in state and independent analytical institutions, and held various positions in the public administration system. Since 2022, he is the Communications Advisor to the President of Freedom Finance Global PLC, a public company.

Editorial staff

  • Maxim Semelyak: Deputy Editor-in-Chief
  • Tlek Yrysbek: Deputy Editor-in-Chief
  • Tata Oleynik: Deputy Editor-in-Chief
  • Artyom Shishov: Editor-in-chief of the issue
  • Linda Heward-Mills: Editor, English language
  • Niyati Dhuldhoya: Editor, English language
  • Victoria Marmur: Head of Build Service
  • Valeria Zhdanova: Executive Editor
  • Ruslan Khabiyev: Producer and Assistant Project Consultant
  • Arina Bolatbekova: Corrector
  • Akbilek Nogaybayeva: Corrector
  • Gulnara Malkarbayeva: Corrector
  • Elena Ivanitskaya: Corrector

Commerce and Marketing

  • Irina Kurbanova: Advertising and Sales Director
  • Gisso Abib: Marketing Director

Design and development

  • Eldar Uvaisov: Art Director
  • Gamal Seitkuzhanov: Chief Designer
  • Alexander Klimov: Site development
  • Rassul Bessimbekov: Site development