About the project

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.

Qalam is available in Kazakh, Russian, and English.

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.

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.

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.

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