La prochaine séance du Séminaire des études mongoles se tiendra le mardi 3 février 2026, de 15h à 17h, dans la salle 3.086 du Bâtiment de recherche nord, sur le Campus Condorcet (Bâtiment de recherche Nord (14 cours des Humanités, 93322 Aubervilliers, Métro Front Populaire (Ligne 12) ; RER B La Plaine – Stade de France), et par Zoom :
Tibetan Buddhist Rock Art in Southeastern Kazakhstan: Place Biography and Cultural Appropriation
par Valeria Gazizova (université de Heidelberg)
Résumé de la conférence :
Using a place-biographical approach, the talk examines the evolving materiality and dynamics of cultural appropriation of Tibetan Buddhist rock art and epigraphy in southeastern Kazakhstan pertaining to the Zunghar empire. By the early eighteenth century, the Oirat Mongol confederation habitually referred to as the Zunghar Khanate (1634 –1758) had come to control vast territories in northeastern Central Asia. This expansion was accompanied by the construction of Tibetan Buddhist sites across the occupied regions. Today, over two dozen remnants of Oirat heritage (monastery ruins, rock art, epigraphy, etc.) are documented in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Some of these surviving traces of Tibetan Buddhism in Muslim Central Asia have been incorporated into local Turkic ritual landscapes, where they are often associated with healing and memories of local heroes. Moreover, recent archaeological research and popular media, alongside broader historical changes since the late twentieth century, have renewed interest in former Oirat sacred geography in post-Soviet Central Asia, with some of these sites playing an increasing role among Buddhist converts, new spiritual movements, and cultural tourism initiatives. Th talk argues that the lens of “place biography”—understood as the layering of socio-historical contexts, practices, and memories inscribed in and constituting a place—offers a productive vantage point for exploring how these sites acquire, transform, and lose their meanings and functions amid shifting historical and socio-cultural conditions.
Un lien zoom est disponible pour suivre la séance en visioconférence : https://cnrs.zoom.us/j/91483488690?pwd=Kw1ahPba9oixyxuPHJuNiseOKyIDwC.1
ID de réunion: 914 8348 8690
Code secret: JGyy3L
Instructions pour participer : https://cnrs.zoom.us/meetings/91483488690/invitations?signature=TBzhZP5XQ_-GbsbVsXVeHK1co_Af8S7CFmGQKZRJeLk
Le programme complet des prochaines séances du séminaire est disponible au lien suivant : https://www.crcao.fr/2025/11/06/seminaire-des-etudes-mongoles-2026/