The Newsletter 70 Spring 2015

Publishing challenges for local Central Asian scholars

Andrew Wachtel

Scholars of Central and Inner Asia who come from the region face two major hurdles in publishing their findings for an international audience. The first has to do with the constitution of their field of study and is related to problems faced by all scholars (local or foreign) who deal with fields that have, on the one hand high qualification requirements, and on the other appear marginal to most outsiders. The second has to do particularly with the training these scholars generally receive, the kinds of institutions they work in, and the need foreign scholars in this field have for local knowledge.