On 23 of November AKHP held its 4th Annual International Conference on: “Teaching and Learning Humanities in Central Asian Contexts: Environmental Aspects" in Dushanbe and online. It was attended by 25 leading scientists and scholars from the leading universities and academies across the UCA founding states of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. On his online welcome speech, the Rector of the UCA Professor Christipher emphasized the importance of humanities in understanding environmental issues and offering ways of its protection. The conference consisted of two panels and a round table discussion: Ecology and environmental protection in the context of the history, religion and national traditions of Central Asia; digital technologies, artificial intelligence, gender and natural science discourse on ecology and environmental protection in Central Asia. The round table discussion focused on the role of human factors – beliefs, behaviors and practices – in our understanding of global environmental issues and how subjects of humanities can help us change our attitudes towards nature and its protection. At the heart of global change are human choices and actions – questions of human behavior, preferences and motivations that are embedded in individual practices and actions, in institutional and cultural spheres and in political strategies. It was argued that humanities disciplines such as philosophy, history, religious studies, gender studies, linguistics and literature, psychology and education do offer a deep understanding of human motives, values and choices. Next year AKHP is planning to develop a new anthology on ‘Environmental Humanities’, which then will become an intrinsic part of its curriculum materials taught at partner universities across Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
