By Central Asia, we refer to the five post-Soviet countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and the areas of modern-day China currently known as Xinjiang, but historically referred to by its inhabitants as East Turkestan. While these six areas are our core focus, we recognize that Central Asia is deeply interconnected with neighboring states such as Russia and China, and increasingly so with its neighbors in the Indian subcontinent and East Asia. Our organization aims to position Central Asia within the changing geopolitical boundaries of the emergent “Asian Century” and seeks to re-assess the region’s culture, politics, and history from this standpoint.