Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen
@dianakudaibergen.bsky.social
Political Sociologist, Decolonial Writer, Central Asian to the core.
Lecturing at @UCLSSEES.
Most of the times you can find me writing or rummaging around the steppe, deserts and valleys.
Fellow at Homerton College, previously at Cambridge Sociology
Lecturing at @UCLSSEES.
Most of the times you can find me writing or rummaging around the steppe, deserts and valleys.
Fellow at Homerton College, previously at Cambridge Sociology
ET wants to go Home!!!! To Kazakhstan!
Meanwhile Barsakelmes is coming to an end.
My friends are texting me: “we kept the piece of then main stage (made of Aral Sea salt) for you! Come back for the afterparty” but it’s on the last day of my classes in London 😭😭😭😭😭
I can hear my hear break 💔
Meanwhile Barsakelmes is coming to an end.
My friends are texting me: “we kept the piece of then main stage (made of Aral Sea salt) for you! Come back for the afterparty” but it’s on the last day of my classes in London 😭😭😭😭😭
I can hear my hear break 💔
December 7, 2025 at 7:03 PM
ET wants to go Home!!!! To Kazakhstan!
Meanwhile Barsakelmes is coming to an end.
My friends are texting me: “we kept the piece of then main stage (made of Aral Sea salt) for you! Come back for the afterparty” but it’s on the last day of my classes in London 😭😭😭😭😭
I can hear my hear break 💔
Meanwhile Barsakelmes is coming to an end.
My friends are texting me: “we kept the piece of then main stage (made of Aral Sea salt) for you! Come back for the afterparty” but it’s on the last day of my classes in London 😭😭😭😭😭
I can hear my hear break 💔
such an emotional moment after my last Barsakelmes performance. Fell asleep and remembered my ritualistic experience in my childhood. I wrote a note about it many during the performance but only saw it when I fell asleep.... :'(
December 7, 2025 at 6:20 PM
such an emotional moment after my last Barsakelmes performance. Fell asleep and remembered my ritualistic experience in my childhood. I wrote a note about it many during the performance but only saw it when I fell asleep.... :'(
finally, can reveal that I was experiencing the most amazing lifetime experience during the preparation of Barsakelmes performance. I wrote the accompanying text for the guys and I accompanied Samrat to Mangystau in August 2024 <3 when he was consolidating the performance.
I'm forever grateful
I'm forever grateful
This chunk of the text may not even make it to the final version but I’m so glad I wrote it. The whole experience of shamanistic practices & dialogues we went through to write it is just gorgeous.
It’s not just my text. Like a shaman, I’m a mere transmitter, the instrument of translation.
It’s not just my text. Like a shaman, I’m a mere transmitter, the instrument of translation.
December 7, 2025 at 5:15 PM
finally, can reveal that I was experiencing the most amazing lifetime experience during the preparation of Barsakelmes performance. I wrote the accompanying text for the guys and I accompanied Samrat to Mangystau in August 2024 <3 when he was consolidating the performance.
I'm forever grateful
I'm forever grateful
I’m emotional and happy that I got to experience Barsakelmes performance once again with friends on and offstage performanc back at home in Almaty.
Also my Barsakelmes is my most read text (see that gorgeous book in hands of the audience). So grateful for the whole Journey!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Also my Barsakelmes is my most read text (see that gorgeous book in hands of the audience). So grateful for the whole Journey!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
December 7, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I’m emotional and happy that I got to experience Barsakelmes performance once again with friends on and offstage performanc back at home in Almaty.
Also my Barsakelmes is my most read text (see that gorgeous book in hands of the audience). So grateful for the whole Journey!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Also my Barsakelmes is my most read text (see that gorgeous book in hands of the audience). So grateful for the whole Journey!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
New and a very emotional episode of YurtJurt podcast is out! Features the amazing Kamila Smagulova, one of the coolest young researchers and decolonial voices from Central Asia
December 4, 2025 at 2:46 PM
New and a very emotional episode of YurtJurt podcast is out! Features the amazing Kamila Smagulova, one of the coolest young researchers and decolonial voices from Central Asia
My friends back at home often laugh that my love for Nurbek is unlimited. This talented guy & his voice saves me in every situation. Preparing for my lectures, writing my books, feeling homesick... I always find myself homed in his lyrics.
Sneak peak: he also inspired some of my forthcoming writing
Sneak peak: he also inspired some of my forthcoming writing
küibeñ (feat. jeltoksan.)
YouTube video by dudeontheguitar - Topic
www.youtube.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:31 AM
My friends back at home often laugh that my love for Nurbek is unlimited. This talented guy & his voice saves me in every situation. Preparing for my lectures, writing my books, feeling homesick... I always find myself homed in his lyrics.
Sneak peak: he also inspired some of my forthcoming writing
Sneak peak: he also inspired some of my forthcoming writing
Come TOMORROW!!!!
Hurst team will be selling the Book! And Ben Noble and I will be in conversation about Kazakshtani-ness and more!
Please come to SSEES at 5 pm
Hurst team will be selling the Book! And Ben Noble and I will be in conversation about Kazakshtani-ness and more!
Please come to SSEES at 5 pm
🔊 One week until this book launch of 'What Does it Mean to be Kazakhstani?' @hurstpublishers.bsky.social.
Join @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social as she unpacks Kazakhstan’s unique path to nationhood.
🗓️ 4 December at 5pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social
Join @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social as she unpacks Kazakhstan’s unique path to nationhood.
🗓️ 4 December at 5pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social
December 3, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Come TOMORROW!!!!
Hurst team will be selling the Book! And Ben Noble and I will be in conversation about Kazakshtani-ness and more!
Please come to SSEES at 5 pm
Hurst team will be selling the Book! And Ben Noble and I will be in conversation about Kazakshtani-ness and more!
Please come to SSEES at 5 pm
Tselinny did something amazing turning their long-awaited site opening into a prolonged performative journey of Barsakelelmes (if you go, you won’t return) - an enigmatic island in the lost Aral sea to reflect on all the crises contemporary and old and all the beauty.
December 3, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Tselinny did something amazing turning their long-awaited site opening into a prolonged performative journey of Barsakelelmes (if you go, you won’t return) - an enigmatic island in the lost Aral sea to reflect on all the crises contemporary and old and all the beauty.
Reposted by Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen
New paper! @william-dinneen.bsky.social @guygrossman.bsky.social Yiqing Xu and I use GPT to code 91k articles from 174 polisci journals (2003–2023)and track research designs, transparency practices, and citations. How has the credibility revolution reshaped the discipline? doi.org/10.31235/osf...
🧵
🧵
December 2, 2025 at 11:46 PM
New paper! @william-dinneen.bsky.social @guygrossman.bsky.social Yiqing Xu and I use GPT to code 91k articles from 174 polisci journals (2003–2023)and track research designs, transparency practices, and citations. How has the credibility revolution reshaped the discipline? doi.org/10.31235/osf...
🧵
🧵
Reposted by Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen
For all RUTA members and friends who might be in London this week, this book launch will be of interest!
Come to SSEES on Thursday 4 Dec for my book discussion with my editor and colleague Ben Noble!
I’m bringing Kazakhstani chocolate ;)
www.hurstpublishers.com/event/what-d...
I’m bringing Kazakhstani chocolate ;)
www.hurstpublishers.com/event/what-d...
What Does It Mean to Be Kazakhstani? w/ Diana T. Kudaibergen | HURST
Join Diana T. Kudaibergen, author of What Does It Mean to Be Kazakhstani?, for a SSEES Politics and Sociology book launch.
www.hurstpublishers.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:01 PM
For all RUTA members and friends who might be in London this week, this book launch will be of interest!
Reposted by Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen
A crucial episode in which Botakoz Kassymbekova takes a critical look at ‘imperial innocence’ and the Soviet tale of the ‘friendship among nations’, exploring how the so-called friendship served as a colonial tool, reinforcing racial hierarchies, inequality, and systemic injustice under Soviet rule
Bombastic new episode of YurtJurt podcast!
Tune in to listen to the amazing BOTAKOZ KASSYMBEKOVA!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
open.spotify.com/episode/1CfN...
Tune in to listen to the amazing BOTAKOZ KASSYMBEKOVA!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
open.spotify.com/episode/1CfN...
Imperial Innocence and the Undignified Empire with Botakoz Kassymbekova
open.spotify.com
December 1, 2025 at 2:52 PM
A crucial episode in which Botakoz Kassymbekova takes a critical look at ‘imperial innocence’ and the Soviet tale of the ‘friendship among nations’, exploring how the so-called friendship served as a colonial tool, reinforcing racial hierarchies, inequality, and systemic injustice under Soviet rule
Reposted by Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen
🔊 One week until this book launch of 'What Does it Mean to be Kazakhstani?' @hurstpublishers.bsky.social.
Join @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social as she unpacks Kazakhstan’s unique path to nationhood.
🗓️ 4 December at 5pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social
Join @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social as she unpacks Kazakhstan’s unique path to nationhood.
🗓️ 4 December at 5pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social
November 27, 2025 at 4:23 PM
🔊 One week until this book launch of 'What Does it Mean to be Kazakhstani?' @hurstpublishers.bsky.social.
Join @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social as she unpacks Kazakhstan’s unique path to nationhood.
🗓️ 4 December at 5pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social
Join @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social as she unpacks Kazakhstan’s unique path to nationhood.
🗓️ 4 December at 5pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
@uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social
Come to SSEES on Thursday 4 Dec for my book discussion with my editor and colleague Ben Noble!
I’m bringing Kazakhstani chocolate ;)
www.hurstpublishers.com/event/what-d...
I’m bringing Kazakhstani chocolate ;)
www.hurstpublishers.com/event/what-d...
What Does It Mean to Be Kazakhstani? w/ Diana T. Kudaibergen | HURST
Join Diana T. Kudaibergen, author of What Does It Mean to Be Kazakhstani?, for a SSEES Politics and Sociology book launch.
www.hurstpublishers.com
November 30, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Come to SSEES on Thursday 4 Dec for my book discussion with my editor and colleague Ben Noble!
I’m bringing Kazakhstani chocolate ;)
www.hurstpublishers.com/event/what-d...
I’m bringing Kazakhstani chocolate ;)
www.hurstpublishers.com/event/what-d...
Rosalia's new album, some recent discussions w scholarly friends in different fields (and some Marxists), the looming Xmas time & unfinished root canal make me want to write something super creative, outside the box, and genre-bending.
Inspiration, come!
Inspiration, come!
November 29, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Rosalia's new album, some recent discussions w scholarly friends in different fields (and some Marxists), the looming Xmas time & unfinished root canal make me want to write something super creative, outside the box, and genre-bending.
Inspiration, come!
Inspiration, come!
Happy Bday to Almagul Menlibayeva, one of the artists who transformed my thinking and writing. I wrote a very personal text about her work that I saw for the first time in 2006 but the book I wrote it for is still stuck in print.
She is the coolest, her videoart is on show @ Highgate gallery, LDN
She is the coolest, her videoart is on show @ Highgate gallery, LDN
November 29, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Happy Bday to Almagul Menlibayeva, one of the artists who transformed my thinking and writing. I wrote a very personal text about her work that I saw for the first time in 2006 but the book I wrote it for is still stuck in print.
She is the coolest, her videoart is on show @ Highgate gallery, LDN
She is the coolest, her videoart is on show @ Highgate gallery, LDN
Reposted by Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen
Our podcast on Eastern Europe and decolonization is out!
Why has Eastern Europe been absent from studies of decolonial history?
In our latest podcast, Oksana Dudko (@oksanadudko.bsky.social) and Anna Hájková (@ankahajkova.bsky.social) discuss Ukrainian history in an age of invasion.
In our latest podcast, Oksana Dudko (@oksanadudko.bsky.social) and Anna Hájková (@ankahajkova.bsky.social) discuss Ukrainian history in an age of invasion.
Teaching Eastern Europe Through a Decolonial Lens
Why has Eastern Europe been absent from studies of decolonial history?
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
November 28, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Our podcast on Eastern Europe and decolonization is out!
Reposted by Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen
thanks @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social for having Prof. Dr. Botakoz Kassymbekova on the show! hope to see her on bsky someday, but for now, reminded me to add another book to the shelf!
Imperial Innocence and the Undignified Empire with Botakoz Kassymbekova
Podcast Episode · Yurt Jurt · 11/27/2025 · 1h 3m
podcasts.apple.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:12 PM
thanks @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social for having Prof. Dr. Botakoz Kassymbekova on the show! hope to see her on bsky someday, but for now, reminded me to add another book to the shelf!
@joannalillis.bsky.social presenting her @bloombury.bsky.social book at the @uclssees.bsky.social Politics and Sociology seminar series chaired by @aglayasnetkov.bsky.social 🙏
November 27, 2025 at 5:40 PM
@joannalillis.bsky.social presenting her @bloombury.bsky.social book at the @uclssees.bsky.social Politics and Sociology seminar series chaired by @aglayasnetkov.bsky.social 🙏
The new issue of Central Asian Affairs journal is out! We have fascinating pieces on Central Asian politics and a book forum on film studies in the region.
Don’t forget to cite and share! we are also always looking for submissions from early career & regional scholars!
brill.com/downloadpdf/...
Don’t forget to cite and share! we are also always looking for submissions from early career & regional scholars!
brill.com/downloadpdf/...
brill.com
November 27, 2025 at 3:36 PM
The new issue of Central Asian Affairs journal is out! We have fascinating pieces on Central Asian politics and a book forum on film studies in the region.
Don’t forget to cite and share! we are also always looking for submissions from early career & regional scholars!
brill.com/downloadpdf/...
Don’t forget to cite and share! we are also always looking for submissions from early career & regional scholars!
brill.com/downloadpdf/...
Reposted by Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen
RUTA co-founder, historian @kassymbekova.bsky.social, will be giving a talk today on Destalinization as Decolonization. Her talk will explore why acknowledging Soviet and post-Soviet colonialism is not merely a matter of historical accuracy, but a necessary step toward imagining a democratic future.
A webinar on destalinization as decolonization: what does it mean to recognise the Soviet ‘Union’ and post-Soviet Russia as a colonial project and why is it essential to confront and overcome an ongoing imperial and not only an authoritarian legacy
Registration: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Registration: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
November 27, 2025 at 3:25 PM
RUTA co-founder, historian @kassymbekova.bsky.social, will be giving a talk today on Destalinization as Decolonization. Her talk will explore why acknowledging Soviet and post-Soviet colonialism is not merely a matter of historical accuracy, but a necessary step toward imagining a democratic future.
Reposted by Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen
This is a very important conversation between @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social+ @kassymbekova.bsky.social
I particularly appreciate the part where Bota says that for survivors of Soviet violence, the telling of trauma is not necessarily liberating.
#CentralAsia #Ukraine
open.spotify.com/episode/1CfN...
I particularly appreciate the part where Bota says that for survivors of Soviet violence, the telling of trauma is not necessarily liberating.
#CentralAsia #Ukraine
open.spotify.com/episode/1CfN...
Imperial Innocence and the Undignified Empire with Botakoz Kassymbekova
open.spotify.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:01 AM
This is a very important conversation between @dianakudaibergen.bsky.social+ @kassymbekova.bsky.social
I particularly appreciate the part where Bota says that for survivors of Soviet violence, the telling of trauma is not necessarily liberating.
#CentralAsia #Ukraine
open.spotify.com/episode/1CfN...
I particularly appreciate the part where Bota says that for survivors of Soviet violence, the telling of trauma is not necessarily liberating.
#CentralAsia #Ukraine
open.spotify.com/episode/1CfN...
In light of what's happening with the "anti-LGBT" law in Kazakhstan, I think it's important to listen to this superb podcast in Russian with the superb queer researchers/practitioners voices Salta Shoshanova and Medina Bazargali:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi4F...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi4F...
Искусство, квирность и деколонизация: Женские голоса Центральной Азии
YouTube video by Башта
www.youtube.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:05 AM
In light of what's happening with the "anti-LGBT" law in Kazakhstan, I think it's important to listen to this superb podcast in Russian with the superb queer researchers/practitioners voices Salta Shoshanova and Medina Bazargali:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi4F...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi4F...
Bombastic new episode of YurtJurt podcast!
Tune in to listen to the amazing BOTAKOZ KASSYMBEKOVA!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
open.spotify.com/episode/1CfN...
Tune in to listen to the amazing BOTAKOZ KASSYMBEKOVA!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
open.spotify.com/episode/1CfN...
Imperial Innocence and the Undignified Empire with Botakoz Kassymbekova
open.spotify.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Bombastic new episode of YurtJurt podcast!
Tune in to listen to the amazing BOTAKOZ KASSYMBEKOVA!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
open.spotify.com/episode/1CfN...
Tune in to listen to the amazing BOTAKOZ KASSYMBEKOVA!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
open.spotify.com/episode/1CfN...
Reporting that I spent an awesome weekend with dear decolonial friends, read some immensely good prose, cried my eyes out on some of it (Egana Dzhabbarova <3), questioned existential questions, barely touched my social media (ahaha), &came crushing down to the officially the busiest week of the term
November 24, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reporting that I spent an awesome weekend with dear decolonial friends, read some immensely good prose, cried my eyes out on some of it (Egana Dzhabbarova <3), questioned existential questions, barely touched my social media (ahaha), &came crushing down to the officially the busiest week of the term
Reposted by Dr Diana T. Kudaibergen
That’s all because it was immensely inspiring to read your book. It is so rare to read work that captures what life in an authoritarian system is like, what it does to people on individual, societal and trans-generational levels, while doing justice to the insistence on and difficulty of resistance
re-reading @terezahendl.bsky.social review of the Kazakh Spring and every word resonates so deeply.
It's not a review, it's an incredibly inspiring text, an invitation for further research highlighting importance of decolonial writing about authoritarianisms and "embodied knowledge" I've been
It's not a review, it's an incredibly inspiring text, an invitation for further research highlighting importance of decolonial writing about authoritarianisms and "embodied knowledge" I've been
November 21, 2025 at 12:46 PM
That’s all because it was immensely inspiring to read your book. It is so rare to read work that captures what life in an authoritarian system is like, what it does to people on individual, societal and trans-generational levels, while doing justice to the insistence on and difficulty of resistance