In addition to language courses, all CESSI students are expected to attend regular co-curricular activities. When meeting in person, co-curricular activities have included Dastarkhan (Central-Asian style community meal), and other cultural activities, such as a traditional Uzbek and Uyghur dance demonstration and a Central Asian pile textile workshop. When conducting a virtual program, CESSI students are expected to attend 2 of the (virtual) weekly lectures over the course of the summer along with other cultural activities. Remote activities have included a virtual Tajik/Pamiri sing-a-long and dance demonstration, a virtual tour of Central Asian textiles at UW-Madison’s Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, and a small-group discussion about Uzbek literary translation with a prominent translator.
CESSI Lecture Series
Each summer, CESSI invites experts on Central Eurasia from across the country and the world to speak at the summer institute.
Lectures are on a wide range of topics across many disciplines, including history, political science, sociology, and literature. You can also view the CESSI Events Calendar for a summer event schedule.
CESSI lectures are part of the CREECA Lecture Series, which is free and open to the public. CREECA Fall 2021 Lectures are held in a hybrid in-person and Zoom format on Thursdays, 4:00pm-5:30pm. You can find the schedule of current lectures on the CREECA website.
Recordings of recent CESSI lectures are available on the CREECA Lecture Series Podcast (on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Google Play). Recordings of lectures prior to summer 2018 can be found on the CREECA Lecture Archive page.
