Welcome!

August 2015

Welcome to The Website of Razia Sultanova.

Dr Razia Sultanova is a musicologist and cultural anthropologist. Born in Russia and having grown up in Uzbekistan, she studied and consequently worked at both the Uzbek and Moscow State Conservatories. After moving to the UK - specifically to the University of London; Goldsmiths College and SOAS - she has since moved to Cambridge University and worked there since 2008. Her primary areas of research are Central Asian and Middle Eastern culture, which includes studies on 'Islam and music', and 'Gender and music. Razia Sultanova has been awarded a number of international scholarships, including but not limited to those: in Germany (DFG in 1993, the Ministry of Culture of the Land Brandenburg 1994, 1997); in France (L'Institut Français d'Etudes sur l'Asie Centrale in 1996, 1997); and in the UK (1999 onwards). She has edited several volumes including "Music and Identity in contemporary Central Asia", Ethnomusicology Forum, Routlege, 14/2, 2005, London; "Entre Femmes", Cahiers de Musiques Traditionnelles, Ateliers d'ethnomusicology, 2005, Geneva (in French) and "Sacred Knowledge: Schools or revelation? Master-Apprentice System of Oral Transmission in the music of the Turkic Speaking world", 2009, Cologne, Germany.

Typically her work has centered on ethnomusicology and anthropology, however recently she has taken interest in producing an ethnographic account of Northern Afghanistan and Central Asia, particularly in terms of religious culture and gender issues. The new monograph entitled "Popular culture in Afghanistan", commissioned by IBTauris has been submitted to the publisher and currently is in the process of publication. Another book with Ashgate SOAS (in its final preparatory stages) is called "Turks: from Shamanic voices to hip hop hits ", reflecting on cultural traditions of the Turkic world and beyond. Since 2008 Razia Sultanova has worked at Cambridge Central Asian Forum, where in December 2012 for the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies she organized an international conference on "Popular culture in Turkic Asia and Afghanistan", and in March 2013 a Navruz Concert with participation of 80 performers from the Turkic speaking world. Recently she contributed to the 43d ICTM world Conference in Astana, Kazakhstan (16-22 July 2015) as the Programme Co-Chair bringing participants from 70 countries. In 2015 Razia Sultanova was elected Vice President of the International Council for Traditional Music.