Critical Story of critical minerals in Central Asia

Speaker: Prof Boram Shin, Jeonbuk University, South Korea

Cambridge Central Asia Forum Seminar Series Lent Term 2025

Zoom Registration https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/Vu0-L-UHQ5eiILMpKuPEtA 

Abstract: This paper examines the role of critical minerals through a Eurasian historical lens. Contemporary discourse often presents “critical minerals” as a source of geopolitical rivalry, framing Central Asia and its mineral resources within a “modern Great Game” scenario. By tracing how Central Asia has utilized its mineral resources and developed relevant technologies from the Bronze Age through the Soviet period, this paper offers an alternative perspective. Rather than viewing critical minerals solely through the prism of competition, it highlights the region’s history of interconnected networks and integration, thereby reframing the narrative of mineral resources in Central Asia.

Biography: Prof Boram Shin is Associate Professor at the School of International Studies at Jeonbuk National University, South Korea. She received a PhD degree in Slavonic Studies from University of Cambridge with a dissertation that explored national identity construction in Uzbekistan through Soviet culture from the 1930s to the 1940s. Currently Prof Shin is working on Soviet and Central Asian cultural and science diplomacy during the Cold War.