Bruno De Cordier
Bruno De Cordier is Associate Professor and Deputy Head of Department at the Department of Conflict and Development Studies at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of Ghent University. He teaches Humanitarian Policy there and has previously been an international relief worker for various relief organisations for almost ten years, the bulk in deployment in areas of the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union. De Cordier also has a course in the social history of Central Asia and the world of the steppe, which extents ultimately to the Pontic-Caspian steppe in eastern Europe. He is particularly interested in the extents and ways in which past histories continue to be reflected in present realities and identities, and in ways in which history can inspire ways to deal with the turbulent present and -future.
Lecture: ‘A fluid that sticks: notes on oil production in Kazakhstan’
On May 21, 2024 (TUE) Maurizio Totaro will discuss the social, political and environmental effects of hydrocarbon extraction in the western regions of Kazakhstan, where most of the oil and gas fields are located.
Lecture: Histor(iograph)y: an ideological-identitarian frontline? Gulag commemoration and nation-building in Kazakhstan
On May 7, 2024. Although the Soviet Union’s Gulag system is popularly mostly associated with Siberia, some of its major branches, like Karlag and Steplag, were situated and operating (1930-1959) in what is now Kazakhstan.
Public Lecture: Histor(iograph)y: an ideological-identitarian frontline?
Discussing Gulag commemoration and nation-building in Kazakhstan together with Aimar Ventsel and Bruno De Cordier.
Can (some sort of) ‘Donbas separatism’ happen in Kazakhstan?
Warfare and the nature of conflict have substantially changed over the last 40 years. Yet, the procedures and content of peace agreements have not evolved with this change.
The maritime in the landlocked: The position and role of seas in the modern shaping of the Ciscaspian-Central Asian region.
This research, which focuses on the early-modern and modern historical periods, looks into the position and role of these water surfaces and their respective littorals in western Central Asia’s social history.
Relief aid in the context of the Ukraine war(s): towards a redefinition of the humanitarian (space)?
Warfare and the nature of conflict have substantially changed over the last 40 years. Yet, the procedures and content of peace agreements have not evolved with this change.
Current research projects:
Can (some sort of) ‘Donbas separatism’ happen in Kazakhstan?
Warfare and the nature of conflict have substantially changed over the last 40 years. Yet, the procedures and content of peace agreements have not evolved with this change.
The maritime in the landlocked: The position and role of seas in the modern shaping of the Ciscaspian-Central Asian region.
This research, which focuses on the early-modern and modern historical periods, looks into the position and role of these water surfaces and their respective littorals in western Central Asia’s social history.
Relief aid in the context of the Ukraine war(s): towards a redefinition of the humanitarian (space)?
Warfare and the nature of conflict have substantially changed over the last 40 years. Yet, the procedures and content of peace agreements have not evolved with this change.