FROM THE ANCIENT SILK ROAD TO THE “BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE”: CENTRAL ASIA AS A EURASIA TRANSIT HUB — CONTINUITY, RUPTURE, AND THE POLITICS OF CONNECTIVITY

Аннотация

The concept of the Silk Road, popularized in the late nineteenth century by Ferdinand von Richthofen, continues to evoke images of timeless caravans and cosmopolitan exchange. Yet, as Valerie Hansen has demonstrated through Turfan and Dunhuang manuscripts, trans-Eurasian trade was never continuous or naturally occurring; it was episodic, politically mediated, and vulnerable to disruption[ , P45-67].

Scholarly debates over the very notion of the “Silk Road” have intensified since the late twentieth century. While Richthofen coined the term to describe trade arteries, Christopher Beckwith has emphasized the episodic and often violent character of exchanges, whereas Susan Whitfield has highlighted the role of material culture and localized encounters. These perspectives challenge the notion of a timeless Eurasian cosmopolitanism and instead situate Central Asia within fluctuating geopolitical contexts. During the Cold War, moreover, the “Silk Road” was mobilized by both Soviet and Western scholars as a cultural bridge narrative, further underscoring the political uses of history.