A Scholarly Seminar on the French School of Iranology and Persian and Turkic Manuscripts Related to Central Asia Held at the Faculty of Oriental Studies

On December 5, the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at the Faculty of Oriental Studies hosted a scholarly seminar within the framework of the SDG initiative “Quality Education.” The seminar was delivered by Galiya Kambarbekova, PhD in Philology and Senior Lecturer, following her research internship under the Bolashak 500 program at Sorbonne-Nouvelle University (France).

The seminar focused on the French school of Iranology and on Persian and Turkic manuscripts related to Central Asia preserved in the collections of the National Library of France.

In her presentation, Dr. Galiya Kambarbekova provided an overview of the historical development of the University of the Sorbonne in Paris, the academic activities of the Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO), and the work of the BULAC library. She also highlighted that INALCO offers instruction in the Kazakh language alongside Arabic, Chinese, and Hebrew, reflecting the growing international interest in the cultural and linguistic heritage of Kazakhstan.

Participants of the seminar were introduced to manuscript materials pertaining to Central Asia held in major Parisian libraries. Faculty members and students engaged actively in the discussion and noted the scholarly relevance and informational value of the presented material.