Shirin Akiner (16 June 1943 – 6 April 2019) was a scholar of Central Asia and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. She was a research associate at

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

(SOAS).

Life

Shirin Akiner was born in 1943 in

Dacca Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. She studied at

, gaining her first degree in Slavonic philology, and Turkish language and literature (Ottoman and Modern). She gained her doctorate in 1980 from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

as a researcher of the heritage of the

ian

Lipka Tatar The Lipka Tatars (Lipka – refers to ''Lithuania'', also known as Lithuanian Tatars; later also – Polish Tatars, Polish-Lithuanian Tatars, ''Lipkowie'', ''Lipcani'', ''Muślimi'', ''Lietuvos totoriai'') are a Turkic ethnic group who origina ...

s, with her dissertation titled "The religious vocabulary of the British Library Tatar-Byelorussian Kitab". Her first husband was killed in a car crash just before the birth of their son Metin. In 1973, she re-married.Arnold McMillin. Shirin Akiner (1942-2019) – in Memoriam
- Anglo-Belarusian Society, 18 April 2019 Akiner produced many scholarly works, particularly on

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. She was a member of the editorial and advisory board of the '' Journal of Central Asian and Caucasian Studies'', published by the

U.S.A.K. The International Strategic Research Organization (USAK, acronym from its Turkish name ''Uluslararası Stratejik Araştırma Kurumu'') is an independent think-tank established in 2004. It pursues interdisciplinary studies on national and internati ...

, and a chair of the British-Uzbek Society. She was also a researcher of modern

Belarusian literature Belarusian literature ( be, Беларуская лiтаратура, Biełaruskaja litaratura) is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by speakers (not necessarily native speakers) of the Belarusian language. History Pre-17th century ...

, including the literature of the Belarusian minority in Poland. She published articles in the ''

Journal of Belarusian Studies The ''Journal of Belarusian Studies'' (formerly the ''Journal of Byelorussian Studies'') is an English language academic journal in the field of Belarusian studies. It was described as “one of the longest lasting Belarusian publishing projects i ...

'' and maintained active contacts with the Belarusian community in Britain, including

Alexander Nadson Alexander Nadson ( be, Аляксандар Надсан, Aliaksandar Nadsan, 8 August 1926 – 15 April 2015) was the Apostolic Visitor for Belarusian Greek-Catholic faithful abroad, scholar, translator and a notable Belarusian émigré social ...

.Памерла брытанская дасьледніца беларускіх кітабаў Шырын Акінэр
hirin Akiner, researcher of the Belarusian Kitab, died-

Radio Svaboda Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

, 18 April 2019 In 1984, she published a book of English translations of miniature works by the Belarusian writer from Poland Sokrat Janowicz. In 2005, human rights groups,

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s, and the former

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

ambassador to

Craig Murray Craig John Murray (born 17 October 1958) is a Scottish author, human rights campaigner, journalist, and former diplomat for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Between 2002 and 2004, he was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan during ...

, accused her of producing a biased and "propagandist" report on the

Andijan massacre On 13 May 2005, protests erupted in Andijan, Uzbekistan. At one point, troops from the Uzbek National Security Service (SNB) fired into a crowd of protesters. Estimates of those killed on 13 May range from 187, the official count of the governme ...

in Uzbekistan. Murray called on

Colin Bundy Colin James Bundy (born 4 October 1944) is a South African historian, former principal of Green Templeton College, Oxford and former director of SOAS University of London. Bundy was an influential member of a generation of historians who substantia ...

, the director of

SOAS SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

, to take action against Akiner for allegedly promoting falsehoods, but the latter refused on the grounds that Murray's views were "unsubstantiated". Akiner died on 6 April 2019.Источники в Узбекистане сообщили о смерти лондонского профессора Ширин Акинер
ources in Uzbekistan report about the death of London professor Shirin Akiner- Fergana News, 7 April 2019

Selected publications

* ''Religious Language of a Belarusian Tatar Kitab: A Cultural Monument of Islam in Europe'', 457 pp. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009 * ''Violence in Andijan'', 13 May 2005: An Independent Assessment, 51pp. Johns Hopkins University, Uppsala University (Sweden), 2005. . * ''The Caspian: Politics, Energy, Security'', 405pp. RoutledgeCurzon (UK), 2004. . * ''Tajikistan: Disintegration or Reconciliation?'', 95pp. Royal Institute of International Affairs (London), 2001. . * ''The Formation of Kazakh Identity; from Tribe to Nation-State'', 83pp. Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1995. . * ''Resistance and Reform in Tibet'' edited by Robert Barnett and Shirin Akiner : C.Hurst 1994, Indiana University Press.

References

External links

Shirin Akiner at the Journal of Belarusian Studies

Akiner's report on the Andijan Massacre

* ttp://kazworld.info/?p=966 Nikolay Kuzmin: Interview with Shirin Akiner – KazWorld.info
Interview with Akiner on Channel 4 News

The Akiner Controversy at Registan.net

Shirin Akiner profile

Obituary, Burzine Waghmar, SOAS Library and Centre for Iranian Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akiner, Shirin 1943 births 2019 deaths Academics of SOAS University of London Historians of Belarus Historians of Central Asia Translators from Belarusian British women non-fiction writers 20th-century translators