Technology, temporality, and the study of Central Asia: an introduction

This issue is dedicated to the question of how research on technology and its inherent temporality materiality can enhance our understanding geography, culture history in Central Asia. The articles provide fresh ideas Asia as a region by unpacking “hard” infrastructural base cultural, social, economic geography. They offer more inclusive view Asian landscapes, focusing permanent material structures vernacular practices that are often overlooked conventional historiography social studies research. Finally, they explore both supports challenges primacy political defining historical periods legacies papers cover about 150 years history, with case what today Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Mongolia. introductory essay summarizes their key insights, situating them wider debate beyond