About PoCA


Mission Statement

The UCLA Program on Central Asia (PoCA), established in 2008, is led and administered by the Asia Pacific Center (APC) under the guidance of a faculty steering committee. PoCA promotes the interdisciplinary and interregional study of Central Asia and the regions that surround it, including Western China, the Himalayas, Russia and eastern Europe, South Asia, and the Persianate and Turkic worlds. PoCA serves as an intellectual crossroads for scholars working on India, China, the Middle East, and Europe to exchange ideas with specialists on Central Asia and advance scholarship and understanding of the region. PoCA sponsors a speaker series, the Central Asia Workshop, conferences, and courses on Central Asian studies and languages. 

Events


Photo for Film Screening: The Dawn is...

Film Screening: The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life

This compelling documentary highlights the untold stories of eight Iranian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, weaving together personal narratives from both Iran and the United States.

Wednesday, October 15, 2025
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Fowler Museum at UCLA

Photo for Book Talk - Female Religiosity...

Book Talk - Female Religiosity in Central Asia: Sufi Leaders in the Persianate World

Through revealing the fascinating story of the Sufi master Aghā-yi Buzurg and her path to becoming the 'Great Lady' in sixteenth-century Bukhara, Aziza Shanazarova invites readers into the little-known world of female religious authority in early modern Islamic Central Asia, revealing a far more multifaceted gender history than previously supposed. Pointing towards new ways of mapping female religious authority onto the landscapes of early modern Muslim narratives, this book challenges narratives of the relationship between gender and age in Islamic discourse of the period.

Wednesday, October 22, 2025
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Bunche Hall, Rm 6275

Photo for Waiting for their War to...

Waiting for their War to Come: Tibetan Soldiers Guarding Indian Borderlands

Lecture by Ishani Dasgupta (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Thursday, October 30, 2025
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM (Pacific Time)
Haines Hall, Rm 352

News


Photo for Visualizing Central Asia

Visualizing Central Asia

Videos created by UCLA students

Posted: 12/2/2020

Asia Pacific Center

11387 Bunche Hall - Los Angeles, CA 90095-1487

Campus Mail Code: 148703

Tel: (310) 825-0007

Fax: (310) 206-3555

Email: asia@international.ucla.edu

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