St Petersburg International Conference of Afghan Studies

94 Санкт-Петербургская международная конференция по афганистике Consociatio Eruditorum Studiis Afganologicis Internationalibus (the International Association of Afghan Studies) Sergei Andreyev The Rationale and a Way Forward: a Note by The Association’s Conceptualiser It is intended to discuss the establishment of The International Association of Afghan Studies, which will be known by its Latin name of Consociatio Eruditorum Studiis Afganologicis Internationalibus (CESAI) at the margins of the St Petersburg International Conference of Afghan Studies. The establishment of the European Society of Afghan Studies was proposed by British and German scholars of Afghanistan; however, it has never materialized. We are optimistic that this proposal may be implemented on that occasion. Rationale It is intended to set up a learned society of international standing as a way of coping with the somewhat difficult situation in which academic Afghan Studies 1 has come to find itself due to the shifting focus on policy-oriented research on Afghanistan. Its goal is the promotion and fostering of academic Afghan Studies, 1 Afghan Studies is understood as a field of knowledge not limited exclusively to the country of Afghanistan but also encompassing the broader Afghan oecumene , viz., the areas bordering Afghanistan and sharing with it a common linguistic, ethnic and social identity.