Biography
Biography
Anna Oldfield began by studying Russian and Ukrainian languages and literatures and then branched out into the Caucasus and Central Asia. She has studied abroad and led student groups in Moscow, collected oral histories in Ukraine, researched two years with women bards in Azerbaijan, studied Turkish in Istanbul, taught as a Fulbright in Kazakhstan, and given workshops in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Her research centers on Central and Western Asia and focuses on epic, music, folklore, literature and film. Her teaching and scholarship focus on forging links of respect, understanding, and empathy across cultures. Oldfield has worked on cultural exchange initiatives with the British Library, Smithsonian Folkways, the Azerbaijan National Archives, the San Francisco World Music Festival, the International Council of Traditional Music, the T. Zhurgenev Kazakh National Academy of Arts, and CCU’s China exchange initiative. She is currently collaborating with Uzbek scholars on a translation of Uzbek short stories.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Education
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison – Languages and Cultures of Asia
M.A. University of Arizona, Russian and Slavic Languages and Literatures
B.A. University of New Mexico, Russian Studies
Interesting Facts
She is the co-Secretary of the International Council of Traditional Music and Dance Study Group on Traditional Music and Dance in the Turkic World.
She served four times on the Fulbright Scholar and Fulbright ETA selection committee for South and Central Asia.
She conducted a workshop on “Translation - Theory and Practice” at the invitation of the Azerbaijan University of Languages and the Azerbaijan Ministry of Education in collaboration with the US Embassy American Corner in Baku in January, 2022.
She partnered twice with CCU faculty Emma Howes and Ben Sota and faculty of the T. Zhurgenev Kazakh National Academy of Arts for performences at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, 2019 and 2023.
She was Fulbright Scholar (2010) and Fulbright Specialist (2017) in Kazakhstan at the Ablai Khan Kazakh National University of World Languages and International.
She contributed to the project Musical Geographies of Central Asia hosted at the University of London in 2012: https://www.akdn.org/akmi/musical-geographies- central-asia/anna-oldfield
She worked as cultural liaison and translator on Volumes 4 and 6 of the Smithsonian Folkways Music of Central Asia series and at the Bardic Diva’s Gallery shows and performance for the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art in 2012
She apprenticed herself for a year to woman bard Minaya Azafli in Azerbaijan, but despite Minaya xanim’s great patience, Anna sadly has no musical talent.
Teaching Areas
World Literature and Film across regions and genres, including classics, epic narratives, folklore, 19th and 20th century novels, magical realism, women’s literature, literature of central and western Asia, Russian and East European literature and film, intercultural studies.
Research Areas
Epic narratives, folklore, music, literature and film of Central and Western Asia; decolonizing world literature, women bards, diasporas, borderlands areas, cross-cultural reading, translation studies.
Recent Publications
“’Don’t Get in my Face Like Ashiq Peri’: The Legacy of Azerbaijan’s Most Famous Woman Bard.” In Memory, Voice, and Identity: Muslim Women’s Writing from across the Middle East, Ed. Feroza Jussawalla and Doaa Oman. New York and London: Routledge (Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature), 2021.
“Concerto for Solo Piano: Rethinking Diaspora Music with Azerbaijani Women Musicians in the United States.” In The Routledge Handbook of Asian Diaspora & Development, Ed. Ajaya K. Sahoo. New York and London: Routledge Press, 2021
“The Azerbaijani Ashiq: Musical Change, Transmission, and the Future of a Bardic Art,” co-authored with Behrang Nikaeen. Journal of Folklore Research 57, 3 (September-December 2020). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1-25.
For more information, visit https://aoldfieldccu.wordpress.com/