{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Central Asian Studies","slug":"new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391","podcast_index_feed_id":320391,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/VjNbNYWR","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/peoples-places/central-asian-studies/","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/cfa596c9-7ed7-4f69-ae77-ff3bec08a375/1d1a310b-0f41-40b7-92ce-6b7880191d7a/3000x3000/cf6e365e1e0337a47082be84bf790199.png?aid=rss_feed","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":200,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/central-asian-studies","last_synced_at":"2026-09-27T02:20:00.301922+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391"},"episode":{"title":"Dating Apps, Queer Stigma, and Digital Intimacy in Kazakhstan","slug":"dating-apps-queer-stigma-and-digital-intimacy-in-kazakhstan","published_at":"2026-06-08T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391/dating-apps-queer-stigma-and-digital-intimacy-in-kazakhstan","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391","url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/peoples-places/central-asian-studies/","audio_url":"https://injector.simplecastaudio.com/cfa596c9-7ed7-4f69-ae77-ff3bec08a375/episodes/b23c0693-a467-4a1b-9553-7af818efad16/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=cfa596c9-7ed7-4f69-ae77-ff3bec08a375&awEpisodeId=b23c0693-a467-4a1b-9553-7af818efad16&feed=VjNbNYWR","summary":"How queer men in Kazakhstan navigate dating apps in a context of stigma, surveillance, and limited legal protections. It shows how platforms like Grindr, Hornet, Tinder, and VKontakte function as spaces where trust, visibility, and safety must be continuously negotiated. This episode explores how queer men in Kazakhstan navigate dating apps in contexts shaped by stigma, surveillance, and limited legal protections. Drawing on interviews and platform analysis in Shymkent and Almaty, the research challenges the idea of dating apps as neutral or purely liberating spaces, showing instead how they function as ‘ambivalent infrastructures’ where connection is always intertwined with risk. Rather than simple tools for meeting partners, apps like VKontakte, Grindr, Hornet, and Tinder are used as distinct social environments that require careful interpretation and strategy. Users constantly assess authenticity, safety, and potential harm, often moving across multiple platforms, starting with apps, then shifting to messaging services like WhatsApp or Telegram, and using calls and additional checks to verify identity before meeting offline. Set against Kazakhstan’s broader socio-political context, where queer visibility can lead to harassment, outing, or violence, the episode highlights how digital intimacy becomes a form of ongoing risk management. It ultimately reframes dating apps not as spaces of free connection, but as complex systems where trust, visibility, and safety must be continuously negotiated. Yerkebulan Sairambay is a scholar at risk based at the Centre for Oriental studies in the University of Tartu (Estonia). His research interests involve, but are not limited to, the following areas of expertise: political participation, new media, civil society, climate change, c…","meta_description":"How queer men in Kazakhstan navigate dating apps in a context of stigma, surveillance, and limited legal protections. It shows how platforms like Grindr,…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":964,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391/episodes/dating-apps-queer-stigma-and-digital-intimacy-in-kazakhstan/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391/dating-apps-queer-stigma-and-digital-intimacy-in-kazakhstan.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}