Safeguarding Traditional Knowledge, Folklore and Cultural Practices
Termez State University undertakes research, educational and practical initiatives aimed at safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, with particular attention to the traditions of Surkhandarya Region and the wider cultural history of Uzbekistan and Central Asia. Its activities encompass traditional textile production, folklore and music, linguistic heritage, customary practices and the study of communities whose cultural identities have been shaped by migration and resettlement.
The university's approach combines academic documentation with the practical transmission of traditional skills. Through its Faculty of National Costume and Arts, departments of Uzbek Language and Literature and History, and specialised artistic groups, knowledge is studied, demonstrated and passed to younger generations.
During 2025, several university initiatives contributed to these objectives through the revival of historical craft techniques, research into regional languages and community traditions, and structured instruction in traditional performing arts.
Reviving Traditional Janda Weaving in the Boysun Cultural Tradition
One of the university's most tangible heritage-preservation initiatives in 2025 concerned janda, a traditional woven textile closely associated with the cultural heritage of Boysun and southern Uzbekistan.
On 20 December 2025, the university reported the revival of traditional janda weaving at its Faculty of National Costume and Arts. The initiative focused on restoring practical knowledge of textile production and transmitting skills through the traditional ustoz–shogird (master–apprentice) approach.
The work involved the production of janda fabric and its application in national clothing, connecting established craft practices with contemporary design. Through practical instruction, students have opportunities to learn traditional production methods while developing skills in textile design and craftsmanship.
The revival followed institutional work undertaken earlier in 2025. During a 4 March 2025 meeting with faculty members, university leadership reviewed proposals for expanding traditional clothing and embroidery workshops, including activities involving janda production.
By December, the university reported that weaving practice had been restored and that work on semi-finished and finished textile products was under way.
This initiative illustrates the preservation of intangible heritage through active practice rather than exhibition alone. Traditional weaving depends on knowledge that must be learned through demonstration, repeated application and direct instruction. Maintaining these techniques within a university workshop helps ensure that the underlying skills can be transmitted to new generations.
Preserving Surkhandarya Folklore and Traditional Musical Practices
The university's Jayhun Folklore and Ethnographic Ensemble contributes to the preservation and transmission of regional music, dance and performance traditions.
The ensemble's activities draw on the cultural expressions of Surkhandarya, including traditional melodies, rhythmic patterns, dance forms and performance practices associated with the region's historical communities.
In November 2025, Jayhun presented its Surxon Ohanglari programme at the Yangi O‘zbekiston Talantlari — 2025 international competition, receiving a Grand Prix for its artistic performance.
The ensemble was directed by Z. Abdullayeva, whose work with student performers supports the continuation of regional artistic practices within a contemporary educational environment.
The preservation value of the ensemble's activities extends beyond its public appearances. Rehearsal, instruction and preparation require students to learn established artistic techniques, understand regional performance characteristics and develop the practical skills necessary to reproduce traditional cultural expressions.
The university's Faculty of National Costume and Arts provides the academic foundation for this work through programmes involving folklore and ethnography, traditional vocal performance and folk instruments.
Strengthening Traditional Music Through International Academic Exchange
The university's efforts to transmit traditional musical knowledge were reinforced by academic cooperation with Kazakhstan during December 2025.
A visiting lecturer, Lyazzat Aripbayeva of Mukhtar Auezov South Kazakhstan University, participated in teaching activities at Termez State University involving traditional musical performance.
The programme included 33 hours of practical instruction in Folklore Instruments Ensemble and four hours of assessment-related activities. Masterclasses also examined connections between Uzbek and Kazakh musical traditions.
Such exchanges allow students to engage with established musical knowledge from neighbouring cultural communities and explore the relationships between different Central Asian performance practices.
The documented teaching hours provide a measurable example of heritage-related skills transmission during 2025. The instructional programme supports preservation through education, although a separate inventory of recordings or teaching materials would be needed to quantify archived cultural content.
Documenting Uzbek Linguistic Heritage in Northern Afghanistan
Academic research constitutes another important component of the university's heritage activities.
In May 2025, Termez State University reported the successful doctoral defence of Amini Aziz Ahmad, a lecturer in its Uzbek Language and Literature Department, whose research examined:
The Agricultural Vocabulary of Uzbek Dialects in Northern Afghanistan: System, Semantics and Lexicographic Interpretation.
The research addresses a specialised component of Uzbek linguistic heritage: the vocabulary associated with traditional agriculture and rural livelihoods among Uzbek-speaking communities in northern Afghanistan.
Agricultural terminology often preserves information about historical cultivation practices, tools, crops, environmental conditions and locally transmitted occupational knowledge. Examining these expressions through linguistic and lexicographic methods provides a scholarly basis for documenting language varieties and the cultural knowledge embedded within them.
The study is particularly relevant to safeguarding linguistic diversity because regional dialects can retain expressions and meanings that differ from contemporary standard-language usage.
The university's role in supporting this research connects Uzbek-language scholarship with the broader preservation of cultural traditions shared across national borders.
Research on the Cultural Traditions of Relocated Communities
The university also undertook research examining how communities preserve and transform cultural traditions after relocation.
In November 2025, Termez State University reported the successful doctoral defence of Ozodbek Eshmo‘minov, a lecturer in the Department of World History, whose research explored continuity and transformation in the lifestyles of communities that had relocated from the Fergana Valley to the Surkhan oasis.
The study addresses an important dimension of intangible heritage: the relationship between migration, cultural continuity and adaptation to a new social environment.
Communities moving between regions may retain distinctive customs, household practices, occupational skills and social traditions while gradually adapting to the cultural environment of their new settlements. Historical and ethnographic research provides a framework for examining these changes and documenting the experiences of relocated communities.
This research demonstrates the university's scholarly engagement with cultural heritage associated with population movement. Its relationship to the specific category of displaced-community heritage depends on the historical circumstances and definitions established in the underlying research.
Teaching Traditional Costume, Applied Arts and Craft Knowledge
The Faculty of National Costume and Arts supports the transmission of traditional skills through programmes and activities involving national clothing, embroidery, textile production, artistic design and applied arts.
On 14 February 2025, the university reported an exhibition of national costume and applied art, presenting three forms of clothing collection alongside a performance by the Jayhun folklore ensemble.
The programme provided opportunities to demonstrate traditional clothing styles, applied-art techniques and elements of regional cultural expression.
A further practical initiative was undertaken in June 2025, when university lecturers participated in the Summer Vocational Skills Centre in Termez.
Faculty members organised an applied-arts workshop for young people, introducing participants to the production and decoration of national artistic objects. The activities encouraged practical engagement with craft techniques and provided opportunities for learners outside the university to acquire skills associated with traditional artistic production.
These initiatives complement the janda revival project by extending cultural knowledge beyond formal university instruction and engaging younger members of the surrounding community.
Supporting the Continuity of National and Regional Cultural Knowledge
The university's heritage activities operate within a wider institutional commitment to preserving traditional knowledge and promoting the study of Uzbekistan's cultural history.
Its academic departments address national literature, historical traditions, ethnography and the cultural practices of Central Asian communities. The Faculty of National Costume and Arts provides practical learning environments through which traditional artistic knowledge can be maintained and developed.
The university's 2025 activities demonstrate several complementary preservation methods: reviving textile-making techniques, transmitting musical skills through structured instruction, researching distinctive language varieties and documenting cultural change among relocated populations.
These projects contribute to safeguarding forms of heritage that depend upon living knowledge, specialised skills and intergenerational transmission, supporting Sustainable Development Goal 11 and its objective of protecting cultural heritage.