About
My name is Dennis Keen, and I am was a Fulbright Fellow studying eagle hunters and Kyrgyz culture in the land formerly known as Kirgizia.
After Keen on Kyrgyzstan, I created the Central Asian Falconry Project (CentralAsianFalconry.org) and Walking Almaty (WalkingAlmaty.com).
Want to get in touch with me? I’m happy to help anybody who wants to learn more about Kyrgyzstan. I’m open as can be. E-mail me at DennisThorstedKeen@gmail.com
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Keen on Kyrgyzstan 
Hi Dennis,
found your blog, find it very interesting and added it to my Blogroll at http://alexdockg.wordpress.com. Hope you don’t mind?
Best,
Alex
Thanks, Alex, glad you like it.
I’m with the documentary group at Vice Magazine (www.vbs.tv). I’ve been researching Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia for a series of documentaries we’re hoping to shoot in Bishkek and Osh in the next month or so. In the process I noticed your blog and thought you might be able to answer some questions for me that internet-research can’t. No worries if you’re too busy, but I’ll just leave a couple questions below if you have a minute.
Do the American Air Force men spend any significant time in the city? Do they have a good reputation in town or hang out in certain neighborhoods? The Russian air base is outside of town a ways, but do they ever enter into the nightlife scene?
Have you ever run into the drug trade out there? We’re interested in the routes that drugs take from Afghanistan along the Great Silk Road into Osh, etc. Have you ever traveled along that route?
What’s the mountain scenery like? Do people hunt in that terrain or live up there?
Have you met any Russian veterans of the Russian-Afghanistan war (now THERE’S a random question)?
Any type of sporting events that get a lot of attention that westerners wouldn’t exactly know of?
That’s all for now. Sorry for the absolute randomness of this. I feel a little like I’m just taking stabs in the dark, but really we’re searching for some colorful characters that can walk us through a fascinating niche of life in the region. Hope to hear from you. Thanks again.
Thanks for the comment! I sent an answer to the e-mail you listed.
Hello Dennis, my name is Thomas Olsen and I’m going to be studying in Bishkek in August and like the posts I’ve read of yours so far. I would love to get in touch via email if you have time so I could ask you some questions about the country that I think you are well qualified to answer. Keep doing what you do and can’t wait to read more posts in the future.
Hi. Would you be available for a radio interview on The World ( a coproduction of the BBC World Service and Public Radio International)? about eagle hunting in K’stan? Skype?
I don’t want to sound racist or anything but I have noticed something about the native Kyrgyzstani people. The people of Kyrgyzstan seem to have naturally red cheeks. Is there any cultural reference or significance to this? I am just curious. I think that the people of Kyrgyzstan are beautiful like all of the other people of the world.
Not racist to comment on the physiological features of a certain nationality, but you do have to remember that not all Kyrgyz people look the same, and not all have red cheeks (in fact, most don’t). The red cheeks are seen in rural people who spend a lot of time in the sun. The elements are harsh in the mountains and their skin gets worn just like anybody else’s.
Thanks! I have only seen pictures of Kyrgyz that live in rural areas… I didn’t know if it were something genetic or something like Rosacea. It was just an observation I made with what I had seen.
I like learning about peoples like the Kyrgyz and others that rarely get international spotlight. We never hear about them in the media, we rarely see them on TV.
Hi Dennis,
I’m a journalist from the National Television Network of Chile, in South America. I do research for a cultural show called “La Ruta” (The Rout) that travels the world looking for different human experiencies and cultures.
This season we are visiting Central Asia and for that matter Kirguistan. I was wondering if I could make some questions about your experience in the country.
For example,
Do you know what the situation is now like in Osh? I’ve heard they have no water supply in many buildings and there is chaos in the city.
About the eagle hunters, we are going to whatch it in Kazakhstan. Are there in Kirguistan different experiences on this subject? What would you recomend?
I hope you can help me,
Thank you!
Tanya
PD: Here’s the link to the last season of our program, in India: http://www.tvn.cl/programas/larutadelaindia/2011/
Hi Keen,
I graduated from NYU in 2009 and I am currently working in Washington, DC, but I lived in Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek) until I was 7 years old. Love those mountains.
Can you tell me what kind of graduate program you are in that let’s you do this?
Thanks,
Ana
Hello Dennis:
Please send me a private message for an interview.
Regards,
Hello Ahmet,
I see that you’ve found me on my blog as well as facebook! I apologize, as I rarely check either. If you get this message in time, I suggest you come see my talk on Saturday at the Silk Road House. I would be happy to talk to you then.
Dennis, please give me the contact to you. I am a editor in chief in polish hunter magazine SEZON. We can telephone to you. We are interesting your material about EAGLE BABY. We want to copywrite this material and we can pay you about it. My mail is joanna.wedrychowicz@symetrio.pl http://www.magazynsezon.pl mobilephone +48 515 568 012 . Please answer so quickly 🙂