Research Overview
My research interests span the religious and social history of the Middle East and Central Asia since the early nineteenth century. These two regions are linked by a common Turco-Persian heritage and by the predominance of Islam in both public and private settings. Although Soviet rule in Central Asia has accentuated the differences between them, these regions have a shared cultural history extending back to the Islamic conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries.
In my research I am committed to public scholarship and making my work accessible as well as comprehensible. I pursue these goals through regular participation in public lectures and workshops, open-source publications in English and the languages related to my research, and the interweaving of research themes into coursework. The application of interdisciplinary methodologies in my research likewise allows my work to appeal to a multi-disciplinary and trans-regional audience. The study of Islam in Central Asia has the potential to draw connections and comparisons with research in other parts of the Islamic world. The study of shrines, pilgrimage, and modes of healing is not limited to the study of Islam, but invites rigorous comparative work with similar phenomena in Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religious traditions.
My dissertation, “Toward a Sacred Topography of Central Asia: Shrines, Pilgrimage, and Gender in Kyrgyzstan,” explores debates over the meaning of Islam, as revealed in the events, narratives, and beliefs associated with four major shrines in southern Kyrgyzstan. My research elucidates the complex ways that people interpret their Muslim identity in Central Asia and the dynamic relationship between the forces of religion and ethnicity in the daily lives of Central Asian Muslims. Each chapter indicates a distinct aspect of the shrines, including people’s negotiations with individual and group identity through the lenses of ethnicity, gender, and health.
I have presented papers based on my dissertation research at the Central Eurasian Studies Society’s (CESS) annual conference in Washington D.C. and the American Historical Association’s (AHA) annual meeting in New York. These panels brought my work into
discussions about the links between nationalism and memory as well as the incorporation of atypical archives in the study of history. Both of these papers are in revision for submission to peer reviewed journals. Next year I am organizing a panel on health and healing for CESS with scholars from diverse disciplines to increase dialogue about regionally distinct shrines and different methodological approaches.
In my research I am committed to public scholarship and making my work accessible as well as comprehensible. I pursue these goals through regular participation in public lectures and workshops, open-source publications in English and the languages related to my research, and the interweaving of research themes into coursework. The application of interdisciplinary methodologies in my research likewise allows my work to appeal to a multi-disciplinary and trans-regional audience. The study of Islam in Central Asia has the potential to draw connections and comparisons with research in other parts of the Islamic world. The study of shrines, pilgrimage, and modes of healing is not limited to the study of Islam, but invites rigorous comparative work with similar phenomena in Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religious traditions.
My dissertation, “Toward a Sacred Topography of Central Asia: Shrines, Pilgrimage, and Gender in Kyrgyzstan,” explores debates over the meaning of Islam, as revealed in the events, narratives, and beliefs associated with four major shrines in southern Kyrgyzstan. My research elucidates the complex ways that people interpret their Muslim identity in Central Asia and the dynamic relationship between the forces of religion and ethnicity in the daily lives of Central Asian Muslims. Each chapter indicates a distinct aspect of the shrines, including people’s negotiations with individual and group identity through the lenses of ethnicity, gender, and health.
I have presented papers based on my dissertation research at the Central Eurasian Studies Society’s (CESS) annual conference in Washington D.C. and the American Historical Association’s (AHA) annual meeting in New York. These panels brought my work into
discussions about the links between nationalism and memory as well as the incorporation of atypical archives in the study of history. Both of these papers are in revision for submission to peer reviewed journals. Next year I am organizing a panel on health and healing for CESS with scholars from diverse disciplines to increase dialogue about regionally distinct shrines and different methodological approaches.