People

Dr. Aksana Ismailbekova

Research Fellow

Phone: +49-(0)30-80307-146
Regional focus: Central Asia, especially Kyrgyzstan
Dr. Aksana Ismailbekova
Dr. Aksana Ismailbekova

Positions

Since 01/2020
Postdoctoral Researcher, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient
2018 - 2019
Postdoctoral Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany; Research project: ‘Uzbek kinship and marriage in southern Kyrgyzstan’
2017 - 2018
Senior Researcher at the Bonn International Center for Conversion; Research project: ‘Local Security-Making in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan’, Central Asia
07/2017 - 09/2017
Maternity leave and child care
2016 - 2017
Lead Researcher, Informal Governance and Corruption - Transcending the Principal Agent and Collective Action Paradigm, funded by DFID-British Academy, led by Basel University; Research project: ‘Kinship, lineage associations, and informal in Central Asia’
01/2015 - 01/2016
Maternity leave and child care
2011 - 2014
Research Fellow, Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin; “Crossroads Asia” competence network, research project: ‘Conflict Dynamics, Coping Strategies and Migration in the Fergana Valley’
10/2010 - 01/2011
Maternity leave and child care

Education

2006 - 2012
PhD in Social Anthropology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU); Thesis title: ‘Blood ties and Native Son: Poetics of Patronage in Rural Kyrgyzstan’; Thesis supervisors: Prof. Günther Schlee, Prof. Peter Finke
2005 - 2006
M.A. in Social Research of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; Thesis title: ‘Patron-Client Relations in Kyrgyzstan’
2001 - 2005
BA in Cultural Anthropology, American University – Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; Research project: ‘Rural development in Kyrgyzstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union’

Publications

Monographs

2020: Surviving Everyday Life. The securityscapes of threatened people in Central Asia. Together with Marc von Boemcken, Nina Bagdasarova, Conrad Schetter . Bristol: Bristol University Press

2017: ‘Blood Ties and the Native Sons: Poetics of Patronage in Kyrgyzstan’, Bloomington: Indiana University Press

Chapters in collective volumes

Ismailbekova, Aksana, 2023: Marriage, Security and Care Strategies for Uzbek Daughters in Southern Kyrgyzstan​​​​​​​. In: Jeanne Féaux de la CroixMadeleine Reeves (Ed.)The Central Asian World, Routledge.

Ismailbekova, Aksana (forthcoming 2022) Daughters as Ojiza: Marriage, Security and Care strategies for daughters among Uzbeks in Southern Kyrgyzstan -In  Féaux de la Croix,Jeanne and Madeleine Reeves . Central Asian Worlds. The Routledge Handbook . Routledge

Ismailbekova, Aksana, 2021: Lineage Associations and Informal Politics in: Mapping Kyrgyz Leadership.In: Montgomery, David W. Central Asia: Contexts for Understanding, Project Muse, University of Pittsburgh Press.

Ismailbekova, Aksana, 2021: Informal governance, ‘clan’ politics and corruption. In: Isaacs, Rico; Marat, Erica (Ed.)Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia, Routledge, London, New York, 2021.

2021: 'New Boss: Inter-ethnic patronage network in southern Kyrgyzstan'. In: The Foreign Policy Centre (Ed.) Retreating Rights: Examining the pressure on human rights in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, FPC Think Tank, London, p. 72-78.

2016: ‘Spatial mobility of women: constructing authority through custom. The case of Bulak, Kyrgyzstan’. Special issue on “Gender and Nationalism in Central Asia”. Ed. Lucia Direnberger, Juliette Cleuziou, and Iman Karzabi. Nationalities Papers 44: 266-280.

2014: ‘Performing democracy: State-making through patronage in Kyrgyzstan’. In: Performing politics: Ethnographies of the state in Central Asia. Ed. Reeves M, Rasanayagam J, and Beyer B. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 78-98.

2013: ‘Circle of Trust: functions and mechanism of Patron-Client Relations in the Private Farm’. In: Politics, Identity and Education in Central Asia. Ed. Pinar Akçali, Cennet Engin-Demir. Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. London and New York: Routledge.71-98.

Peer-reviewed publications

2021: 'Native son Japarov: The embodiment of injustice?'. Anthropology Today. 37, p. 4.

2018: 'Secure and Insecure Spaces for Uzbek Businesspeople in Southern Kyrgyzstan'. International Quarterly for Asian Studies. 49: (1-2), pp. 41-60.

2016: ‘Brak kak strategia vyzhivanie uzbeksoi obshiny posle konflikta v Oshe 2010’ [Marriage as a coping strategy in the aftermath of conflict in Osh], Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie. № 6:6, 156-167.

2015: ‘Single Mothers in Osh: Well-being and coping strategies of women in the aftermath of the 2010 conflict in Kyrgyzstan’. Focaal. Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology. 71: 114–127.

2014: ‘Migration and patrilineal descent: the role of women in rural Kyrgyzstan’. Central Asian Survey. 33 (3): 375-389.

2013: ‘Coping Strategies: Migration, Public Avoidance, and Marriage in the Aftermath of the Osh Conflict, Fergana Valley’. Nationalities Papers. 41 (1): 109-127.

2012: ‘Dynamika mejetnichekih brakov posle konflikta v Oshe’ [Dynamics of inter-ethnic marriages in the aftermath of conflict in Osh], Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie. № 6 pp 84-98.

Joint international peer-reviewed publications

with Nick Megoran. 2020. From peace in the family to peace in the country: Informal women leaders, mediation, and peace building in southern Kyrgyzstan. In Studying Peace in and with Central Eurasia. 14 (4): 483-500Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding

with Philipp Lottholz ,John Heathershaw, Janyl Moldalieva, Eric McGlinchey, Catherine Owen, 2020. Governance and order-making in Central Asia: From illiberalism to post-liberalism? Central Asian Survey. 39(3):  420-437

with Günther Schlee, 2017: El parentesco en Asia Central desde una perspectiva comparatista in: Pertenencias múltiples, identidades cruzadas. Edited by Jiménez Tovar, Anabel Alejandra Soledad Primera edición. - México : El Colegio de México, pp 49-86.

with Baktygul Karimova, 2017: Ethnic Differentiation and Conflict Dynamics: Uzbeks Marginalization and Non-Marginalization in Southern Kyrgyzstan. In Understanding the City through its Margins Pluridisciplinary Perspectives from Case Studies in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Edited by André Chappatte, Ulrike Freitag, Nora Lafi. New York, NY: Routledge. 161-184.

with Aida Alymbaeva, 2015: 'Doing fieldwork in one’s own society—or ‘anthropology at home’. Contribution to volume on Central Asia Regional research in contemporary anthropology. Ed.Sergey Abashin. Anthropological Forum: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology. Vol. 28: 17-35.

with Wladimir Sgibnev, 2015: ‘As long as the Capital is far away: multi-scalar regionalisation in Central Asia’. In: Ehrlich, Kornelia; Henn, Sebastian; Lang, Thilo (eds.): "New Geographies of Central and Eastern Europe. Socio-Spatial Polarization and Peripheralization in a Rapidly Changing Region". London: Palgrave Macmillan. 80-97.

with Emil Nasridinov, 2012: ‘Transnational Social Networks and Trajectories of Religious Practices and Discourses of Kyrgyz Dawatchis’. Transnational Social Review – A Social Work Journal (TSR). Vol. 3. 177-195.

with Sophie Roche, 2010: Demography and patronage. The dynamics of youth bulge in Kyrgyzstan’. Orient Journal ORIENT IV. 33-43.

Edited volume or special issue

with Jeanne Féaux de la Croix, 2014: ‘Introduction’ Special Issue on Ethnographies of Futures and Belongings in Kyrgyzstan. The Anthropology of East Europe Review. 32 (2): 1-16 [OA].

Locally published articles

2017: ‘Better to hold on to salt than to hold on to your daughter’ - marriage as a strategy in the aftermath of the conflict in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. In The Family in Central Asia. New Perspectives. Ed Sophie Roche. 108-126. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag.

2014: ‘Mobility as coping strategy of Osh Uzbeks in the aftermath of conflict’ Special issue Mobilities in Asian Contexts. Ed. Henryk Alff, Andreas Benz, Matthias Schmidt . Internationales Asienforum 45(1/2): 49-68.

2014: ‘Securing future lives of children through ritualised parenthood in the village of Bulak, Kyrgyzstan’. Special Issue on Futures and Belongings in Kyrgyzstan. Ed. Jeanne Féaux de la Croix and Aksana Ismailbekova The Anthropology of East Europe Review (AEER) 32 (2): 17-32 [OA].

2015: ‘Invisible borders’: conflict, space, and ethnicity in the aftermath of the Osh conflict, Kyrgyzstan. in “Spaces of Conflict in Everyday Life: Figurations and Methodology” (ed.) Martin Sokefeld. pp 35-57. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.

Working papers

2018: Informal governance and corruption in Kyrgyzstan (Macro-Level). Basel Institute on Governance (open access) informalgovernance.baselgovernance.org/country-findings/kyrgyzstan [OA].

2018: Informal governance and corruption in Kyrgyzstan (Micro-Level). Basel Institute on Governance publications (open access)http://informalgovernance.baselgovernance.org/country-findings/kyrgyzstan [OA].

2013: Migration and patrilineal descent: the effects of spatial male mobility on social female mobility in rural Kyrgyzstan. In: Crossroads Asia Working Paper Series, No. 12. [OA].

2012: Coping Strategies: Public Avoidance, Migration, and Marriage in the Aftermath of the Osh Conflict, Fergana Valley. In: Crossroads Asia Working Paper Series, No. 4. [OA].

with Andreas Benz, Ayfer Durdu, Dietrich Reetz, Elena Smolarz, Petra Tiller and Christoph Wenzel, 2012: Crossroads Asia through the Lens of Mobility and Migration: A Conceptual Approach. In: Crossroads Asia Concept Paper Series, No. 3. [OA].

Book reviews

2021: Noor O’Neil Borbieva, Visions of development in Central Asia: Revitalizing the culture concept, Lanham, MD, Lexington Books, 2019.

2017: Nalivkin, Vladimir, Maria Nalivkina, and Mariana Markova. Muslim Women of the Fergana Valley: A 19th-Century Ethnography from Central Asia. Translated by Mariana Markova and Marianne Kamp. Edited by Marianne Kamp. Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2016. In: Central Asian Survey, Pages 1-3, Published online 5 June 2017: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02634937.2017.1332309

2016: Finke, Peter, 2014 Variations on Uzbek Identity: Strategic Choices, Cognitive Schemas and Political Constraints in Identification Processes (Integration and Conflict Studies). Oxford and London: Berghahn Books: 288 pages. In: Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale. 24(3):388-389.

2015: Roche, Sophie, 2014 Domesticating Youth: Youth Bulges and Socio-Political Implications in Tajikistan (Integration and Conflict Studies). Oxford and London: Berghahn Books:, xv + 271pp. In: Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale. 23 (3):400-401.

2014: Liu, Morgan, Under Solomon’s Throne. Uzbek Visions of Renewal in Osh. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012, xv + 280pp. In: The Asia-Europe Studies Journal. 66-2: 333-334.

Media Articles

Eine weitere »gestohlene« Revolution? – Macht und Informalität in Kirgistan, published 29 July 2022, Zentralasien-Analysen.

Kirgistan hält im April Verfassungsreferendum ab, published 17 March 2021, Novastan.

Native son: the rise of Kyrgyzstan’s Sadyr Japarov, published 28 January 2021. open Democracy

Patronage Politics in Kyrgyzstan .What lays beneath the surface of Kyrgyzstan’s dramatic political scene? Published 20 August, 2019: https://thediplomat.com/2019/08/aksana-ismailbekova-on-patronage-politics-in-kyrgyzstan/

Lineage associations in Kyrgyzstan, The Central Eurasian Studies Society Blog: http://thecessblog.com/2018/01/04/lineage-associations-in-kyrgyzstan-by-aksana-ismailbekova/, Published on thecessblog.com on January 4, 2018.

Kyrgyzstan: Lineage Associations and Informal Politics. EurasiaNet: http://www.eurasianet.org/node/84036, Published 16 June 2017. EurasiaNet Commentary (in English and Russian languages).

Presidential elections Kyrgyzstan 2017. Peaceful in most regions except Osh city: http://balticworlds.com/presidential-elections-kyrgyzstan-2017/, Published on balticworlds.com on December 7, 2017.

2012: Rituals Vs. Reality: What Does Democracy Look Like in Kyrgyzstan? (English, Kyrgyz, Uzbek): http://www.bbc.co.uk/uzbek/institutional/2012/01/120113_cy_blog_my_take_on.shtml

Development of Anthropology in Kyrgyzstan, American University of Central Asia, Magazine, Bishkek Kyrgyzstan, 23. November 2011. Online.

with Roche, S., 2010: Problesk nadejdy v okrovlennom v Kyrgyzstane. [Hopes of people in violent conflict, Osh, Kyrgyzstan]: http://www.ferghana.ru/article.php?id=6687 (in Russian).

Fellowships and Awards

2019
DAAD Travel Grant for the Central Eurasian Studies Society
2018
The Volkswagen Foundation Consulting Voucher
2016
A short-term research grant The ‘Rising Powers and conflict management in Central Asia’ (funded by the Economic and Social Research Council)
2015
DAAD Travel Grant for the Central Eurasian Studies Society
2012
The best paper award ‘The role of NGOs in conflict management in post conflict Osh’, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)
2010
Graduate School Society and Culture in Motion (writing up fellowship), Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
2010
Grant recipient ‘Regional Competence-Building for Think Tanks in the South Caucasus and Central Asia’, The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo, Norway
2005
Pre-Academic Summer School – The Network Scholarship Programs, Bilgi University, Turkey
2005 - 2006
UK Open Society Institute/FCO - Chevening/Edinburgh Scholarships

Funding

  • ‘Harnessing Informality: Designing Anti- Corruption Network Interventions and Strategic Use of Legal Instruments ’ the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE), € 11, 000

Visiting Scholar

2015
Visiting fellow at Center for Development Research (ZEF), an institute of the University of Bonn, Germany
2014
Visiting fellow at the Cluster of Excellence ‘Asia and Europe in a Global Context: The Dynamics of Transculturality’ at Heidelberg University, Germany

Fieldwork Experience

2014 - 2017
A long term ethnographic research, interviews with state authorities, NGOs, local people on Osh events, Kyrgyzstan
2011 - 2015
A long term ethnographic research among Uzbeks in Fergana Valley
2012
Ethnographic research among Uzbek migrants on their lives in Yekaterinburg (Russia)
2007 - 2008
A long term ethnographic research for PhD research project in Kyrgyzstan

Memberships

  • Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS)
  • Central Eurasian Scholars and Media Initiative (CESMI)
  • European Society for Central Asian Studies (ESCAS)

Commissions of Trust

  • Board Member of Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS) (since 2017)
  • Reviewer, National Science Centre (since 2017)
  • Reviewer, the Czech Science Foundation (since 2017)
  • Reviewer, the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) (since 2018)

Reviewer

  • Anthropological Quarterly, Nationalities Papers, Europe-Asia Studies, Central Asian Survey, Focaal

Consultancy

2019 - 2020
Consultant for project ‘Harnessing Informality: Designing Anti-Corruption Network Interventions and Strategic Use of Legal Instruments ’ the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE)
2018
Consultant for project ‘BTI 2020 country report on Kirgizstan’ Bertelsmann Stiftung
2016
Consultant for project 'Insider Mediators in Kyrgyzstan’s Peace Messengers Project as a part of the “Insider Mediation in the OSCE area” project of Berghof Foundation (funded by OSCE), June-October 2016
2016
Research consultant for project ‘Informal women leaders, mediation, and peace building in southern Kyrgyzstan’ as a part of the ‘Rising powers and conflict management in Central Asia’ (funded by the Economic and Social Research Council), July-August 2016

Organisation of International Conferences and Workshops

10/10/2019 - 13/10/2019
The Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS) Conference, George Washington University, Washington DC., USA
29/06/2017 - 02/07/2017
Joint European Society for Central Asian Studies (ESCAS) - and the Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS) Conference at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA)
27/11/2015
Interdisziplinärer Hamburger Zentralasientag "Frieden und Konflikt in Zentralasien: Globale Diskurse und lokale Praxis"; Co-organizer together with Dr. Sebastian Schiek (IFSH Hamburg)
05/12/2014
Workshop Interdisziplinärer Zentralasientag in Hamburg. Staat und Gesellschaft in Zentralasien; Co-organizer - together with Dr. Jeanne Féaux de la Croix (Uni Tübingen), Dr. Anja Franke Schwenk (Uni Kiel), Dr. Sebastian Schiek (IFSH Hamburg)
21/03/2014
Workshop "Crossroads of Transregional Interaction: the shifting meaning of region in South and Central Asia", at Zentrum Moderner Orient Berlin; Co-organizer, together with Dietrich Reetz, Antía Mato Bouzas, Just Boedeker
01/10/2011 - 30/05/2012
One yearlong workshop on "Classifications, relations and differences of Economy and Religion in Central Asia. What counts as ‘religious’ or ‘economic’ in Crossroads Central Asia?", Co-organizer, together with Sophie Roche, Jeanne Féaux de la Croix (ZMO) and Manja Stephan (HU)

Invited Lectures

‘Blood Ties and the Native Sons: Poetics of Patronage in Kyrgyzstan , at Indiana University, USA, 29 October 2018

‘Informal governance and corruption in Kyrgyzstan’. American University - Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan 14 November 2017

‘Informal governance and corruption in Kyrgyzstan’. Presented at the 17th Annual Conference of the Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS). Princeton University, USA, 3-7 November 2016.

‘Conflict dynamics, ethnic differentiation, and identity in Osh and Nookat, Southern Kyrgyzstan’. Österreichische Orient-Gesellschaft Hammer-Purgstall, Vienna, Austria (www.orient-gesellschaft.at), 5 December 2016

‘Construction of women’s authority through custom: mobility, reflexivity, and temporality’. At the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context: The Dynamics of Transculturality", Heidelberg University 4 December, 2014

Crossroads Asia Lecture Series ‘Coping Strategies: Public Avoidance, and Migration, Marriage in the Aftermath of the Osh Conflict, Fergana Valley in Kyrgyzstan’. Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung (ZEF), 28 March 2012

Aga Khan University Lecture Series ‘Coping Strategies: Public Avoidance, and Migration, Marriage in the Aftermath of the Osh Conflict, Fergana Valley in Kyrgyzstan’ at the University of Central Asia, Bishkek, 27 July 2012

The Danish Society for Central Asia Lecture Series. A public talk on ‘Localized Democracy: Change and Future in Kyrgyzstan’at the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark, 15 April 2010 (http://www.centralasien.dk/)

Teaching Experience

WiSe 2022 - Anthropology of Migration. Martin Luther University Halle

SoSe. 2021 - Economic Anthropology. Anthropology Department, Freie Universität           

WiSe 2020 - Anthropology of Gender .Martin Luther University  Halle-  Wittenberg, Germany

SoSe 2019 - Anthropology of Age and Generation Martin Luther University  Halle-  Wittenberg, Germany

2011 - Summer semester: "Introduction to Kinship". Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany (Language: English)

2010 - Winter semester: "Zensus, Statistik, Bürokratie" - together with Larissa Vetters at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany (Language: English and German)

2009-2010 - Summer semester: "Central Asia Identity Politics". Martin Luther University Halle- Wittenberg, Germany (Language: English)

2010 - August: "Research Methods and Theories of Identity". Lectures for senior scholars from Central Asia at the CARTI Sumer School program, Izmir, Turkey

2008 - Summer semester: "Introduction to Kinship". Manas University, Bishkek

Summer school teaching experiences

Summer school Inter-ethnic tolerance. Batken, 2-13 August 2012, Funded by Aigine, USA Embassy in Kyrgyzstan

Summer school ‘Building Anthropology in Eurasia’, 2007-2011 (July), Issik-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, Funded by Soros Foundation

Summer school on The Soviet in Everyday Life, Regional Seminar on Excellence in Teaching, 16-31 July 2010 Tbilisi, Georgia, OSI/HESP

Other seminars

Kinship Politics. Lectures for students from Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, 30 October-3 November 2018

Supervising and mentoring activities

International advisor of Aigerim Zhakypek (a PhD student from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Specialty social work, social research, aging), 01/09/2018-30/05/2021

International supervisor of Sabit Myrzabaev (a PhD student from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, research topic: suicide in Kazakstan), 2018-2021