Research Interest
Ethnography, Religious & National identities, Post-Soviet politics, Gender & Sexuality.
PhD in Political Science, 2014, University of Ottawa
Office Hours: Tuesday 13:30-15:30.
I joined Nazarbayev University in Fall 2016 after completing a postdoctorate at the Chair for the Study of Religious Pluralism and the Center for International Studies at the Université de Montréal. Prior to my hiring at Nazarbayev University, I served as a lecturer at the Université de Montréal and the University of Ottawa. I also hold a graduate degree from the Université libre de Bruxelles (2008).
I specialize in ethnography, religion, secularism, and the Soviet legacy. My research interests focus on the study of religious identities, especially the growing importance of Islam within Central Asian societies since independence. My current projects also look at gender issues in Central Asia, more specifically, marriage and polygyny. An article on polygyny in Tajikistan has been published in Ethnic and Racial Studies and a research project on the topic of polygyny and tokals in Kazakhstan is currently under way.
Apart from research activities, I also took part in multiple election observation missions with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine and travelled extensively in the former USSR.
Peer-reviewed articles
2022. “Introduction. Gender as intersections. A different way of seeing Central Asia“, Central Asian Affairs 9(2-3); 149-176. (With Svetlana Peshkova).
2022. “Male sex-work in Kazakhstan: A distinct market?”, Central Asian Affairs 9(2-3); 375-399.
2021. “Where Did All the Wahhabis Go? The Evolution of Threat in Central Asian Scholarship“, Europe-Asia Studies, 74(2); 288-309.
2021. “Многоженство в Казахстане“, Edu History 3(27).
2021. “Online Temptations: Divorce and Extramarital Affairs in Kazakhstan” Religions 12(8); 654. With Jasmin Dall’Agnola.
2021. ““Are you married?” Gender and faith in political ethnographic research”, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 41 (15); 2809-2826.
2018. “Counter-extremism, power and authoritarian governance in Tajikistan“, Central Asian Survey; 37:1, 137-159. (With Edward Lemon).
2017. “Labour Migration, Sex, and Polygyny: Negotiating Patriarchy in Tajikistan“, Ethnic and Racial Studies 41(15); 2809-2826.
2015. “The Soviet Secularization Project in Central Asia: Accommodation and Institutional Legacies”. Eurostudia 10(1); 11-31.
2013. “The Secular and the Religious in Tajikistan: Contested Political Spaces”. Studies in Religion/Études religieuses 42(2); 173-189.
2009. “L’intégration d’un parti islamique comme facteur de renforcement du contrôle religieux et de la rhétorique anti-islamiste. Le cas du Tadjikistan”. Transitions 49(2); 151-171.
Books and book chapters
2022. Uyat and the Culture of Shame in Central Asia. With Jean-François Caron (ed). Palgrave-Macmillan.
2022. Central Asia and the Covid-19 Pandemic. With Jean-François Caron (ed). Palgrave Macmillan.
2021. “Political Islam in Central Asia: from religious revival to securitization”, In Shahram Akbarzadeh (ed). Routledge Handbook of Political Islam. Routledge; pp. 139-154.
2021. Tacikistan’ın Dönüşümü. Sekülerleşme Karşısında İslam, Ketebe Publishing.
2019. “The Art of Managing Religion in a Post-Soviet Soft Authoritarian State”, In Jean-François Caron (ed). Kazakhstan and the Soviet Legacy Between Continuity and Rupture. Palgrave-Macmillan; 155-179.
2018. Transforming Tajikistan: State-Building and Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia. London: I.B. Tauris.
2011. “Recruitement and Training of Terrorists” In James Ciment (ed). World Terrorism: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11Second Edition. Armonk (NY): M.E. Sharpe. (With Jean-François Ratelle and Kristian Alexander).
Other publications
2021. The Political Economy of Society and Education in Central Asia. A Scoping Literature Review, PEER Working Paper 2.
2021. “The Many Faces of Polygyny in Kazakhstan”, Central Asia Program Papers n. 255.
2017. “Asie centrale: la fin du pré carré russe?“, Diplomatie n. 40; 67-71.
2019. “Weibliche Sittsamkeit in Zentralasien: Wie Frauen das Schicksal der Nation verkörpern sollen”, Zentralasien-Analysen, n. 135; 2-5.
2016. “Female virtue and State ideology in Tajikistan”. CERIA Brief, n.10, January.
Book reviews
2020. Tajikistan on the move: statebuilding and societal transformations, Middle Eastern Studies 56(1); 142-145.
2020. “Book review roundtable: Hélène Thibault, Transforming Tajikistan: State Building and Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia” (London: I. B. Tauris, 2018)., Central Asian Affairs, 7(3); 293-305.
2020. “Book review roundtable: Sophie Roche, The Faceless Terrorist”, Critical Studies on Terrorism, 13(2); 358-368. (With Payam Foroughi, Svetlana Peshkova, Kamoludin Abdullaev, Jonathan K. Zartman, & Sophie Roche).
2019. “Rivalries and power struggles: a portrait of the Islamic State in Khorasan”, Open Democracy, April 17.
2015. Dudoignon Stéphane A. et Noack Christian (dir), Allah’s Kolkhozes. Migration, De-Stalinisation, Privatisation and the New Muslim Congregations in the Soviet Realm (1950s-2000s), Revue des Mondes musulmans et de la Méditérranée 135.
Media and opinion
2022. “L’impact de la guerre en Ukraine en Asie centrale : instabilité, méfiance et perte d’influence russe”, Le Rubicon, 14 décembre.
2021. “Asie centrale et Afghanistan : cohabiter avec un voisin turbulent“, La Presse, October 7.
2021. “Не одна. Почему женщины в Кыргызстане соглашаются на роль второй жены“, BBC Russian. April 3.
2021. “Dr. Helene Thibault on polygyny in Central Asia.” Central Asian Bureau for Analytical reporting. January 18.
2020. “Ethnic violence blows hole in Kazakhstan’s narrative of tolerance“, Al-Jazeera. February 10.
2019. “Majlis Podcast: Tajikistan’s Dangerous Prisons“, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 26 May.
2019. “Rivalries and power struggles: a portrait of the Islamic State in Khorasan”, Open Democracy, 17 April.
2018. “Sovyetler sonrası Tacikistan’ın dönüşümü”, Mecra, 27 December.
2018. “Transforming Post-Soviet Tajikistan”, Voices on Central Asia. October 25.
2016. “Strategic Challenges and Geopolitics of Central Asia“, Third Turkic Canadian Convention.
2018. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Majlis Podcast: A New Era Of Cooperation?, March 19.
2017. “Asie centrale: la fin du pré carré russe?“, Diplomatie n. 40; 67-71.
2016. “Ouzbékistan : la dictature en héritage“, Le Devoir. September 7.
2016. “Элен Тибо: О хиджабах и неудачах секуляризма в Центральной Азии“, Central Asia Analytical Network (CAAN), April 4.
2016. Nagorno-Karabagh : un conflit gelé?, Planète Terre, April 18.
2015. “As Tajikistan Limits Islam, Does It Risk Destabilization?”, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, December 1.
2015. “Trouble in Tajikistan”, Al-Jazeera, November 5.
2015. “Kazakhstan: La stabilité d’abord”, Le Devoir, April 29.
PLS 140 Introduction to Comparative Politics; PLS332 The Politics of Islam in Eurasia; PLS441/451 Political Violence in the Former Soviet Union; PLS540 Core Seminar in Comparative Politics. Click here to see the syllabi.