Prof. Dr. Botakoz Kassymbekova

Botakoz Kassymbekova is professor of Eastern European History at the University of Zurich. She studied in Bishkek and Essex. Botakoz Kassymbekova completed her doctorate at Humboldt University Berlin and worked as a postdoc in Berlin, Liverpool and Basel, as well as a guest scholar at Columbia University, New York. Her research focuses are Soviet history, Stalinism and post-Stalinism, and Russian imperial history.
Her first book Despite Cultures: Early Soviet Rule in Tajikistan (Pittsburgh University Press) traces Soviet imperial strategies in Central Asia and analyzes how dictatorships communicate and enforce their rule across great distances.

Botakoz Kassymbekova is at CAS upon the invitation of Dr. Franziska Davies (CAS Researcher in Residence/LMU) during the winter semester 2024/25.