Faculty & Staff

Emil Nasritdinov, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Liberal Arts and Sciences Department

Division of Arts, Humanities and Communication

Email: [javascript protected email address]

Phone: +996 (312) 915000 ext. 434

Room: 315

Dr. Emil Nasritdinov is an Associate Professor in the Liberal Arts and Sciences department at the American University of Central Asia. He holds his Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the University of Melbourne (2007, Australia), a Master of Arts in Architecture (Landscape Urbanism) from the University of Illinois at Chicago (2002, USA), a Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning from University of Hawaii at Manoa (2001, USA), and a Bachelor of Architecture (Urban Design) from the Kyrgyz Institute of Architecture and Construction (1997, Kyrgyzstan).

Dr. Nasritdinov joined AUCA in 2007 as an Acting Associate Professor in the Anthropology department. He is a Director and co-founder of the Social Innovations Lab Kyrgyzstan and a chief editor and co-founder of Ketmen: International Journal for Central Asian Voices at AUCA. He also serves as a researcher at the Central Asian Studies Institute (CASI) and the Tyan-Shan Policy Center (TSPC) at AUCA. He is an alumnus of the East-West Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Dr. Nasritdinov was a Fulbright Research Scholar at George Washington University (2019), a returning scholar of the Academic Fellowship Program OSI (2013), and a recipient of several prestigious international scholarships.

Fulbright Research Scholar, George Washington University, 2019
John Deier Memorial Excellence in Teaching Award (Professor of the year) 2015-2016 academic year, American University of Central Asia
Returning Scholar, Academic Fellowship Program, Soros Foundation and Open Society Institute, 2013
International Postgraduate Research Scholarship, University of Melbourne, 2006
Melbourne International Research Scholarship, University of Melbourne, 2006
Asian Development Bank Scholarship, University of Hawaii, 2001

Urbanism

Deserted mining towns in Kyrgyzstan
Urban topics in Bishkek: Green spaces, Informal city, Urban activism, Urban rivers, Urban poverty, and Traditional neighborhoods

Migration and mobility

Central Asian labor migration to Russia
Environmental migration
Internal migration in Kyrgyzstan
Migration and development in Central Asia

Religion

Islamic civil society in Central Asia
Tablighi Jamaat in Kyrgyzstan
State religious policy in Kyrgyzstan
Vulnerability and resilience to radicalization in Kyrgyzstan

Books and Special Issues:

Nasritdinov, E. & T. Kozhoeva (forthcoming) Migration in Kyrgyzstan: Here, There and In-Between, Contemporary Central Asian Series, Lexington Books, manuscript in production after two reviews
Nasritdinov, E., Kyrgyz Tablighi Jamaat: The Spiritual Nomads of Central Asia, Contemporary Central Asian Series, Lexington Books, book prospectus accepted, first draft in the final stages of completion
Nasritdinov, E. (ed) Alternative Guide to Urban Places and Faces in Bishkek, first draft nearing completion, potentially Dom Publishers
Nasritdinov, E. & S. du Boulay (eds) (2022) Autoethnographies of Spiritual Practices in Central Asia, special issue in Ketmen: International Journal for Central Asian Voices
Nasritdinov & Schroeder (eds) (2017) Re/Claiming Bishkek: Contestation and Activism in the City of Two Revolutions, special issue in Central Asian Affairs #4
Nasritdinov & K. O’Connor (2009) Regional Change in Kyrgyzstan: Bazaars, Cross-Border Trade and Social Networks, LAMBERT Academic Publishing

Articles in Books and Peer-Reviewed Journals:

Nasritdinov E. and S. du Boulay (2022) Autoethnographies of Spiritual Practices in Central Asia: Introduction (2022) in Nasritdinov and du Boulay (eds) Autoethnographies of Spiritual Practices in Central Asia, Ketmen: International Journal for Central Asian Voices, #1
Spirituality and Families in Transition (2022) in Nasritdinov and du Boulay (eds) Autoethnographies of Spiritual Practices in Central Asia, Ketmen: International Journal for Central Asian Voices, #1
Bishkek: Searching for Asianness in a Post-Soviet City (forthcoming) in Hu (ed) Routledge Handbook of Asian Cities, Routledge
Mobile Livelihoods: How Kyrgyz Tablighis Balance Din and Duniya (forthcoming) in De La Croix and Reeves (eds) The Central Asian World, Routledge
Nasritdinov, E. and M. Myrzabaev (2022) Saudi Influence in Kyrgyzstan: Beyond Mosques, Schools, and Foundations, in Mandeville (ed) Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam, Oxford University Press
Politics of Green Development in Bishkek (2022) in Isaacs and Marat (eds) The Routledge Handbook on contemporary Central Asia, Routledge
Nasritdinov, E. A. Abdoubaetova and G. Iskandarova (2021) Private Education, Inequality, and the Growing Social Divide in Bishkek, in Monthgomery, D. (ed) Central Asia: Contexts for Understanding, University of Pittsburg Press
Nasritdinov, E. & P. Schroeder (2017) Re/Claiming Bishkek: Contestations and Activisms in the City of Two Revolutions: An Introduction, in Nasritdinov & Schroeder (eds) Re/Claiming Bishkek, special issue in Central Asian Affairs #4, 97-128
The War of Billboards: Hijab, Secularism, and Public Space in Bishkek(2017) in Nasritdinov & Schroeder (eds) Re/Claiming Bishkek, special issue in Central Asian Affairs #4, 217-242
"Only by Learning How to Live Together Differently Can We Live Together at All": Readability and Legibility of Central AsianMigrants' Presence in Urban Russia (2016) in Schroder (ed.) Urban Spaces and Lifestyles in Central Asia and Beyond, special issue in Central Asian Survey, 35:2, 257-275,
Nasritdinov, E. and P. Schroeder (2016) From Frunze to Bishkek: Soviet Territorial Youth Formations and Their Decline in the 1990-s and 2000-s, Central Asian Affairs, 3, 1-28
Nasritdinov, E., B. Zhumakadyr kyzy, and D. Asanalieva (2015) Myths and Realities of Bishkek’s Novostroikas, in Laruelle (ed.)Kyrgyzstan beyond 'Democracy Island' and 'Failing State': Factoring Social and Political Challenges in a Post-Soviet Society, M.E.Sharpe
Nasritdinov, E., E.Gareyeva, & T. Efremenko (2015) How Small Kitchens Become Even Smaller: Social Life of Soviet Microdistricts, in Daou, Huppatz, and Dinh (eds) Unbounded: on the Interior and Interiority, Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Fryer, P., E. Nasritdinov and E. Satybaldieva (2014) Moving Towards the Brink? Migration in the Kyrgyz Republic, Central Asian Affairs, Vol. 1, N.2
Nasritdinov E. & K. O’Connor (2013) Globalization as Fuel, Ethnicity as Engine: How Markets Reactivate Local Culture, in Pulsar (ed.) Imagined Identities: De/Construction of Ethnicity and Nationhood in the Age of Globalization, Syracuse Press
Ismailbekova, A. and Nasritdinov. E (2012) Transnational Religious Networks in Central Asia: Structure, Travel, and Culture of Kyrgyz Tablighi Jama’at, Transnational Social Review, volume 2, No.2, pp.177-195
Spiritual Nomadism and Central Asian Tablighi Travellers (2012) in S. Oushakine (ed.) Variety of Post-Colonialisms, Ab Imperio, issue 2, 2012
Nasritdinov, E., M. Ablezova, (2009) Environmental Migration: Case of Kyrgyzstan, inAfifi, T. and J. Jagger (eds.) Environment, Forced Migration and Human Security, International Organization on Migration
Mountains in the Evolution of Visual Arts in Kyrgyzstan(2006), in Joubert (ed.) Arts Education in Asia, Kluwer-Springer, Dordrecht Netherlands
Nasritdinov E. & K. O’Connor (2006) Social Texture of the Central Asian Commercial Terrain: Kyrgyz, Russian and Uzbek Merchants in the Post-Soviet Trading Networks, International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 4, Number 5

Policy Reports:

Peyrouse, S. and E. Nasritdinov (2021) Engaging with Muslim Civil Society in Central Asia: Components, Approaches and Opportunities, a special report by the United States Institute for Peace
Nasritdinov, E., Z. Urmanbetova, K. Murzakhalilov, and M. Myrzabaev (2019) Vulnerability and Resilience of Young People in Kyrgyzstan to Radicalization, Violence and Extremism: Analysis Across Five Sectors, CAP paper #213, January 2019, Central Asia Program, Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University
Nasritdinov, E. & T. Kozhoeva (2017) Effect of Kyrgyzstan’s Accession to Eurasian Economic Union on the Life of Kyrgyz Migrants in Russia, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Vulnerability of Labor Migrants from Kyrgyzstan to Engagement with Violent Extremist Groups (2017) United Nations Development Program, Bishkek
Building Future: Materialization of Kyrgyz and Tajik Migrants' Remittances in the Construction Sectors of their Home Countries,(2015) Regional Migration Programme, Department for International Development, UK
Nasritdinov, E. and N. Bekmurzaev (2015) Exploring the Potential for Introducing the "Education for Peace" Course in the Curriculum of Islamic Educational Institutions in Kyrgyzstan, United Nations Population Fund, Kyrgyzstan
Nasritdinov, E. and N. Esenamanova (2014) Religious Security in Central Asia, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Nasritdinov, E. and N. Schenkkan (2012) Portrayal of Absence: Skipped Generation Households in Kyrgyzstan, Open Society Institute and HelpAge International, Kyrgyzstan
Nasritdinov, E., N. Kholmatova and A. Sheralieva (2011) Breaking the Stereotypes: Kyrgyz and Tajik Labor Migrants in Kazan,UNESCO, Kyrgyzstan
Nasritdinov, E., and Student Research Team, AUCA (2010) Informal Economy and Social Vulnerability in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, HelpAge International, Kyrgyzstan
Nasritdinov, E., M. Ablezova & Rahimov (2009) The Effect of Migration on the Elderly People in Kyrgyzstan, HelpAge International, Kyrgyzstan
Nasritdinov, E. & Student Research Team, AUCA (2008) Discrimination of Internal Migrants in Bishkek, Social Research Center, American University of Central Asia

Advanced Tools for Urban Planners and Designers
Architectural Sketching and Rendering
Applied Research in Sustainability
Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning
Redesigning the Commons: Urban Design and Project Management
Thesis Writing 1: Literature Review and Research Methodology Design
Thesis Writing 2: Field-Data Analysis and Writing Up