dr Zarina Mukanova

Zarina Mukanova, received her MA in cultural studies from Al Farabi University in Almaty Kazakhstan (2014). She joined the Kinship Universal and Variations project at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (Halle, Germany) in 2015. Within this large project she examined Kazakh identity patterns, kinship, and genealogy in Kazakh post-independence era, focusing on ethnic Kazakhs returning from China and Mongolia, as well as local Kazakhs in rural southeastern Kazakhstan. Her research investigated the impacts of Russian colonization on the Kazakh diaspora, the migration of Kazakh clans, and the genealogical and kinship-based practices of ethnic returnees. Defended her PhD at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) in 2023.  During her PhD, conducted twelve months of fieldwork in southeastern Kazakhstan and two months of ethnographic research in three micro-districts of Almaty as part of the “Social Housing” project with the Urban Forum.In 2023 become part of XUAR Remote Ethnography research team at the university of Olomouc Czechia, where she focused on working with reeducation camp survivors from Xinjiang. In recent years, Mukanova’s focus has shifted to exploring decolonial practices and addressing social inequalities based on gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity, and language accessibility across various Almaty communities.

Apart from her academic work, Mukanova actively engaged with Almaty’s artistic and activist communities, participating in numerous collaborations. Co-curated the Jana Cekara film festival, which focused on Eastern Turkestan, for two years. Research interests: colonialism, identity, queer, migration, kinship, community building, ethnic returnees from China and Mongolia, Central Asia, XUAR, human rights, art and activism.