PHD THESIS
 

PhD Thesis Title: Giving in the Wake of Empires: Reclaiming God and the Good in Kazakhstan
 
PhD Supervisor: Till Mostowlansky

Expected completion date: 2026

Short Biography: Gulzhan Begeyeva is a researcher from Kazakhstan and a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She holds an MA in International Studies from the University of Tsukuba in Japan and an MA in Politics and Security from the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. She was a visiting research fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in Oslo, where she completed her research on donor organizations and aid effectiveness in Kyrgyzstan. Her current research examines diverse practices of giving in Kazakhstan, with a particular focus on charitable giving, mutual aid, and religious service. Situated at the intersection of the anthropology of the gift, humanitarian studies, and the study of imperial aftermath, her work explores how practices of giving are shaped by historical legacies and contemporary social transformations. She is a member of the research team of the SNSF-funded research project Quiet Aid: Service and Salvation in the Balkans-to-Bengal Complex, 2022-2027 led by Research Professor Till Mostowlansky.