Research Assistant
Indira Alibayeva is a postdoctoral researcher at the Nazarbayev University Research Centre for Entrepreneurship. She received her PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. In her doctoral dissertation, Indira explored the ways how non-majority autochthonous ethnic groups (re)assert their belonging in the state undergoing ethnic nationalization as part of a nation-building policy. She has conducted research among Kazakhstani Uzbeks focusing on identification and practices of making sense of one’s ethnic identity in everyday interaction. Indira’s research contributes to state building, identity/ethnicity studies in Central Asia, post-soviet nation-building, studies of majority and minority relations, integration and conflict. Indira has worked at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany, taught at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and Almaty Management University (AlmaU), Kazakhstan. In addition to her academic pursuits, Indira has worked at the Centre for Policy Solutions, a think tank based in Almaty. Indira is deeply committed to promoting scientific knowledge in Qazaq language. She has hosted a popular science podcast “Cooltóbe”, has been an author to several articles in the Gylym Faces project, which aims to introduce scholars from Kazakhstan to a broader audience. She has also provided expertise and lectures for the Terek Story, an oral history writing project. At NURCE, Indira’s research covers three main areas: ideological and moral motivations of entrepreneurs in the craft sector, the role of entrepreneurship as an integration tool for ethnic minorities, and the pathways of female entrepreneurs entering the business sphere in Kazakhstan and wider Central Asia.