Doctoral Student

Aizada Arystanbek's research interests, largely using ethnographic methods, center on gender, culture, decoloniality, and nationalism. She is particularly focused on violence against women as part of state policy. Aizada received her B.A. in Political Science from Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan and earned her first M.A. in Public Policy from Higher School of Economics, Russia. Her second M.A. is in Gender Studies with a double diploma from the Central European University, Hungary and University of Oviedo, Spain. Her second master's thesis analyzes how the standards of hegemonic Kazakh femininity are constructed by the state and how they are used to normalize violence against women in Kazakhstan's digital spaces. Aizada sees her work as an intersection of research and activism and is dedicated to raising awareness about the state of human rights in Central Asia.