I specialize in the historical formation of religious, national and civilizational identity and how understandings of those historical identities impact relations between the West and Islam as well as broader Asian world. My work focuses on the intersection of various Jewish, Christian, Muslim, indigenous and secular traditions in America and the broader West in relation to the Middle East as well as Central and South Asia. This involves questions of how religious-cultural beliefs and practices (in relation to politics, human and civil rights, gender and economy) impact historical identity formation and the resulting relations between the identity groups involved. I situate all my work within broader transnational and world historical contexts.
After my first two-month visit in 1991, I resided for eight total years in Kazakhstan (1995-99 and 2002-6), completing my Ph.D. in the Kazakh language under two nationally-recognized Kazakh scholars at al-Farabi Kazakh National University. My time in Central Asia coincided with two of the most profoundly transformative periods in recent world history: the end of the Cold War following Soviet collapse and the aftermath of September 11, with the ensuing War on Terror marked by American entrenchment in Afghanistan and Iraq. Studying Islam, nationalism, colonial memory, and religious identity from within post-Soviet and post-911 Central Asia gave me a unique vantage which reaches beyond the usual American and Western-centric points of view. Seeing Western-Islamic relations through not only a Euro-American but a Euro-Slavic lens, with a distinctly Turko-Persian perspective on Islamic history and identity, likewise brings a unique angle often not found in Arabo-Middle Eastern centered studies.
After several more years of research and translation work in Japan (2006-10) focused on 19th- and early 20th-century trans-Asian and pan-Islamic responses to Western colonialism, I returned to the U.S. as a visiting fellow at Yale University (2010-11) before joining the department of history at WSU (2011-present). I have recently been appointed a research associate with the World History Center at the University of Pittsburgh (2026-27) as well as a WSU Foley Institute-sponsored lecturer for Humanities Washington Speakers' Bureau (2026-27). I have also held appointments as a visiting researcher at Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU, 2014-19), affiliate faculty for research with the Department of History at George Mason University (2021-22), and senior international research fellow with the Department of Religion and Culture at al-Farabi Kazakh National University (2019-26).
Along with a number of works in both English and Kazakh, I have published several recent monographs and edited volumes, including the following (click on underlined titles for weblinks):
Along with the above, some of my most cited & accessed works include:
“The Historical Relation of Islamic and Western Law,” in Reason, Revelation and Law in Islamic and Western Theory and History, pp. 25-43.
"(Rvw of) Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane, by S. Frederick Starr," Journal of Religious History, Vol 39, No 2 (June 2015): 327-329.
"(Extended) Review of The Great Game, 1856-1907: Russo-British Relations in Central and East Asia, by Evgeny Sergeev," Reviews in History, June 2014 (review no. 1611).
Moses, Muhammad and Their Laws in American National History & Identity (4 vols).
Legacies of the Abrahamic Divine Law Traditions in the Continuing Debates over Slavery & Race in World History
Throughout my academic career, I have actively participated as a member in various professional associations, including the Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS), American Historical Association (AHA) and World History Association (WHA). I remain active currently in the latter two organizations, serving as an Executive Council Member of the WHA (2025-27). I have given invited lectures at Yale, Princeton, Georgetown, UCLA and University of Washington as well as universities, Peace Corps, historical-cultural centers and other international venues in Kazakhstan, Japan and India.
As former founder and chair of the Central Asian Historical-Cultural Research Center and Asia Research Associates, I have overseen the translation and/or publication of several works by international scholars, including:
R.S. Khangarot, Jaigarh, the Invincible Fort of Amber & Other Select Essays on Indian History (forthcoming).
My teaching includes World History, Roots of Contemporary Issues, Medicine, Science & Technology in World History, Middle Eastern & Islamic history, Western Civilization, History of Christian-Muslim/Western-Islamic Relations, Religious-Cultural Encounter along the Silk Road, various independent (499) studies on world religious and Western-Islamic history, undergraduate and graduate-doctoral seminars at Kazakh Nat'l University on Central Asian religious history & identity, and more. I have served as co-instructor and coordinator for the Seminar in Asian Studies at WSU. I have also served as 'foreign advisor' for a number of Kazakh doctoral students doing religious-cultural history & identity in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, hosting them as international visiting scholars at Washington State University. I have received two 'Excellence in Teaching' awards, a Learning Communities Excellence Award, a Critical Literacies Achievement and Success Program (CLASP) Faculty Award, and an Award for Promoting Tolerance, Diversity & Inclusiveness. Most recently I have been nominated by the WSU Department of History for a Career Achievement Award in the College of Arts & Sciences.
