College of Humanities People
Morgan Liu, Assistant Professor
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures: http://nelc.osu.edu/Humanities Institute: http://icrph.osu.edu/
Office Information
331 Hagerty Hall, 1775 College Road, Columbus, OH, 43210
Email: liu.737@osu.edu
Phone: 614-292-5619
Office Hours:
Not teaching Spring 2011.
331 Hagerty Hall, 1775 College Road, Columbus, OH, 43210
Email: liu.737@osu.edu
Phone: 614-292-5619
Office Hours:
Not teaching Spring 2011.
Education:
Ph.D. University of Michigan, Anthropology
General Background:
Morgan Liu is a cultural anthropologist studying Islamic knowledge and practice in post-Soviet Central Asia, focusing on Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. He is interested in ethnographic approaches to the state, postsocialism, space, and agency. Courses he teaches are about Middle Eastern culture, Central Asia, Islamic revival and social justice, and cultural theory. Before coming to the Ohio State University he was a postdoc at the Society of Fellows, Harvard University. His Ph.D. is from the University of Michigan in Anthropology. Morgan’s current project investigates the connections between prosperity and piety among the newly wealthy class in southern Kyrgyzstan, how Islam legitimates economic activity, and how Islam is understood to address systemic problems in post-Soviet society. His book entitled Under Solomon’s Throne: Uzbek Visions of Renewal in Osh is coming out Spring 2012 with the University of Pittsburg Press. The book concerns how ethnic Uzbeks in the ancient Silk Road city of Osh, Kyrgyzstan think about political authority and post-Soviet transformations, based on research using vernacular language interviews and ethnographic fieldwork of urban social life that began in 1993. An upcoming project concerns a comparative look at notions of just society across the Middle East, Russia, and Asia.
