Anatoly Khazanov

Infobox Scientist


image_width = 150px
name = Anatoly Khazanov
birth_date = December 13, 1937
birth_place = Moscow
residence = flagicon|USAUSA
nationality = flagicon|Russia Russia
death_date =
death_place =
field = nomadic studies, political anthropology
work_institutions = University of Wisconsin, Madison
alma_mater = Moscow State University
known_for = contributions to nomadic studies
prizes =
religion =
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Anatoly Khazanov (born December 13, 1937) is an anthropologist and historian.

Born in Moscow, Khazanov attended Moscow State University, where he received a B.A. in 1960 and an M.A. in 1966. He earned a Ph.D. degree in 1976 from the USSR Academy of Sciences. Since 1990, he has been Professor of the Anthropology Department in the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Anatoly M. Khazanov started his professional career as an archaeologist specializing in the nomadic cultures of the Early Iron Age. In the second half of the 1960s he shifted to socio-cultural anthropology. From 1966-1985, his main fields of research were pastoral nomads and the origins of complex societies. His main argument that the nomads were never autarkic and therefore in economic, cultural, and political respects were dependent on their relations with the sedentary world, is shared now by the majority of experts with regard to the emergence of complex societies. On the other hand, Khazanov was trying as much as was possible under Soviet censorship, to demonstrate the fallacy of the Soviet Marxist concept of historical process.

After his emigration in 1985 from the Soviet Union, Khazanov continued to study extensive and mobile pastoralists, paying particular attention to the deficiences and shortcomings of their modernization process. He argued that various modernization projects have failed because they did not provide room for the sustained self-development of the pastoralists and denied their participation in decision-making.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Khazanov has also become known for his contribution to the study of ethnicity and nationalism, and transitions from communist rule. He was one of the first to argue that in many countries this transition does not guarantee an emergence of liberal democratic order. He also argued that, contrary to widespread opinion, globalization per se is unable to reduce nationalism and ethnic strife, which will remain a salient phenomenon in the foreseeable future.

In the last few years, Khazanov has turned to the anthropology of public monuments and symbols, being particularly interested in their role in defining and redefining national and ethnic identities.

Khazanov has written over 10 books and 200 articles dealing with his research interests, primarily in a Central Asian context. These include "Animal Husbandry and Pastoralism in Post-Soviet Central Asia" (University of Wisconsin Press, 2001), [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0299142841 "Nomads and the Outside World"] (Cambridge University Press, 1984), [http://www.bookfinder.com/dir/i/Soviet_Nationality_Policy_during_Perestroika/1558311262/ "Soviet Nationality Policy During Perestroika"] (Delphic Associates, 1991), and [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0299148947 "After the U.S.S.R.: Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Politics in the Commonwealth of Independent States"] (University of Wisconsin Press, 1995). Together with Ofer Bar-Yosef, he also co-edited the volume Pastoralism in the Levant: Archaeological Materials in Anthropological Perspectives (Prehistory Press, 1992) Among his more important journal articles is "Muhammad and Jenghiz Khan Compared: The Religious Factor in World Empire-Building" in the 1993 "Comparative Studies in Society and History".

External links

* [http://www.anthropology.wisc.edu/people_khazanov.html Khazanov page on the University of Wisconsin-Madison site]