- Phone
- (909) 607-3767
- Office Location
Scott Hall 222
- Office Hours
- Contact Professor
On Sabbatical Spring 2026
With Pitzer Since: 2009
PhD, MA, Indiana University
BA, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan
Social stratification and public opinion about inequality and decolonization in Central Asia.
Quantitative Research Methods
Contemporary Central Asia
Hidden in Plain Sight: US and Soviet Colonialism (with Prof. Steinman)
Model Minority & Perpetual Foreigner: Asians in America
Research Design for Senior Thesis
Azamat Junisbai. 2026. “The role of language and age in ethnic Qazaq attitudes toward Ukraine, Russia and the Russo-Ukrainian War." Central Asian Survey, 1–20.
“Role of Language and Age in Ethnic Qazaqs’ Perceptions of the War in Ukraine.” PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 897 (2024).
“The Limits of Authoritarian Learning: Deconstructing Kazakhstan’s 2022 Coup Attempt.” PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 775 (2022).
“Authoritarian Learning: Making Sense Of Kazakhstan’s Political Transition.” PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 660 (2020).
“Institutional Trust in Kazakhstan Vs. Kyrgyzstan: How Divergent Trajectories Matter.” PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 573 (2019). With Barbara Junisbai.
“Regime Type versus Patronal Politics: A Comparison of ‘Ardent Democrats’ in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.” Post-Soviet Affairs, (2019). With Barbara Junisbai.
“Are Youth Different? The Nazarbayev Generation and Public Opinion in Kazakhstan.” Problems of Post-Communism, (2018). With Barbara Junisbai.
“Two Countries, Five Years: Islam in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan through the Lens of Public Opinion Surveys.” Central Asian Affairs, (2017). With Barbara Junisbai and Baurzhan Zhussupov.
“Mass Media Consumption in Post-Soviet Kyrgyztan and Kazakhstan: The View from Below,” Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, (2015). With Barbara Junisbai and Nicola Ying Fry.
“Determinants of Economic System Legitimacy in Kazakhstan,” Europe-Asia Studies, (2014).
“Understanding Economic Justice Attitudes in Two Countries: Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan,” Social Forces, (2010).
Department of Defense, Minerva Research Initiative, Defense Education and Civilian University Research (DECUR) Program award to study decolonial developments in the Caucasus, Central and North Asia. $395,881. 2024-2025.
Core Fulbright Scholar Program Award. Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan. August 2018 – June 2019.
Professor Junisbai gave an invited talk titled “Political Values in Kazakhstan: Insights into the 2019 Transition” at the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at US Department of State in Washington, DC on October 11, 2019.
National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to organize and oversee nationally representative public opinion surveys about social and economic inequality and the proper role of government in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. $100,000. August 2012-August 2014.
National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (NCEEER) National Research Competition grant. This program supports policy relevant field research in the countries of Eastern Europe and Eurasia and is funded by the U.S. Department of State. $40,000. 2012-2014.
International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) Research Fellowship for the project “Norms of Social Justice and Welfare State Attitudes in Post-Soviet Central Asia.” This program is funded by the U.S. Department of State. $16,000 (Declined).