Russell Zanca
Russell
Zanca
Professor
Anthropology
College of Arts and Sciences
(773) 442-5866
Expertise
Cultural Anthropology with regional focus on Central Asia; post-Soviet economies, collectivized farming; oral history of rural life; Islam and Muslim societies; culinary traditions and cookery; Eurasian labor migration and globalization.
Courses Taught
ANTH 212 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 238 - Peoples of Central Asia
ANTH 355 - WIP: History of Anthropology
ANTH 357 - Shells, Pigs, and Gold: Anthropology and Economy
ANTH 364 - Culinary Anthropology
ANTH 365 - Anthropology of Islam
ANTH 378 - Anthropology of Power
Research Interests
Writings on history of Stalinist collectivization in Uzbekistan and contemporary labor migration among Central Asians.
Education

Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1999

Selected Publications

Fearing Islam in Uzbekistan: Islamic Tendencies, Extremist Violence, and Authoritarian Secularism in Reclaiming the Sacred: Morality, Community and Religion after Communism, Mark D. Steinberg and Catherine Wanner, Editors. 2008 Woodrow Wilson Center and Indiana University Press (in press), 2008.

Writing the History of Collectivization in Uzbekistan: Oral Narratives (Written with Dr. Marianne Kamp of the University of Wyoming), National Council for Eurasian and East European Research Working Paper, February 2008.

Everyday Life in Central Asia, co-editor with Dr. Jeff Sahadeo (Carleton U.), Indiana University Press, 2007.

Dilemmas of Representation: Stalinist Collectivization in Uzbekistan and an Ethnographic Past in the Present in Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Europe (5:1, January/February 2005).

Needing a Place to Pray or Believing in God at Your Own Risk: Religion and Terrorisms in Central Asia in Religion, State and Society, March 2005, 33/1:71-82).

"Central Asian Food" in The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink (2004), New York: Oxford University Press.

"'Explaining' Islam in Central Asia: An Anthropological Approach for Uzbekistan," in the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2004 Vol. 24 No. 1.

"Field Report on Oral and Archival Histories of Collectivization in Uzbekistan" in Central Eurasian Studies Review, (Winter) 2003 Vol. 2 No 1, pp. 10-12.

Take! Take! Take! Host-Guest Relations and All that Food: Uzbek Hospitality Past and Present. Anthropology of East Europe Review. Spring:8-16. 2003.

The Greasier the Better: Dumba and Its Place in the Uzbek Diet in The Fat of the Land, Harlan Walker, Editor. Proceedings of the 2002 Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery:294-302. 2003.

Sovyet Sonrasi Ozbekistan'da Kirsal Kesimde Ozbek Kimliginin Yeniden Sekillenisi/Dueling Identities Down on the Farm: Mediating Ethnicity in the Ferghana Valley in Turkler (19:672-682). Guzel et al., editors. Ankara: Yeni Turkiye Yayinlari. 2002.

Tashkent. In Encyclopedia of Urban Cultures (4:280-289). Melvin Ember and Carol Ember, Editors. Grolier Press/Human Relations Area Files: New Haven. 2002.

Uzbekistan In Encyclopedia of World Cultures (Supplement: 362-367).  Melvin Ember, Carol Ember, and Ian Skoggard, Editors. Macmillan Reference USA. 2001.

Intruder in Uzbekistan: Walking the Line between Community Needs and Anthropological Desiderata In Fieldwork in Postsocialist Societies (153-171). Hermine de Soto and Nora Dudwick, eds. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. 2000.

Room BBH 142
Northeastern Illinois University
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5866
Office Hours
Spring 2024
Tuesday and Thursday: 8:15-9:25 a.m. in Room BBH 142
Wednesday: 10:00 a.m.-noon in Room BBH 142
or by appointment

Please let me know via email how you would like to meet and when.
Main Campus