Azamat Junisbai

Azamat Junisbai is a full-time Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College since 2009, specializing in Social Stratification and Inequality, Political Sociology, and Post-Soviet Transitions. His work combines rigorous Survey Research with comparative analysis across Central Asian contexts.

Educational background: PhD and MA from Indiana University; BA from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.

Research trends show sustained focus on authoritarian regime dynamics, public opinion in post-Soviet states, and identity politics in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Recent work extends to ethnic perceptions in geopolitical conflicts (2024) and longitudinal studies of political and economic attitudes (2010-2022).

Scientific awards include a

• Core Fulbright Scholar Program Award
• NSF grant ($100,000)
• NCEEER grant ($40,000)
• IREX Research Fellowship ($16,000, declined)

His grants enabled nationally representative surveys in both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

He has collaborated extensively with Barbara Junisbai and Baurzhan Zhussupov on comparative studies of Central Asian societies.