Morgan Y. Liu

Morgan Y. Liu is an Associate Professor and Department Chair at The Ohio State University, affiliated with the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and the Department of Anthropology. He also serves as Affiliated Faculty for multiple interdisciplinary units, including the Center for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies and the Center for East Asian Studies.

• Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan
• Postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University’s Society of Fellows

His research focuses on the cultural anthropology of Islamic revival, post-Soviet Central Asian societies, and the globalization of financial elites. He examines informal social networks, corporate-state dynamics, and Islamic concepts of social justice through ethnographic studies of urban life and power structures in Central Eurasia.

Morgan’s 2012 book Under Solomon’s Throne analyzes ethnic Uzbek political authority and post-Soviet transformations in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, based on 18 years of fieldwork. His work intersects with regional studies of Turkey, Russia, China, and the Caucasus.

• Scientific Awards
  • CESS Best Book Award (2014)

He has held leadership roles including CESS Presidency (2019-2022), Interim Chair of NELC (2013, 2017-2018), and served on grant committees for NEH and Fulbright-Hays. His public engagement includes blogging for the Huffington Post and authorship on Amazon Central.