Ethnicity and Nationalism Studies; Nation-Building, National Identity; Nation(alizing)-State; Minority Identities; Border Communities; Multiculturalism; Civil Society; Peace and Conflict Studies

Post-Soviet Region, South Caucasus - Azerbaijan; Armenia, Georgia

Mirkamran Huseynli is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Political Science at Vytautas Magnus University and a Swiss Government Excellence Research Fellow at ISEK-Social and Cultural Anthropology at University of Zurich. Alongside a B.A degree in American Studies at Baku State University, he also has an M.A degree in East European Studies from University of Bologna, another M.A degree in Nationalism Studies from Central European University and a graduate non-degree in Conflict Resolution & Mediation from University of San Diego. He offered undergraduate courses – Political Theory and Modern World History – at the School of Public and International Affairs at ADA University in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2021-2022. He has also collaborated with various NGOs internationally and in Azerbaijan regarding peace-building and conflict resolution in recent years. Alongside his PhD studies, he was a CEES Fellow at Center for East European Studies at University of Zurich and Max Weber fellow at Leibniz Institute (ZMO) in 2024-2025. His work has been published in the Journal of Ethnicities, Review of International Studies and Caucasus Edition | Journal of Conflict Transformation.

Given Mirkamran’s interdisciplinary academic background, his PhD research likewise draws on multiple disciplines, including political science, history, sociology and social-anthropology. More specifically, Mirkamran examines nation-building, national identity, and minority identities in the case of Azerbaijan, critically engaging with the nation(alizing) discourses and policies of Azerbaijani governments since the country’s independence. In tandem, he has conducted semi-structured interviews with opposition politicians, civil society activists, and members of ethnic minorities. This combined top-down and bottom-up approach is intended to assess the corresponding reciprocity between state narratives and societal responses. It also intends to illuminate various factors shaping the nationalization and homogenization of Azerbaijani society during the post-Soviet period – processes that have particularly affected ethnic minorities. Building on his ethnographic contributions, Mirkamran further seeks to advance understanding of concepts such as the nation(alizing)-state, national minorities, external national homelands and inter-imperiality.