Mohira Suyarkulova is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the American University of Central Asia. She received her PhD in International Relations from the University of St Andrews in 2011 and since then has held teaching and research positions at universities in the UK, Germany, and Kyrgyzstan. Her research interests include the politics of modernisation and development, gender and sexuality, environmental politics, nationalism, and statehood and sovereignty in Central Asia.