Chair, Department of Caucasus Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Cand. Hist. (1993, Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS); History Faculty, Moscow State University (1987). Since 1991 on permanent staff of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. Taught at the Institute of Asian and African Countries, Moscow State University (since 1999); Russian State University for the Humanities (since 1998); Higher School of Economics (since 2005); and Moscow Branch of Stanford University (2002–2004, 2011). Scholarly interests: ethnology and history of Muslims of pre-Soviet and Soviet North Caucasus; transformations of the customary law and religious folk practices in rural Muslim communities in the context of social reformation in the (post)colonial East; history of Oriental studies in Russia; colonial policies and ethnography in the Caucasus and Maghreb.