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I am a social anthropologist. Since 2006, I have conducted field research in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and most recently, Georgia. I have also worked as a project coordinator and consultant for international organizations and conducted project evaluations in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia, Russia, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, and Ukraine.  I am currently a principal investigator of the project "Religious Domains of Infrastructure and its Role among Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Georgia." I also work on migrants from Central Asia in Poland and the EU.

My research interests include Islam in the post-Soviet space, sociopolitical problems of Central Asia and the Caucasus, migration and interethnic relations, development, and humanitarian aid. I am also interested in the post-colonial perspective in field research and social anthropology. 

Research projects

2024-present -  Principal Investigator of the project "Religious Domains of Infrastructure and its Role among Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Georgia.", OPUS 26, NCN.

2021-2022 - Principal Investigator of the research project - Azerbaijanis and Armenians in Georgia, uncertain peace and conflict mobility in the context of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, the Institute of Slavic Studies, the Polish Academy of Sciences (fieldwork in Georgia)

2021 - a researcher for the preliminary research project of the archive of Professor Antonina Pisarczyk, a Soviet ethnographer of Central Asia, Department of Iranian Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies , Jagiellonian University

2017-2019, Assistant Professor, Department of Iranian Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies , Jagiellonian University, Principal Investigator of the research project - Changes in Spiritual Tradition of Migrants from Tajikistan in the Russian Federation (fieldwork in Moscow).

2013-2016, a researcher (post-doc), Department of Iranian Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies , Jagiellonian University (fieldwork in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan).Principal Investigator of the research project - A Social Role of Female Religious Leaders in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (fieldwork in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan).

2008-2013, Ph.D. student, a researcher, Institute of Applied Social Sciences, University of Warsaw (fieldwork in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan). The research project - The Relationship between Self-governments and Informal, Traditional Institutions, and International and Local Non-governmental Organizations in Tajikistan

2006 , research for MSc dissertation, SOAS (fieldwork in Kyrgyzstan)a research project: The Informal Economy and Women鈥檚 involvement in The Bazaar trade after the Collapse of the USSR

Selected publications:

ARTICLES

2026

Cie艣lewska, Anna. (2026). 鈥淩eligious 鈥榯hings鈥� and memories of the Nagorno-Karabakh: ethnographic cases from Armenian and Azerbaijani communities in Georgia鈥�. Culture and Religion, 1鈥�20. https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2026.2628670

2025

Cie艣lewska, Anna, and Ketevan Khutsishvili. 2025. 鈥淚n the Karabakh Conflict鈥檚 Shadow: Ethnic Divides and the Challenges of Social Cohesion in Georgia (Report from the Project).鈥� Zeszyty Wiejskie . DOI: 10.18778/1506-6541.31.03.

2023

Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2023. 鈥淎rmenians and Azerbaijanis in Georgia: The Role of Religion and Religious Leaders in the Second Karabakh War.鈥� Caucasus Analytical Digest 134.

2021

Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2021. 鈥淪econd Wife, Second Life: Polygyny among Migrants from Central Asia in Moscow.鈥� Oriente Moderno 100(2): 225鈥�247.
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2021. Review of Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus Since the Fall of the Soviet Union by Bayram Balchi. Journal of Religion in Europe 14(3鈥�4).

2020

Cie艣lewska, Anna, and Zbigniew B艂ajet. 2020. 鈥淭he Spiritual Industry of Central Asian Migrants in Moscow.鈥� Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research 12(1): 106鈥�126.

2017

Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2017. 鈥淟ocal Development in Practice: A Case Study 鈥� Mahalla Committees in Their Interaction with a Foreign NGO in the Vakhsh Valley in Tajikistan.鈥� Antropologicheskii Forum 35: 169鈥�188.

2016

Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2016. 鈥淭ransforming the Social Role of Female Religious Professionals in Tajikistan.鈥� Asian Studies Review 40(4): 510鈥�526.
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2016. 鈥淚slamskii Faktor.鈥� Antropologicheskii Forum 28: 118鈥�120.

BOOK CHAPTERS

2025 

Cie艣lewska, Anna, and Klaudia Kosici艅ska. 2025. 鈥淣avigating Turbulence: Azerbaijani-Armenian Relations in Georgia Post-2020 Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict鈥� In Fiction, Memory, and Ethnic Politics in the South Caucasus, edited by Mikhail Mamedov, Nona Shahnazarian, Peter Orte, and Ulvi Ismail. Routledge.

2021

Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2021. 鈥淪piritual Mobility: Alternative Practices of Healing among Migrants from Central Asia in Moscow.鈥� In Labour, Mobilities and Informal Practices, edited by Rano Turaeva and Rustam Urinboyev, 133鈥�148. Routledge.

Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2021. 鈥淧raying in Moscow 鈥� Migrants鈥� City: A Religious Experience of Female Migrants from Central Asia.鈥� In Cultures of Islam: Vernacular Traditions and Revisionist Interpretations across Russia, edited by Marlene Laruelle and J. Schmoller, 113鈥�128. Central Asia Program.

2018

Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2018. 鈥淏ibi Otun 鈥� Traditional Female Religious Leaders in Tajikistan.鈥� In Oazisy Shelkovogo Puti, edited by R. Abbiazov, 756鈥�762. Islamskaja Kniga.

2015

Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2015. 鈥淔emale Religious Practitioners in Tajikistan.鈥� In Studies on the Iranian World II: Medieval and Modern, edited by Anna Krasnowolska and Renata Rusek-Kowalska, 129鈥�148. Jagiellonian University Press.

2014

Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2014. 鈥淐hallenges and Controversies of International Assistance in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.鈥� In Economy and Growth from the Asian States鈥� Perspective, edited by J. Marsza艂ek-Kawa, 209鈥�226. Toru艅.

2013

Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2013. 鈥淔rom Shuttle Trader to Businesswomen: The Informal Bazaar Economy in Kyrgyzstan.鈥� In The Informal Post-Socialist Economy, edited by Jeremy Morris and Abel Polese, 121鈥�134. Routledge.

BOOKS

2017
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2017. Islam with a Female Face: How Women Are Changing the Religious Landscape in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Krak贸w: Ksi臋garnia Akademicka.

2015
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2015. Community, the State and Development Assistance: Transforming the Mahalla in Tajikistan. Krak贸w: Ksi臋garnia Akademicka.

2012
Cie艣lewska, Anna, and Agnieszka Makowska. 2012. Gdzie jest ta woda? Dost臋p do wody w kontek艣cie problematyki rozwojowej regionu Azji Centralnej. Warszawa: Wschodnioeuropejskie Centrum Demokratyczne.

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES

2019
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2019. 鈥淩eligious Practices: Preaching and Women Preachers: Tajikistan.鈥� In Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures, edited by Suad Joseph.

2015
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2015. 鈥淭urkmenistan.鈥� In The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty, edited by Mehmet Odekon.
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2015. 鈥淯zbekistan.鈥� In The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty, edited by Mehmet Odekon.

2017
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2017. 鈥淐helnoki.鈥� In The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, edited by Alena Ledeneva, Vol. 2. UCL Press.

REPORTS

2023
Cie艣lewska, Anna; B. B艂ajet; E. Seitov. 2023. Islam w Azji Centralnej. Warsaw: Office for Foreigners.
Cie艣lewska, Anna, and Khatia Khutsishvili. 2023. Armenians and Azerbaijanis of Georgia in the Context of the 2020 War. Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences.

IN PREPARATION

Cie艣lewska, Anna. Religious 鈥淭hings鈥� and Memories of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict among Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Georgia. Journal of Culture and Religion (in preparation).

POLISH-LANGUAGE PUBLICATIONS

(in reverse chronological order)

2016
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2016. 鈥淭aniec baczy 鈥� zakazane praktyki cielesne w przedrewolucyjnej Azji Centralnej.鈥� In collection edited by K. Pachniak and M. Nowaczek-Walczak, 73鈥�82. University of Warsaw.

2014
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2014. 鈥淜obiece autorytety religijne w Tad偶ykistanie 鈥� mi臋dzy tradycj膮 a nowoczesno艣ci膮.鈥� Pomoc Rozwojowa 1: 3鈥�10.
Cie艣lewska, Anna, and Agnieszka Makowska. 2014. 鈥淕lobalne problemy z wod膮 na przyk艂adzie spo艂eczno艣ci lokalnych w Tad偶ykistanie i Kirgistanie.鈥� Pomoc Rozwojowa 2: 11鈥�16.

2013
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2013. 鈥淏ezrobocie w Azji Centralnej po rozpadzie ZSRR.鈥� Pomoc Rozwojowa 4: 9鈥�15.
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2013. 鈥淯padek Cz艂owieka Radzieckiego 鈥� wybrane aspekty migracji z Azji Centralnej do Federacji Rosyjskiej.鈥� In Wok贸艂 problematyki migracyjnej, edited by J. Balicki and M. Chamarczuk, 347鈥�358. Warsaw: Rz膮dowa Rada Ludno艣ciowa.

2011
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2011. 鈥淢igracje z Azji Centralnej.鈥� In Oblicza Azji, Afryki i Ameryki 艁aci艅skiej, edited by K. G贸rak-Sosnowska and U. Markowska. Warsaw.
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2011. 鈥淪amorz膮d w Tad偶ykistanie 鈥� mi臋dzy tradycj膮 a nowoczesno艣ci膮.鈥� In Oblicza Azji, Afryki i Ameryki 艁aci艅skiej, edited by K. G贸rak-Sosnowska and U. Markowska. Warsaw.

2010
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2010. 鈥淏azary a nieformalna gospodarka w Centralnej Azji na przyk艂adzie Kirgistanu.鈥� In Globalny Orient, edited by K. G贸rak-Sosnowska and J. Jurewicz. 艁贸d藕.
Cie艣lewska, Anna. 2010. 鈥淥rganizacje mi臋dzynarodowe w procesie budowania samorz膮dno艣ci lokalnej.鈥� In Kulturowe Uwarunkowania Rozwoju, edited by K. G贸rak-Sosnowska and J. Jurewicz. 艁贸d藕.