Laura L. Adams

Laura Adams has been studying national identity in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Central Asia since 1988. Her research has included topics such as nationalist mobilization and violent protest during the end of the Soviet era, the interactions between globalization and the nation-state in the context of the visual and performing arts, and the application of theories of governmentality to contemporary Central Asian societies. After many years at Harvard University, Laura is now a USAID Democracy Fellow at the Institute for International Education where she works to bridge academic research and international development in the area of democracy, human rights, and governance. Laura received her B.A. in sociology and Russian area studies from Macalester College and her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. She is originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota.