Dr. Peter Finke

Biography

Peter Finke is an economic anthropologist specializing in Central Inner Asia, having conducted extensive fieldwork in the region since the early 1990s. His primary research interests include economic anthropology, institutional analysis, transformation processes, and cognitive anthropology, with a focus on pastoral nomadism and rural development. He has examined identity and migration through the lens of transnational migration movements and changes in identity patterns in conjunction with national state-building schemes. Finke has recently been involved in projects investigating the impacts of economic booms and crises in Kazakhstan, particularly in the Zheti-Suw region, assessing the distribution of costs and benefits across society. His academic credentials include an MA in Social Anthropology from the Free University of Berlin and a PhD from the University of Cologne, where his dissertation addressed the transformations of pastoralists in western Mongolia. He followed this with a post-doctoral thesis at the University of Leipzig focusing on identity patterns and inter-ethnic relationships in Uzbekistan. Finke has held significant positions, including director of the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Zurich, serving as Vice-Dean of Study Affairs, and has been actively involved in various academic societies and editorial roles.

Research Interests

Experience