Alexander C. Diener

KU Jayhawk
  • Professor of Geography
  • Director of Graduate Studies

Contact Info

Office Phone:
785-864-3040
Department Phone:
785-864-5143
Malott Hall #4017

Personal Links

Biography —

Alexander C. Diener is a Professor of Geography at the University of Kansas. After earning his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Alex was a Title VIII Research Fellow at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center. He then taught at Pepperdine University before becoming Senior Fellow in Eurasian Studies at George Washington University (2010-2011) and Regional Research Fulbright Scholar in Central Asia (2011-2012). In 2012 Alex joined the faculty of the Department of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Kansas, where he is also affiliated faculty with the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Center for East Asian Studies, Center for Migration Research, and Environmental Studies.

Throughout his career Alex has worked at the nexus of political, social, economic, and cultural geography, engaging topics such as geopolitics and borders, identity and migration, citizenship, development and mobility, and urban landscape change. He possesses area studies expertise in Central Eurasia (the Central Asian states, Russian Borderlands, Islamic Borderlands) and Northeast Asia (Mongolia, Chinese and Russian Borderlands). He has authored or co-authored three books, co-edited four books, and published in a variety of disciplinary, thematic, and area-studies academic journals. Over the course of his career Alex has garnered a number of teaching accolades including the 2006 SSRC Teaching Fellowship. Alex founded the undergraduate research journal Global Tides at Pepperdine University and has served as a board member for several international academic organizations and granting agencies. In 2015, he held a Title VIII Short Term Fellowship at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars and was named Senior Fellow in Eurasian Studies at the Davis Center of Harvard University (2015-2016).

Education —

Geography, University of Wisconsin, 2003, Madison, WI
International Relations and Comparative Politics, University of Chicago, 1994, Chicago, IL
Political Geography, University of South Carolina, 1995, Columbia, SC
International Studies, Pepperdine University, 1991, Malibu, CA

Research —

I characterize myself as a broadly trained human geographer with theoretical interests bridging the social sciences and humanities. At its core, my work explores the relationship between identity and place as foundational to the human condition. I engage with the people/place bond manifesting within processes of peace, conflict, and development. Possessing an area studies specialization in Central Eurasia and Northeast Asia, I have contributed to interdisciplinary scholarly discourses relating to geopolitics and borders, human mobility and immobility, environment/social justice, cultural hybridity, diaspora/transnationalism, and the impact of urban landscape change on community, self, and personhood. Since receiving my PhD, I have undertaken an ambitious research agenda that engages, applies, and critiques a range of social theory. Extensive fieldwork employing a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods in the Central Asian states, Mongolia, and both Russian and Islamic borderlands provides the empirical data for this work.

Research interests:

  • Political Geography
  • Social Geography
  • Cultural Geography
  • International Relations
  • Geographic and Social Theory
  • Urban Geography
  • Economic Geography
  • Geopolitics
  • Cultural Geography
  • Historical Geography
  • Peace Studies
  • Development Studies
  • Central Eurasia
  • Northeast Asia
  • Central Asian States
  • Mongolia
  • Islamic Borderlands
  • Russian Borderlands
  • Border Studies
  • Geographies of Nationalism & Transnationalism
  • Mobilities and Immobilities
  • Migration
  • Citizenship
  • Geopolitics
  • Geographies of Islam
  • Processes and Consequences of Territorialization
  • Urban Landscape Change
  • Justice, Ethics, and Geographies of Belonging
  • Religion and State Relations
  • Place Attachment

Teaching —

My teaching philosophy and research endeavors to embody an interdisciplinary approach, wherein I encourage students to explore questions from a variety of perspectives and compel their recognizing the interconnectedness of political, economic, social, cultural, and natural processes and phenomena. I want students to not only ask 'what' and 'where' something is occurring, but 'why', and then critically evaluate what they see, read, and hear. In many ways, I see myself less as a teacher and more as a facilitator. Clearly the communication of content is essential, as students must gain command of a canon of knowledge in order to effectively participate in discussions relating to specific topics. For that knowledge to be firmly set and readily usable, however, it must be applied during the learning process in a personalized field of inquiry. As such, my courses require active engagement with real world problems in a manner that is designed to lead students to their respective paths of purpose, service, and leadership. I became an academic in order to communicate to students the beauty of knowledge-seeking, and to inspire this pursuit amidst the world's infinite complexity. I want students to develop a passion for learning and to embrace the vibrancy of a 'life of the mind'. In essence, I want students to see that awareness is better than a lack of awareness. For this to be true, however, it is imperative that enlightened values influence the world in which we live. I encourage students to consider possibilities for progress and then call for them to challenge the very notion of 'progress' - not only in instrumental or functionalist terms but also in moral and ethical terms. Through this process, I hope to combat complacency and cultivate students' sense of responsibility for the world.

Teaching interests:

  • Political Geography
  • Cultural Geography
  • Social Geography
  • Economic Geography
  • Urban Geography
  • Geopolitics
  • International Relations
  • Geographies of Islam
  • Social Theory
  • Border Studies
  • Peace Studies
  • Transnationalism and Diaspora Studies
  • Central Asia
  • Mongolia
  • Russian Borderlands
  • Chinese Borderlands

Selected Publications —

Rees, Kristopher, Nora Webb-Williams, and Alexander Diener. “Territorial Belonging and Homeland Disjuncture: Uneven Territorializations in Kazakhstan.” Journal Articles. Europe Asia Studies, March 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2021.1891206.
Diener, Alexander  C., and Joshua Hagen. “The Power of Place in Place Attachment.” Journal Articles. Special Issue of Geographical Review on Place Attachment, February 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/00167428.2021.1884983.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. “Geographies of Place Attachment: A Place-Based Model of Materiality, Performance, and Narration.” Journal Articles. Special Issue of Geographical Review on Place Attachment, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/00167428.2020.1839899.
Diener, Alexander C. “Multi-Scalar Territorialization in Kazakhstan’s Northern Borderland.” Journal Articles. Special Issue of Geographical Review on Place Attachment, January 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/00167428.2020.1814676.
Remmers, Ruth, and Alexander C Diener. “Local Perceptions of Tourism’s Impact on Russia’s Altai Republic.” Journal Articles. Sustainable Development of Mountain Territories 12, no. 3 (September 2020): 327–38. https://doi.org/10.21177/1998-4502-2020-12-3-327-338.
Diener, Alexander C. “The Deepest Border: The Strait of Gibraltar and the Making of the Hispano-African Borderland.” Book Reviews. Historical Geography, 2020.
Diener, Alexander C, and Yerken Turganbayev. “Kazakhstan’s Evolving Regional Policy: Assessing Strategies of Post-Socialist Economic Development .” Journal Articles. Eurasian Geography and Economics 59, no. 5–6 (August 2019): 657–84.
Diener, Alexander C. “The Varied Geographies of Historical Citizenship.” Journal Articles. Global Citizenship Review 3rd & 4th Quarter (August 2019): 28–35. https://issuu.com/ideos_publications/docs/gc_review_3rd_edition_2019.
Diener, Alexander C., and Batbuyan Batjav. “Axial Development. in Mongolia: Intended and Unintended Effects of New Roads.” Journal Articles. Mobilities 14, no. 6 (July 2019): 778–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2019.1643163.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. “The City as Crucible: Urban Space, Place and National Identity into the Twenty-First Century.” Book Chapters. In The City as Power: Urban Space, Place, and National Identity, 253–64. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2019.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. “The City as Palimpsest: Narrating National Identity. through Urban Space and Place.” Book Chapters. In The City as Power: Urban Space, Place, and National Identity, 1–22. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2019.
Diener, Alexander C, and Joshua Hagen. “Border Control as a Technology of Social Control  .” Book Chapters. In The Handbook of Social Control (Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell), edited by Mathieu Deflem, 403–15. London: Blackwell, 2019.
Diener, Alexander C. “Area Studies in a Global Age.” Book Reviews. Region, March 2018.
Diener, Alexander C, and Joshua Hagen. “The Political Sociology and Geography of Borders.” Book Chapters. In Sage Handbook in Political Sociology, edited by William Outhwaite and Stephen Turner, 330–46. California: Sage Publishers, 2018.
Diener, Alexander C. “Re-Scaling Citizenship: From Polis to Empire to State Formation and Beyond.” Book Chapters. In Oxford Handbook of Citizenship, edited by Rainer Bauböck, Irene Bloemraad, and Maarten Vink, 36–59. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Diener, Alexander C. “Parsing Mobilities in Central Eurasia: Border Management and New Silk Roads .” Book Chapters. In The Central Asia-Afghanistan Relation from Soviet Intervention to the US Silk Road Initiative  , edited by Marlene Laruelle . Lexington Books, 2017.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. “Changing Modalities of Power in the 21st Century .” Book Chapters. In Borders: (Re)Defining Spaces of Power Relations  , edited by Cengiz Günay and Nina Witjes, 15–32. Springer Publishers, 2017.
Diener, Alexander C. “Soviet Etchings on the Post-Soviet Parchment: The Past and Present of Mobility and Migration.” Book Chapters. In Questioning Post-Soviet, edited by Ted Holland and Matthew Derrick, 55–74. Washington DC: Wilson Center Press, 2016.
Diener, Alexander C. “Imagining Kazakhstani-Stan: Negotiations of Homeland and Titular Nationality.” Book Chapters. In Kazakhstan in the Making: Legitimacy, Symbols, and Social Changes, edited by Marlene Laruelle, 131–54. London: M.E. Sharpe, 2016.
Diener, Alexander C. “Landlocked States.” Encyclopedia/Dictionary Entries. Edited by Douglas Richardson. The Wiley-AAG International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment, and Technology. . Wiley/Blackwell , 2016.
Diener, Alexander C. “Kazakhs.” Encyclopedia/Dictionary Entries. Edited by John Stone, Polly Rizova, Anthony Smith, Dennis Rutlege, and Xiaoshua Huo. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism. Wiley/Blackwell, 2016.
Charron, Austin L., and Alexander C. Diener. “Political Geography, New Regionalism, and Re-Scaling Identity.” Journal Articles. SAIS Review 35, no. 2 (January 2016): 13–20.
Diener, Alexander C. “Parsing Mobilities in Central Eurasia: Border Management and New Silk Roads.” Journal Articles. Eurasian Geography and Economics, November 2015. https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2015.1078736.
Diener, Alexander C., and Vincent Artman. “Religion and the State.” Encyclopedia/Dictionary Entries. Edited by Robert Segal and Kocku Von Stuckrad. Vocabulary for the Study of Religion . Brill, November 2015.
Diener, Alexander C. “Assessing Potential Russian Irredentism and Separatism in Kazakhstan’s Northern Oblasts.” Journal Articles. Eurasian Geography and Economics, September 2015. https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2015.1103660.
Diener, Alexander C, and Joshua Hagen. “Preface for Japanese Language Version of Borders: Very Short Introduction.” Book Chapters. In Borders: Very Short Introduction, 2015.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. 境界から世界を見る――ボーダースタディーズ入門  Borders: A Very Short Introduction. Books. Edited by Fuminori Kawakubo . Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten Publishers , 2015.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen, eds. From Socialist to Post Socialist Cities: Cultural Politics of Architecture, Urban Planning, and Identity in Eurasia. Books. Routledge. Routledge, 2014.
Diener, Alexander C. “Review of Central Asia in International Relations: The Legacies of Halford Mackinder by Eds. Nick Megoran and Sevara Sharapova London: Hurst and Co. Publishers 2013.” Book Reviews. Central Asian Survey . Taylor and Francis, August 2014.
Diener, Alexander C. “Review of Globalizing Central Asia: Geopolitics and the Challenges of Economic Development by Marlene Laruelle and Sebastien Peyrouse.” Book Reviews. Geographical Review. M.E. Shapre, August 2014.
Diener, Alexander C. “Russian Repositioning: Mobilities and the Eurasian Regional Concept.” Book Chapters. In Corridor of Interconnections: Eurasia from the South China to the Caspian Sea, edited by Walcott Susan and Johnson Corey, 72–109. London: Routledge, 2014.
Diener, Alexander C. “Borders Today: Interrogating Their Strategic Fabrications and Asymmetries of Power.” Book Reviews. Dialogues in Human Geography, 2013.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. “City of Concrete and Felt: Negotiating Cultural Hybridity in Mongolia’s Capital of Ulaanbaatar.” Journal Articles. Nationalities Papers, 2013.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. “From Socialist to Post-Socialist Cities: Narrating the Nation through Urban Space.” Journal Articles. Nationalities Papers, 2013.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen, eds. “From Socialist to Post-Socialist Cities: Narrating the Nation through Urban Space .” Journal Articles. Nationalities Papers, 2013.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. “Who Owns the Parcel, Spratley and Senkaku Islands?” Web Publishing (article, blog, etc.). Oxford University Press Blog, October 2, 2012.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. A Very Short Introduction to Borders . Books. New York and London: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Diener, Alexander C. “Review of Seeking Asylum: Human Smuggling and Bureaucracy at the Border by Alison Mountz.” Book Reviews. Professional Geographer. University of Minnesota Press 2010, October 2011.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. “Kaliningrad’s Past, Present, and Future: Russian and E.U. Perspectives on the Geopolitics of  Exclave and Enclave.” Journal Articles. Eurasian Geography and Economics 52, no. 4 (2011): 567–92.
Diener, Alexander C. “The Borderland Existence of Mongolia’s Kazakhs: Boundaries and the Construction of Territorial Belonging.” Book Chapters. In Research Companion to Border Studies , edited by Doris Wastl-Walter, 373–93. London: Ashgate, 2011.
Diener, Alexander C. “Will New Mobilities Beget New (Im)Mobilities?: Prospects for Change Resulting from Mongolia’s Trans-State Highway.” Book Chapters. In Engineering Earth: The Impact of Mega Projects, edited by Stanley Brunn, 627–42. Kluwer/Springer Press, 2011.
Diener, Alexander C. Borderlines and Borderlands: Political Oddities at the Edge of the Nation State . Books. Edited by Alexander C. Diener and Joshua Hagen. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers , 2010.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. “Russia’s Kaliningrad Exclave:  Discontinuity as Threat to Sovereignty.” Book Chapters. In Borderlines and Borderlands: Political Oddities at the Edge of the Nation State , edited by A. C. Diener and J. Hagen, 121–36. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010.
Diener, Alexander C. “Diasporic Stances: Comparing the Historical Geographic Antecedents of German and Korean Migration Decisions in Kazakhstan.” Journal Articles. Geopolitics 14, no. 3 (2009): 462–87.
Diener, Alexander C. One Homeland or Two?: Nationalization and Transnationalization of Mongolia’s Kazakhs. Books. Palo Alto, CA and Washington DC: Stanford University Press and Woodrow Wilson Center Press , 2009.
Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. “Theorizing Borders in a Borderless World: Globalization, Mobility and Scale.” Journal Articles. Geography Compass 3, no. 3 (2009): 1196–1216.
Diener, Alexander C., and Timothy Crawford. “Democracy, Civil Society and the Damage Limitation Component of Strategy.” Book Chapters. In Terrorism and Homeland Security: Thinking Strategically About Policy , edited by Paul R. Viotti, Michael Opheim, and Nicholas Bowen, 191–206. CRC Press , 2008.
Diener, Alexander C. “Diasporic and Transnational Social Practices in Central Asia.” Journal Articles. Geography Compass 2, no. 2 (2008): 956–78.
Diener, Alexander C. “Settlement of the Returning Kazakh Diaspora: Practicality, Choice, and the Nationalization of Social Space.” Book Chapters. In Migration, Homeland, and Belonging in Eurasia , edited by C. Buckley and B. Ruble, 265–304. Woodrow Wilson Press, 2008.
Diener, Alexander C. “Review of Central Asia and the Caucasus: Transnationalism and Diaspora by Eds. Touraj Atabaki and Sanjyot Mehendale 2005.” Book Reviews. Central Asian Survey , September 2007.
Diener, Alexander C. “Koreans and Germans of Kazakhstan: A Comparative Study of Belonging.” Journal Articles. Korean Studies , March 2007, 4–16.
Diener, Alexander C. “Negotiating Territorial Belonging: A Transnational Field Approach to Mongolia’s Kazakhs.” Journal Articles. Geopolitics 12, no. 3 (2007): 459–87.
Diener, Alexander C. “Transnationalism and Minority Territorialization in Kazakhstan.” Journal Articles. International Journal of Central Asian Studies 11 (2007): 86–102.
Diener, Alexander C. “Homeland as Social Construct: Territorialization among Germans and Koreans in Kazakhstan.” Journal Articles. Nationalities Papers 34, no. 2 (2006): 201–36.
Diener, Alexander C. “Review of Hearing Birds Fly: A Nomadic Year in Mongolia by Louisa Waugh, London: Abacus 2003.” Book Reviews. Mongolian Studies, 2006.
Diener, Alexander C. “Kazakhstan’s Kin-State Diaspora: Settlement Planning and the Oralman Dilemma.” Journal Articles. Europe Asia Studies 57, no. 2 (March 2005): 327–48.
Diener, Alexander C. “Review of The Mongols at China’s Edge: History and the Politics of National Unity, New York: Rowman and Littlefield 2002  by Uradyn Bulag.” Book Reviews. H-Net , March 2005.
Diener, Alexander C. “Mongols, Kazakhs, and Mongolian Territorial Identity: Trajectories of Nationalization.” Journal Articles. Central Eurasian Studies Review 3–4, no. 1 (2005): 18–25.
Diener, Alexander C. “Problematic Integration of Mongolian-Kazakh Return-Migrants in Kazakhstan .” Journal Articles. Eurasian Geography and Economics 6 (2005): 465–78.
Diener, Alexander C. “Research among Mongolia’s Kazakhs: Brief Reflections on Data Collection and Community Access.” Journal Articles. Mongol Survey 15 (2005): 14–18.
Diener, Alexander C. “Review of Central Asia: Aspects of Transition by Tom Everett-Heath, London: RoutledgeCurzon 2003.” Book Reviews. Journal of Asian Studies , 2004.
Diener, Alexander C. Homeland Conceptions and Ethnic Integration among Kazakhstan’s Germans and Koreans . Books. Lampeter UK: Edwin Mellen Press, 2004.
Diener, Alexander C. “National Territory and the Reconstruction of History in Kazakhstan.” Journal Articles. Eurasian Geography and Economics 8 (2002): 632–47.
Diener, Alexander C. “Scaling Identities: Nationalism and Territory.” Book Reviews. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Published. https://doi.org/10.1080/2325548X.2020.16890458.

Selected Presentations —

Diener, A. C. (11/30/2019). Five Keys to Success in Graduate School. Deans Lecture Series Northern State University. Aberdeen SD
Diener, A. C. (11/30/2019). Kazakhstani Identity in Formation. Aberdeen SD
Diener, A. C. (11/30/2019). Roads on the Steppe: Mongolia's New Highways. Deans Guest Lecture Series Northern State University. Aberdeen SD
Diener, A. C. (3/29/2019 - 3/29/2019). Mongolia's First Highways. Global Opportunties Expo. Lawrence KS
Diener, A. C. (10/31/2018). Geopolitics of Spectacle. Central Eurasian Studies Society. Pittsburg PA
Diener, A. C. (9/30/2018). Theorizing Multi-Scalar Territorialization. Great Plains Rocky Mountain American Association of Geographers Regional Meeting. Manhattan KS
Diener, A. C. (4/30/2018). Borders as a Technology of Social Control. American Association of Geographers. New Orleans
Diener, A. C. (4/30/2018). Where is Kazakhstani identity Most Prevalent?. Political Geography Pre-Conference of American Association of Geographers. New Orleans
Diener, A. C. (10/31/2017). Civic Nationalism in Kazakhstan: Results from 2017 Fieldwork. Central Eurasian Studies Society. Seattle, WA
Diener, A. C. (9/1/2017 - 9/30/2017). New Silk Roads and the Emergent Socio-Economic Geographies of Mongolia and Kazakhstan. 5th Biennial Asia Conference. University of Texas at Austin
Diener, A. C. (9/1/2017 - 9/30/2017). New Silk Roads and the Emergent Socio-Economic Geographies of Mongolia and Kazakhstan. 5th Biennial Asia Conference. University of Texas at Austin
Diener, A. C. (4/1/2017 - 4/30/2017). Kazakhstan's Changing Economic Geographies: Intra-State Migration and Axial Development Strategies. Political Geography Pre-Conference of AAG. Boston
Diener, A. C. (4/30/2017). Negotiating the Nation in Urban Landscape: Bishkek and Ulaanbaatar. Radcliffe International Workshop Series. Boston
Diener, A. C. (4/30/2017). New Roads for Mongolia: Axial Development and New Silk Roads. American Association of Geographers. Boston
Diener, A. C. (2/1/2017 - 2/28/2017). New Roads for Mongolia. Center for East Asian Studies Tea and Talk Series
Diener, A. C. (7/1/2016 - 7/31/2016). Border Theory. Border Studies Summer Workshop. Hokkaido University
Diener, A. C. (7/1/2016 - 7/31/2016). Borders Ethics and Place Making. Borders Studies Summer Workshop. Hokkaido University
Diener, A. C. (5/1/2016 - 5/31/2016). Rescaling Citizenship. Oxford Handbook on Citizenship Authors' Conference. Florence Italy
Diener, A. C. (3/31/2016). The Millennium Highway and Eurasian Development Frontiers. Monumentality of Roads. Harvard University
Diener, A. C. (12/31/2016). China's New Silk Road Policy and Central Asia. AAG 2016. San Fransisco
Diener, A. C. (12/31/2016). Critical Considerations of the Post Post Soviet Era. AAG 2016. San Fransisco
Diener, A. C. (12/31/2016). If I knew then what I know now... Towards Acquisition of Research Funding. AAG 2016. San Fransisco
Diener, A. C. (12/31/2016). Mongolia's Millennium Highway as Microcosm of Eurasia's New Silk Roads. AAG 2016. San Fransisco
Diener, A. C. (11/1/2015 - 11/30/2015). Mongolian Mobilties and Eurasia's New Silk Roads. University of Connecticut. University of Connecticut Department of Geography
Diener, A. C. (10/16/2015). Parsing Mobilities in Central Eurasia: Border Management and the New Silk Roads. Central Eurasian Studies Society Annual Meeting 2015. Washington DC
Diener, A. C. (4/1/2015 - 4/30/2015). Border Issues in Asia. Association of American Geographers. Chicago IL
Diener, A. C. (4/1/2015 - 4/30/2015). Place Attachment: Toward a Geographic Theory of Hybridity. Association of American Geographers. Chicago IL
Diener, A. C. (4/1/2015 - 4/30/2015). Surveying Border Studies. Association of Borderland Studies. Portland, OR
Diener, A. C. (1/1/2015 - 12/31/2015). Debating the Doctrine of National Unity: Nationalization Trajectories in Kazakhstan. International Studies Association. New Orleans, LA
Diener, A. C. (11/21/2014). Kazakhstan or Kazakhstani-stan: Elements of Ethnic and Civic Nationalism in State Ideology. ASEEES Annual Conference. San Antonio Texas
Diener, A. C. (10/20/2014). Imagining Kazakhstani-stan. Central Eurasian Studies Society. Columbia University
Diener, A. C. (10/27/2014). Kazakhstani Titular Nationalism. Invited Lecture at Department of Geography OSU. Oklahoma State University
Diener, A. C. (6/12/2014 - 6/13/2014). Imagining Kazakhstani-stan. Kazakhstan Beyond Economic Success: Exploring Social and Cultural Changes in Eurasia A Conference organized by The George Washington University’s Central Asia Program (CAP) and the Uppsala Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies (UCRS), and funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) Uppsala University, Sweden June 13-14, 2014. Uppsala Sweden
Diener, A. C. (4/30/2014). Central Asian Politics: Power, Peoples, and Place. University of Kansas. Lawrence KS
Diener, A. C. (4/30/2014). Kyrgyzstan or Kyrgyzstani-stan: Narrating the-Nation in the Landscape of Bishkek. Association of American Geographers Conference. Tampa FL 2014
Diener, A. C. (2/28/2014). Geographical Perspectives on the New Silk Road. Central Asian Security Workshop, George Washington University. Washington DC
Diener, A. C. (11/17/2013). Border Studies: A Short Introduction. Guest Lecturer, University of Denver (Department of Geography). Denver, CO
Diener, A. C. (11/17/2013). The New Silk Road or the Road to Nowhere? Mobilities and Immobilities in Central Eurasia. Guest Lecturer, University of Denver (Department of Geography). Denver, CO
Diener, A. C. (1/1/2013 - 12/31/2013). Contrasting Ulaanbaatar’s Landscapes of Traditionalism, Socialism, and Globalism: Negotiating Sustainable Hybridity in Post-Socialist Mongolia. Regional Studies Conference. UCLA
Diener, A. C. (1/1/2013 - 12/31/2013). Geopolitical Imaginaries of Eurasian Space. Central Eurasian Studies Society Annual Conference. Madison, WI
Diener, A. C. (1/1/2013 - 12/31/2013). Russian Repositioning: Mobilities and the Eurasian Regional Concept. Association of American Geographers Conference. Los Angeles
Diener, A. C. (1/1/2013 - 12/31/2013). Social Consequences of Mixed Migration in Eurasia. A Noah’s Ark of Nations: Eurasian Demographics and Migration:Bureau of Intelligence and Research U.S. Department of State. Washington DC
Diener, A. C. (1/1/2013 - 12/31/2013). Urban Landscape Change as a Means of Sustaining Population. Sustainable Development in Russian Cities: Russian Geographical Society. Samara, Russia
Diener, A. C. (11/1/2012). City of Concrete and Felt: Negotiating Cultural Hybridity in Mongolia’s Capital of Ulaanbaatar. Guest Lecturer, University of Wisconsin-Madison (CREECA and Asian Studies). Madison, WI
Diener, A. C. (9/4/2012). The New Silk Road Project. Guest Lecturer, University of Kansas, CREES Brownbag Lunch Series. Lawrence, KS
Diener, A. C. (2/22/2012). Geographies of Disability in Central Asia. Guest Lecturer, American University of Central Asia. Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic
Diener, A. C. (12/31/2012). City of Concrete and Felt: Negotiating Cultural Hybridity in Mongolia's Capital of Ulaan Baatar. ASEEES Conference. New Orleans, LA
Diener, A. C. (1/18/2012). Debating the New Silk Road: Borders, Mobilities, and Identities. Guest Lecturer, U.S. Embassy Kyrgyz Republic. Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic
Diener, A. C. (12/31/2012). Geopolitics of the New Silk Road. South and Central Asian Regional Fulbright Conference. Cochin, India
Diener, A. C. (12/31/2012). Kyrgyzstan or Kyrgyzstani-stan: Nationalism and Urban Change in Bishkek. Central Eurasian Studies Society Annual Conference. Bloomington, IN
Diener, A. C. (1/1/2012 - 12/31/2012). Negotiating the Identity/Territorial Nexus in the Urbanscapes of Central Eurasia: Case Studies of Bishkek and Ulaanbaatar. American Corners - US Consulate. Almaty Kazakhstan
Diener, A. C. (12/31/2012). The New Silk Road: Mobilities and Barrier Borders in Central Eurasia. Walls and Fences: Politics and Ethics of Barrier Borders, Yale University. New Haven, CT
Diener, A. C. (11/13/2011). Teaching Central Asia: Surveying Eurasian Studies in the American Academy. Keynote Address, Guest Lecturer, Fulbright Alumni Conference. Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic
Diener, A. C. (12/31/2011). Geographical Visualization: Challenges of Data Acquisition and Risks of Manipulation. Methodological Challenges for Research the Former Soviet Union, Central European University. Budapest, Hungary
Diener, A. C. (11/12/2010). Borderlands, Migration, and Identity in Northeast Asia. Guest Lecturer, Kennesaw State University
Diener, A. C. (4/10/2010). Eurasian Studies in America. Keynote Address, Guest Lecturer, University of California at Los Angeles California Eurasian Kuraltai

Grants & Other Funded Activity —

Assessing Axial Development in Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Center for East Asian Studies. $800.00. Submitted 1/15/2017 (6/1/2017 - 6/30/2018). University (KU or KUMC). Status: Funded
Assessing Axial Development in Kazakhstan and Mongolia: Transportation Infrastructure, Urbanization, and the Social Geography of New Mobilities. $9500.00. Submitted 4/1/2017 (6/1/2017 - 6/30/2018). University (KU or KUMC). Status: Funded
Assessing Migration Resulting from Axial Development in Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Center for Migration Research. $4350.00. Submitted 4/1/2017 (6/1/2017 - 6/30/2018). University (KU or KUMC). Status: Funded
Parsing Mobilities in Central Eurasia: Border Management and New Silk Roads. Davis Center of Harvard University. $28000.00. Submitted 6/10/2014 (9/1/2015 - 8/14/2016). Other University. Status: Funded. Senior Fellowship
Ukraine’s Displaced Crimeans and the Question of Diaspora. National Science Foundation Dissertation Enhancement Grant. $39494.00. Submitted 9/1/2015 (8/31/2016). Federal. Status: Funded
Narrating the Nation Through Urban Space. Kennan Institute - Woodrow Wilson Center - Short Term Grant. $3000.00. Submitted 12/1/2014 (6/30/2015 - 8/25/2015). Federal. Status: Funded
Kyrgyzstan or Kyrgyzstani-stan: Negotiating State-Ideology within the Urban-scapes of Kyrgyz Republic. Association of American Geographers. $1000.00. Submitted 1/15/2014 (9/1/2014 - 8/31/2015). Not-for-Profit (not Foundation). Status: Funded
Narrating the Nation through Urban Space. University of Kansas. $8000.00. (8/1/2013 - 5/31/2014). This funding resulted in an edited book titled From Socialist to Post-Socialist Cities: Cultural Politics of Architecture, Urban Planning, and Identity in Eurasia co-editor with Joshua Hagen, (Routledge 2014 – ISBN 978-1138821200) pp. 208 and a contract for a second edited book titled Urban Space, Place, and National Identity co-editor with Joshua Hagen, (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers). University (KU or KUMC). Status: Funded
Regional Research Fulbright Fellowship for South and Central Asia. (1/1/2011 - 12/31/2012). Federal. Status: Funded
Senior Research Fellow. Center for Social Research, American University of Central Asia (Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic). (1/1/2011 - 12/31/2012). Other University. Status: Funded
Senior Scholar in Eurasian Studies. Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. (1/1/2010 - 12/31/2011). Other University. Status: Funded
Teaching Fellowship: Course Creation - 'Islamic Asia' and the 'Ethnic History of Central Asia'. Social Science Research Council Eurasia Program. (12/31/2006). Not-for-Profit (not Foundation). Status: Funded
Title VIII Research Scholar,. Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. (1/1/2003 - 12/31/2004). Not-for-Profit (not Foundation). Status: Funded

Service —

Affiliations with:
Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Center for East Asian Studies
Center for Migration Research
Environmental Studies Program