JAMES H. MEYER
Associate Professor, Islamic World History
Department of History and Philosophy, Montana State University
2-102 Wilson Hall
PO Box 172320
Bozeman, MT 59717-2320
E-mail: james.meyer7@Montana.edu
Research and Teaching Interests
The Turkic World; Islam in Russia and Eurasia; the Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia; the Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic; Middle Eastern and Russian history; Cross-cultural interaction; Human mobility & migration; Communication and discourses; Political and intellectual history.
Academic Teaching Positions
2015-present. Associate Professor, Department of History and Philosophy. Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana. Tenure-track assistant professorship in Islamic World History, teaching 2/2 load. Courses taught include: the Modern Middle East; The Making of Modern Turkey; the Middle East in the 20th Century; Eurasian Borderlands; Russia to 1917; the Soviet Union: Rise, Fall and Aftermath; Women and Gender in Islam.
2009-2015: Assistant Professor, Department of History and Philosophy. Montana State University
Education and Degrees
Ph.D., Brown University, Department of History, 2007, Dissertation: “Turkic Worlds: Community Leadership and Collective Identity in the Russian and Ottoman Empires, 1870-1914.”
M.A., Brown University, History, 2002
M.A., Princeton University, Program in Near Eastern Studies, 2001, MA Thesis: "Memory and Political Symbolism in Post-September 12 Turkey: A History of the May 27th Debate."
B.A.,McGill University, Department of English, 1991Book
Turks Across Empires: Marketing Muslim Identity in the Russian-Ottoman Borderlands (Oxford University Press, November 2014).
Scholarly reviews of Turks Across Empires
Turkish Review (Sept/Oct 2015, Vol. 5/5, 438-9); Russian Review (Volume 74/4, October 2015, 708-9); Canadian Slavonic Papers (Volume 57, Issue 1-2, 2015, 154-5); Revolutionary Russia (Volume 28, Issue 2, 2015, 197-99); Ab Imperio (3/2015, 330-35); Council for European Studies (January, 2016); Central Asian Survey (Vol. 35/2, 2016, 321-23); Turkish Area Studies Review (Spring 2016 No. 27, 46-47); Journal of World History (Vol. 27, No. 1, March 2016, 168-171); International Journal of Middle East Studies (Vol. 48/2, 2016, 397-8); The American Historical Review (121:3, 2016, 1044-1045).
Excerpts from reviews:
"...a skillfully crafted and soundly constructed account...Meyer's book is a page-turner, admittedly not a common trait in scholarly history works. It frequently turns into a sort of amusement park for historians, where the author parades so many newly unearthed, rich in detail, and immensely informative archival documents and finely tackles somewhat delicate yet thorny matters such as Turkism, Pan-Turkism, Ottomanism, and Islamism, as well as addresses the lives of humans who were doomed and perished or sometimes enriched and saved by those very same matters." --American Historical Review
"This thoroughly researched monograph offers a noteworthy caveat to the infatuation with 'identity' that for almost two decades characterized the post-Soviet scholarship on the non-Russian peoples of the Russian and Soviet empires." -- Russian Review"James Meyer's Turks across Empires is a very valuable and intriguing reassessment of the origins of pan-Turkism through an in-depth examination of some of its leading figures...a great pleasure to read." --Turkish Review
"Based on an impressive array of sources from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan, James Meyer’s monograph not only expands the knowledge about the Muslims of Russia but also provides a widely applicable argument about instrumentalization of identity in different political contexts."--Council for European Studies
Journal Articles & Book Chapters
"Speaking Sharia to the State: Muslim Protesters, Tsarist officials, and the Islamic Discourses of Late Imperial Russia." Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 14,3 (Summer 2013), 485-505.
“The Economics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Money, Power, and Muslim Communities in Late Imperial Russia.” Book chapter appearing in the edited volume Asiatic Russia: Imperial Power in Regional and International Contexts, 252-270 (Routledge, 2011).
“For the Russianist in Istanbul and the Ottomanist in Russia: A Guide to the Archives of Eurasia," Ab Imperio, 4/2008, 281-301.
“Immigration, Return, and the Politics of Citizenship: Russian Muslims in the Ottoman Empire, 1860-1914,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 39:1, February 2007, 15-32.
Book Reviews
Agnes Nilufer Kefeli’s Becoming Muslim in Imperial Russia: Conversion, Apostasy, and Literacy. Nationalities Papers (May, 2016).
Elena Campbell’s The Muslim Question and Russian Imperial Governance. Russian Review (Vol. 75/1, January, 2016, 155-6).
Toni Alaranta's Contemporary Kemalism: From Universal Secular-Humanism to Extreme Turkish Nationalism. International Journal of Turkish Studies, (Vol 21 No. 1/2, 2015).
Quintin Barry's War In The East: A Military History of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. Russian Review, (73:1, January, 2014, 132-3).
Michael Reynolds’ Shattering Empires: the Clash and Collapse of the Ottoman and Russian Empires, 1908-1918. Journal of World History,(24:1, March 2013, 242-4).
Eugene M. Avrutin's Jews and the Imperial State. Social History. (Vol.36/4, 2011, 518-9).
Encyclopedia Entries
"Muslims in Russia," peer-reviewed 10,000-word entry for new encydlopedia to be published by Oxford University Press. Under contract.
"Central Asia," Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, 2nd Edition. (Richard C. Martin, ed., New York, NY, Macmillan Reference USA, 2016).
Workshops, Conferences, Invited Lectures
"Russia and Islam: Themes and Variations." Conference on Islam in Russia. Harvard University, Davis Center for Russian Studies. October 16, 2015.
"Learning from Turkey." Montana World Affairs Council, Bozeman Public Library, March 14, 2015.
"Turks Across Empires: Marketing Muslim Identity in Russia and Istanbul." Presented at Middle East Studies Association annual conference. November 25, 2014. Washington, DC,
"Tough Times in the Middle East: Turkey, the Kurds and the Islamic State.” November 12, 2014. Bozeman, Montana.
"Russia in Crimea: What Comes Next?" Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture, Weaver Room. Thursday, April 3, 2014. Bozeman, Montana.
"From the Ottoman Past to the Turkish Present." Montana World Affairs Council, "Discover Turkey" workshop. Bozeman Public Library, March 15, 2014.
"From Turgut Özal to Taksim Square: Liberalizing and Stifling Expression in an Era of Growth." Presented at University of Copenhagen, "Growth: Critical Perspectives from Asia" workshop. Copenhagen, Denmark. June 13-14, 2013.
"What can Ottoman and Turkish History Teach Us?" Presented at Montana World Affairs Council, "Discover Turkey" workshop for Montana K-12 teachers. Bozeman, Montana. April 6, 2013.
"Among Spies, Pilgrims, and Pan-Turkists: Trans-Imperial Muslims between the Russian and Ottoman States." Presented at workshop entitled “Figurations of Mobility,” Humboldt University, Berlin. November 23, 2012.
"The Porous Frontier: Muslim Cross-Border Travelers between the Russian and Ottoman States." Presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Nationalities. Columbia University, New York, April 19, 2012.
“Building the Border: Russian and Ottoman approaches to cross-border mobility in the late imperial era.” Presented at MESA national conference, Washington, DC. December 2, 2011.
“Divided Communities: Russian Muslim Leadership Politics after 1905.” Presented at ASEEES national conference, Washington, DC. November, 18, 2011.
"Muslims and the State in Late Imperial Russia and Today." Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. May 16, 2011.
"Politicizing Islam: Muslim Protesters, Tsarist Officials, and the Crisis of State Sharia in Late Imperial Russia." Georgetown University, the Russian History Seminar of Washington, DC. May 6, 2011
"Moving Muslims: Transimperial people between the Russian and Ottoman states." Presented at workshop entitled "Muslim identities and imperial spaces: networks, mobility, and the geopolitics of empire and nation. Stanford University, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. April 7-8. 2011.
“Identity Freelancers: Yusuf Akçura and Ahmet Ağaoğlu in Russia and the Ottoman Empire.” Presented at World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies. Barcelona, Spain. July 22, 2010.
"Moving People and Suspect Subjects: Russian Muslims, Travel, and the Ottoman Empire." Paper presented at workshop entitled “Islam and Empire.” Research Institute for World Languages, Osaka University. Osaka, Japan. January 23-24, 2010.
“Politicizing Islam: Tsarist Officials and Protesting Muslims in Russia’s Volga Region, 1870-1905.” Brown-bag lecture presented at Princeton University, Department of Near Eastern Studies, December 7, 2009.
“Imperial Fathers and National Sons: Self-Narration and Elite Muslim Families in the Late-Imperial Volga Region.” Presented at American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) annual conference, Boston, MA. November 15, 2009.
“Fear of Movement: Tsarist Officials and Muslim Mobility in Late Imperial Russia.” 2009 Fisher Forum, Russian East European and Eurasian Center of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Workshop entitled “Russia’s Role in Human Mobility-Historical and Contemporary Perspectives,” sponsored by MacArthur Foundation. June 18th-20th, 2009.
“Rethinking the Intellectuals: Yusuf Akçura and Ahmet Ağaoğlu in Russia and the Ottoman Empire.” Presented at Middle East Studies Association (MESA) annual conference, Washington, DC. November 25, 2008.
"The Pan-Turkist Specter: Russia and the threatening nature of Muslim mobility.” Presented at AAASS annual conference, Philadelphia, PA. November 21, 2008.
“Marketing Modern Identity in the Late Imperial Era: Yusuf Akçura and Ahmet Ağaoğlu in Russia and the Ottoman Empire.” Presented at the American Research Institute in Turkey, Istanbul, November 3, 2008.“The state, the spiritual assemblies, and Muslim community leadership in late imperial Russia.” Presented at the conference “Empire, conquest and faith: the Russian and Ottoman interaction, 1650-1920.” Columbia University, Harriman Institute. April 26, 2008.
“Muslim community leadership politics in late imperial Russia: Divisions and coalitions.” Presented at the working “Russian Empire: Reappraisal of Recent Research Agenda.” The University of Kyoto, Japan. December 10, 2007.
“Public lives and personal connections: Muslim intellectuals after 1905.” Presented at the Winter Symposium on Eurasian History, Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University. Sapporo, Japan. December 7, 2007.
"Subjects abroad: Muslim emigration and the politics of citizenship, 1860-1914." AAASS annual meeting, New Orleans. November 15, 2007.
“The Türk Yurdu Circle: Journalism, Identity, and Fame in the Young Turk Era.” Presented as part of the Ottoman/Turkish seminar series, Columbia University. November 9, 2007.
“On the educational front lines: Muslim cultural reform in rural Russia, 1890-1910.” Harriman Institute, Columbia University. November 1, 2007.
“Petitions, protests, and problem-solving: authority and representation in Volga Muslim communities.” AAASS annual conference, Washington, D.C. November 17, 2006.
“Migration, return, negotiation: Russian Muslims in the late-period Ottoman Empire." MESA annual conference, Washington, D.C. November 19, 2005.
“Systems and practices of representation among Volga Muslim communities in the late 19th century.” Second International Symposium on Islamic Civilization in the Volga-Ural Region: Kazan, Russia. June 24, 2005.
“Progress, Community, and the Fear of Extinction: The Rhetoric of the Volga Muslim Periodical Press, 1905-1910.” AAASS annual conference, Toronto, Ontario. November 20, 2003.
“Categorization Undermined: Union, Progress, and Identity among the Volga Muslims, 1905-1914.” Presented at the workshop “Categorization, Identification, and Recognition in the Soviet Context: A Comparative Perspective.” Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University. February 8, 2003.
“Overlapping Alternatives: Identity Discourse in the Muslim Periodical Press of Russia, 1905-1911.” Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University. December 4, 2002.
“Of Military Coups and Discursive Revolution: May 27th Remembered in Post-1980 Turkey.” Graduate Student Symposium, Brown University. March 2, 2002.
“Memory, Menderes and the 27th of May.” MESA annual conference: San Francisco, California. November 18, 2001.
“The Nurcus: Anti-Kemalist or Post-Kemalist?” MESA annual conference: Orlando, Florida. November 19, 2000.
Fellowships, Grants, Awards, Sabbatical
J. William Fulbright US Scholar Grant, 2016. To be used conducting research in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia during the 2016-2017 academic year.Montana State University, College of Letters and Science. Scholarship and Creativity Grant, March, 2016.
Montana State University. Full sabbatical, 2016-2017 academic year.
Montana State University, College of Letters and Science. Research Enhancement Award, February, 2015. .
Montana State University, College of Letters and Science. Research Enhancement Award, October, 2014.
Montana State University, College of Letters and Science. Scholarship and Creativity Grant. May, 2014.
Faculty Excellence Grant. Montana State University, College of Letters and Science, April 2013.
Research Enhancement Award. Montana State University, College of Letters and Science, March 2013.
Research Enhancement Award. Montana State University, College of Letters and Science, September 2012.
National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, Short-term Travel Grant, Awarded June, 2012. Used to support research in the Republic of Georgia, June-July 2013.Research Enhancement Award. Montana State University, College of Letters and Science, September 2011.
Scholarship and Creativity Grant. Montana State University College of Letters and Science, April 2011.
Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center. Washington, D.C. Kennan Institute Research Scholarship, used from January-August 2011.
Faculty Short-term Professional Development Leave Grant. Montana State University College of Letters and Science, November, 2009. Used for archival research in St. Petersburg, Russia, Summer 2010.
National Endowment for the Humanities Advanced Fellowship for Research in Turkey, Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship provided through the American Research Institute in Turkey, 2008-2009.
Harriman Institute, Columbia University, Post-Doctoral Fellowship relating to the Harriman Institute's Project on Russia and Islam, 2007-2008
National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, National Research Competition Fellowship for six months in Russia and Georgia, 2007-2010.
National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, Short-term Travel Grant, 2007 (Declined).
Institute of Turkish Studies, Post-Doctoral Summer Research Grant for Turkey, 2007.
Council of American Overseas Research Centers: Multi-Country Research Fellowship (CAORC), Research Fellowship for three months in Turkey and Ukraine, 2006.Dissertation Write-up Fellowship. Brown University, 2006-2007.
John Lax Dissertation Fellowship. Brown University Department of History, 2005.J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship, Russia, 2003-2004.
Fulbright-Hays DDRA Scholarship (Principal Grantee), 2003-2004 (Declined).
International Research & Exchanges Board(IREX), IARO Program grant for four months in Azerbaijan, 2004.
American Research Instittute in Turkey, Dissertation Fellowship for six months in Turkey, 2004-2005.
Social Science Research Council: Eurasia Program, Pre-dissertation grant for Russia, Summer 2003.
The American Councils ACTR/ACCELS, Pre-dissertation grant for Russia, Summer 2002.Institute of Turkish Studies, Pre-dissertation grant, 2002 (Declined).
Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, Travel Grant, 2002.
William G. McLoughlin Travel Grant, Brown University, 2001.
ACTR/ACCELS, Central and East European Language Study Fellowship, Hungary, Summer 2001.
University Fellowship, Brown University, 2001-2002.
Council on Regional Studies, Woodrow Wilson School and Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Travel Grant for Istanbul, 2000.
University Fellowship. Princeton University, 2000-2001.Foreign Language Proficiency
Turkish: Speak at level of educated native speaker.
Ottoman Turkish: Advanced. Can read printed and rika-script documents at advanced level.
Russian: Fluent.
Tatar: Fluent. Can read Arabic, Cyrillic and Latin scripts, including Arabic-script paleography.
Azeri: Fluent. Can read Arabic, Cyrillic and Latin scripts, including Arabic-script paleography.
Arabic: Intermediate reading knowledge--three years of undergraduate-level study and one year of private tutoring. (2001-2005).
Hungarian: Intermediate. Two years of private tutoring (1996-1998). Completed (with honors) 120-hour advanced-level course at Debrecen University (2001).
French: Upper-intermediate.
Italian: Upper-intermediate.
Professional Affiliations
Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES, since 2001)
American Historical Association (AHA, 2007)
Middle East Studies Association (MESA, 2000)
Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS, 2003)Archive Research Experience
Georgian National Historical Archive, (Tbilisi), June-July, 2013
Prime Ministry Ottoman Archive, (Istanbul), July, 2012
Georgian National Historical Archive, (Tbilisi, Georgia), April-May, 2009
Kutaisi Central Archive (Kutaisi, Georgia), April, 2009
Archive of the Autonomous Republic of Adjaria, (Batumi, Georgia), April, 2009
Prime Ministry Ottoman Archive, (Istanbul), September 2008-April 2009
Central State Historical Archive, Republic of Bashkortostan, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russian Federation. July-August, 2008
National Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan, (Kazan, Tatarstan, Russian Federation), July, 2007
State Archive of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, (Simferopol’, Republic of Crimea, Ukraine), June-July, 2006
Azerbaijan State Historical Archive (Baku), August, 2005
National Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan, April 2005-August 2005
Prime Ministry Ottoman Archive, (Istanbul), 2004-April 2005
Azerbaijan State Historical Archive, (Baku), July-November, 2004
Central State Historical Archive, Republic of Bashkortostan, June, 2004
National Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan, April-June, 2004
Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (Moscow), March-April 2004
Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg), January 2004-March 2004
National Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan, August 2003-January 2004
National Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan, July-August, 2002
Russian State Historical Archive, June-July, 2002