2019 Alumni Association Distinguished Research in the Humanities

Andrei Znamenski, Professor of History

Andrei Znamenski is a professor in the department of history. He was previously a resident scholar at the Library of Congress, a foreign visiting professor at Hokkaido University, Japan, and an associate professor at the Alabama State University. His research interests concern the history of religions and ideologies in modern time, particularly in Eurasia and the modern West. Dr. Znamenski authored three books and edited two volumes, including The Beauty of the Primitive: Shamanism and the Western Imagination (Oxford University Press, 2007) and Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia (Quest Books, 2011).

Lately, he has been examining how Tibetan Buddhism and early Communism shaped the identity of Siberian indigenous people. Simultaneously, he is writing a book that explores the cultural history of Socialism – a project commissioned by Rowman & Littlefield.

Dr. Znamenski defines himself as an interdisciplinary scholar, working at the intersection of history, anthropology and religious studies. He is interested in researching cultural and spiritual "middle ground" or, in other words, the points where spiritual traditions collide and borrow from each other, creating a new cultural space. Dr. Znamenski also serves on editorial advisory boards of such journals as Siberica: Journal of Siberian Studies, Alaska History, and Ante Portas: Security Studies (Poland).