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Curtis Murphy received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University with a focus on East Central Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His research focuses on the east European Enlightenment, interfaith and multinational cohabitation in imperial contexts, urban history, and identity in the premodern world. Professor Murphy’s forthcoming book, From Citizens to Subjects: City and State in Poland, Ukraine and Belarus at the Onset of the Modern Age explores the experience of urban residents in cities of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the eighteenth century through the Great Reforms. Professor Murphy had also published articles in Slavic Review and Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, and he is working on an article about a blood libel trial in an eighteenth century private town, which highlights the unexpected weight of legalism and litigation in a feudal setting. His next project will focus on cosmopolitan identity and imperial service in nineteenth century Eurasia. Prior to teaching at Nazarbayev University, Professor Murphy taught at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Colby College and Georgetown University.

Dr. Murphy says, “Prior to my arrival in Kazakhstan this August, I had lived and travelled extensively in Eastern Europe and Russia, but I had never had an opportunity to visit Central Asia. Most of my research focuses on the western periphery of the former Russian Empire, particularly Poland and Ukraine, and I was intrigued by possible parallels in colonial policies and imperial legacies between my own area of expertise and this region. I also chose to come to Nazarbayev University because I was excited about the prospect of not only teaching and researching History, but also participating in a genuine, history-making endeavor. Building up an institution is not really possible in the United States or much of Europe, and I hope that here I can help create something that will be of lasting significance for the whole region. As a specialist in urban history, I also very much wanted to observe a purpose-built capital in-the-making, as only a few such cities exist in the world.”

For the fall 2017 semester Dr. Murphy is teaching HST 131: European History I and HST 335: European Nationalisms.

Welcome to NU Dr. Murphy!