In Search of Rizq

Alexander Maier

Paloheimo Fellow at the School for Advanced Research and PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, Columbia University

Join Alexander Maier for a program exploring how labor migration from rural Tajikistan and Uzbekistan has become both a moral obligation and a high-stakes gamble. Based on two years of fieldwork, Maier will trace how men who travel—often informally—to Russia, the Persian Gulf, East Asia, and beyond draw on the Islamic concept of rizq, divinely allotted sustenance, to make sense of risk, uncertainty, and responsibility. Through vivid stories of migrants and their families, he will show how people navigate exploitative labor markets, war, tightening borders, and pressure to provide for kin. Attendees will come away with a more nuanced understanding of how ethical and economic worlds intersect in Central Asia, and why migration remains compelling despite its dangers.

Register to attend the event in person at SAR

Or watch online at www.youtube.com/@sarsantafemultimedia

About the School for Advanced Research

Established in 1907, the School for Advanced Research (SAR) advances creative thought and innovative work in the social sciences, humanities, and Native American arts. SAR is home to the Indian Arts Research Center (IARC), a leader in community-advised and collaborative Indigenous arts engagement and collections management. Through scholar residency, seminar, and artist fellowship programs, SAR Press publications, and a range of public programs, SAR facilitates intellectual inquiry and human understanding. SAR’s historic 16-acre campus sits on the ancestral lands of the Tewa people in O’gah’poh geh Owingeh or Santa Fe, New Mexico. SAR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational institution.