Bio


Kabir Tambar is a sociocultural anthropologist, working at the intersections of politics, language, and religion. He is broadly interested in the politics of history, performances of public criticism, and varieties of Islamic practice in Turkey.

Tambar’s first book is a study of the politics of pluralism in contemporary Turkey, focusing on the ways that Alevi religious history is staged for public display. More generally, the book investigates how secular states govern religious differences through practices of cultural and aesthetic regulation. Tambar is currently working on a new project that examines the historical imagination in contexts of political closure, both at the end of the Ottoman empire and during periods of emergency rule in the era of the nation-state.

Academic Appointments


  • Associate Professor, Anthropology

Honors & Awards


  • Hellman Faculty Fellowship, Hellman Fellows Fund (2014)
  • Member, School of Social Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (2011)
  • Sakip Sabanci International Research Award, First Prize, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey (2009)

Professional Education


  • Ph.D., University of Chicago, Anthropology (2009)
  • M.A., University of Chicago, Anthropology (2003)
  • B.A., State University of New York at Buffalo

2023-24 Courses


Stanford Advisees


All Publications