Expert Bio

Jennifer S. Wistrand is the Deputy Director of the Kennan Institute. She holds a BA in Anthropology and French from Northwestern University and an MA and PhD in Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis. Her areas of expertise are migration and forced displacement in the Caucasus and Central Asia and humanitarian and development approaches to managing migration and forced displacement.  

Prior to joining the Kennan Institute Dr. Wistrand was an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Global and Intercultural Studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Prior to that she was a consultant to the World Bank for projects concerning internally displaced persons (IDPs), women, and youth in Azerbaijan, Sudan, and Morocco. She was a term appointee and a Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies’ Fellow in the US Department of State’s Secretary of State’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. She also taught at the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies and the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University.  

Dr. Wistrand had held a number of fellowships, including a Fulbright Fellowship in Azerbaijan and a Title VIII Kennan Institute Fellowship. She was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkmenistan.      

Expertise

• migration and forced displacement in the Caucasus and Central Asia
• humanitarian and development approaches to managing migration and forced displacement

Wilson Center Project

The Role of Azerbaijan's Post-Conflict National Narrative in Limiting Refugees' and IDP's Integration into Mainstream Azerbaijani Society

Project Summary

Nagorno Karabakh is often referred to as one of the former Soviet Union's "frozen conflicts", with little explanation of how the conflict "froze" or might "thaw". This projects sheds light on some of the cultural factors impeding both the peaceful resolution of the status of the region on a geopolitical level and the "successful" integration of Azerbaijan's refugees and IDPs into mainstream Azerbaijani society. Such information would in turn aid think tanks', the United States government's and humanitarian organization's efforts to develop policy, conduct diplomacy and extend aid. For example, humanitarian organizations might focus more attention on refugees' and IDPs' mental health, in particular those aspects of the post-conflict national narrative they have internalized, which are aggravating their anxiety and depression in dealing with their everyday reality, more so than their constrained socio-economic standing.

Major Publications

Publications (PDFs available upon request)

• Wistrand, Jennifer.  April 30, 2024.  “Fleeing War, Fleeing Putin.”  The Wilson Quarterly (online only).

https://www.wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/_/fleeing-war,-fleeing-putin

• Wistrand, Jennifer.  2024. “The Legacy of the Displaced in the South Caucasus:  From Yesterday Till Today.”  New Eastern Europe No 3:7-14.

https://neweasterneurope.eu/2024/04/11/the-legacy-of-the-displaced-in-the-south-caucasus-from-yesterday-till-today/

• Wistrand, Jennifer.  2024. “The South Caucasus After Nagorno-Karabakh.”  New Eastern Europe No 1-2:88-94.

https://neweasterneurope.eu/2024/02/07/the-south-caucasus-after-nagorno-karabakh/

• Wistrand, Jennifer. 2023.  “A Development Approach to a Protracted IDP Situation:  Lessons from Azerbaijan.”  Journal on Migration and Human Security 11(1):23-40.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23315024231158558   

• Wistrand, Jennifer. 2022.  Displacement and Belonging in Eurasia.  In Central Asia:  Contexts for Understanding.  David Montgomery, ed.  Pp.431-437. Pittsburgh, PA:  University of Pittsburgh Press.     

 

• Wistrand, Jennifer.  December 1, 2021.  “Remittance-Dependent Countries Show Migration Is No Panacea”.  The National Interest (online only).

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/remittance-dependent-countries-show-migration-no-panacea-197167

• Etang, Alvin, Jonna Lundvall, Eiman Osman, and Jennifer Wistrand (authors listed alphabetically). 2021.  Towards a More Inclusive Economy: Understanding the Barriers Sudanese Women and Youth Face in Accessing Employment Opportunities. Washington, DC:  World Bank.

https://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/epdf/10.1596/1813-9450-10244

• Wistrand, Jennifer.  2020.  “Civics Education and Democracy Building in Azerbaijan:  A Missed Opportunity?”  European Education 52(4):338-351.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10564934.2021.1885300

• Holland, Edward, and Jennifer Wistrand (equal authorship).  2020.  Demography of the Caucasus.  In Routledge Handbook of the Caucasus.  Galina Yemelianova and Laurence Broers, eds. Pp.375-388.  Abingdon, United Kingdom:  Routledge.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351055628-24/demography-caucasus-edward-holland-jennifer-wistrand

• Wistrand, Jennifer. 2017.  Social Consequences of Seasonal Labour Migration:  A Case Study from Rural Azerbaijan.  In Post-Soviet Migration and Diasporas:  From Global Perspectives to Everyday Practices.  Milana Nikolko and David Carment, eds.  Pp.65-80.  New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-47773-2_5

• Wistrand, Jennifer.  2012. “Azerbaijan and ‘Tolerant Muslims’”. Caucasus Analytical Digest 44:5-8.

https://css.ethz.ch/publikationen/caucasus-analytical-digest/caucasus-analytical-digest-alle-gesamtausgaben--einzelartikel/details.html?id=/a/z/e/r/azerbaijan_and_tolerant_muslims

Previous Terms

2012-2013: Title VIII Kennan Institute Fellowship