Alexander Maier is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Anthropology. His dissertation examines labor migration from Central Asia, focusing on the moral, economic, and legal dimensions that shape migration practices. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and archival research in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, his work explores the moral economy of migrancy by investigating how economic precarity, moral discourses rooted in Islamic and post-Soviet traditions, and shifting state regulations inform the ethical and practical dilemmas faced by those engaged in illicit labor migration. His research has been supported by dissertation fellowships and grants from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the National Science Foundation, and the Harriman Institute’s language study and PepsiCo research fellowships.