Kasiet Toktomusheva is a Ph.D. student in the department of History of Art and Archaeology at Columbia University. Her research focuses on the history of urbanism and architectural development in Central Asia under the Soviet regime with a particular emphasis on Soviet Kirghizia and its socialist experience. Prior to joining Columbia’s Art History Department, Kasiet worked as a senior research fellow at Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where she supervised educational and cultural programs. Most recently, she has received the Harriman Institute PEPSICO Fellowship for Research Travel to investigate the evolution of physical landscapes in Central Asia through the prism of the city of Frunze.