Mariam Shalvashvili, a doctoral student in the PhD Program in Social and Cultural Anthropology at Ilia State University, has published a new article, “Politics of Securitization and Counter-Narrating the State in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge,” in Nationalities Papers.

Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in the Pankisi Gorge, the article examines how Kists—a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority in Georgia—have become the subject of state securitization. It situates this process at the intersection of Russian colonial histories in the Caucasus, post-9/11 global counterterrorism, and Georgian national politics toward ethnic and religious minorities. Alongside the effects of surveillance, scrutiny, and state violence on everyday life in Pankisi, the article explores the strategies through which Kists navigate marginality and produce counter-narratives to dominant representations of their community.

Mariam Shalvashvili. “Politics of Securitization and Counter-Narrating the State in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge.” Nationalities Papers (2026), 1–19.
DOI: 10.1017/nps.2026.10173

2026