Connor Rechtzigel is a PhD candidate in anthropology at Cornell University, with a concentration in Southeast Asian studies. His research examines the cultural politics of tourism branding in Indonesia, where tourism is closely linked to national and regional identity. He’s especially interested in how geopolitical and economic dynamics within the Muslim world and Indonesia have created new tourism market opportunities in West Nusa Tenggara.

A 2021–2022 recipient of Fulbright-Hays, Connor is conducting twelve months of ethnographic and historical research on Lombok’s emergent halal tourism industry. His research traces the work of tourism bureaucrats, local Islamic scholars (Tuan Guru), students, small business proprietors, and other tourism stakeholders and explores how these actors make claims to and debate the meaning and multiple materializations of the island’s halal tourism brand. He holds an affiliation with Mataram State Islamic University.

Before pursuing his PhD, Connor completed his bachelor’s degree in religion at Carleton College and worked as a college counselor in his home state of Minnesota.