School of Social and Political Science

Research interests

My research examines the dramatic urban transformation in Quetta, Pakistan, through the frameworks of necropolitics, infrastructural violence, and everyday resistance. I investigate how infrastructure operates not just as a material system, but as a technology of sovereign powers that disciplines, segregates, and erases bodies under the logic of exceptional governance. Focusing on the entanglement of sectarianisation, infrastructure, and the politics of death, my work explores how specific individuals/communities respond to necropolitical control by crafting alternative possibilities of life in moments of rupture and abandonment. Through these everyday acts of survival and resistance, I trace how political imaginaries are formed in the shadows of violence, offering insight into how life is sustained where it is most at risk.

Conferences/workshops/Seminars

• Conference Presentations
  • Forthcoming Conference:
    • The “unknown” State: Infrastructure of Hate and the Politics of Death in Pakistan, University College London, Scheduled to be presented in September 2024
  • Past Presentations:
    • Infrastructures of Hate: State, Religion, and People in Pakistan, Two-Day Workshop, School of Divinity, The University of Edinburgh,2024
    • Navigating Violent Infrastructures: The Everyday Experiences of [...] Drivers in Pakistan, SoAS, London, Organized by the South Asian Anthropological Group (SAAG), September 2023
    • Sectarianisation of Infrastructures in Pakistan, University of Wisconsin, USA, Organised by the Centre for South Asia, October 2023
    • Community on the Brink: The Urban Life of the Marginalised [People] in Pakistan, Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS), The University of Edinburgh, 2022
    • Symposium on 'Perspectives on Urban Marginality in Pakistan' Organised by BUITEMS 2022

Tutored at SSPS, the University of Edinburgh:

• Imagining Anthropological Research to 3rd Year Undergrads
• Research Design to PGs
• Anthropological Theory to 3rd Year Undergrads
  • Roles and Responsibilities
    • Conducting tutorials, seminars, and small group discussions.
    • Providing supplementary instruction to help students understand course material.
    • Grading assignments and exams
    • Providing constructive feedback to students on their work.
    • Offering academic guidance and support to students.
    • Holding office hours for one-on-one consultations.
    • Participating in meetings and training sessions related to teaching duties.
    • Engaging in continuous professional development related to teaching and learning.
    • Working closely with lecturers, course organisers, and other tutors to ensure a cohesive educational experience for students.

Supervisors: Ayaz Qureshi, Jacob Doherty, Ann-Christin Zuntz