Adil Hossain
Areas of Interest & Expertise
- Anthropology of Citizenship, State and Bureaucracy
- Ethnic Conflict
- Internally Displaced People
Biography
Adil is a political anthropologist who is interested in exploring the link between citizenship and development. In 2020, he was awarded with DPhil in International Development from the Merton College, University of Oxford.
At Oxford, he was the Merton-QEH scholar whose thesis looked at the politics of citizenship among the survivors of 2002 riots in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. During his DPhil, he was trained in areas of citizenship, biopolitics, conflict, urban anthropology and political activism.
His academic background is multidisciplinary, having received his undergraduate degree in Geography and then an MA in Mass Communication from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Thereafter, he secured a Commonwealth Scholarship to study another MA in Development and Rights at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Apart from academics, he had a background in journalism before starting his research at Oxford. He had previously published political and developmental pieces with many media organisations including Guardian, Scroll, The Wire, The Quint, Discover Society, Fair Observer, Sunday Guardian, Catch News, DNA, etc.
In the past, he was involved in Right to Information (RTI) activism in India, and Outlook magazine, in 2010, profiled him as one of the top five youth RTI activists in the country.
Courses
Media, Development, and Communication
This course will explore the role of media and communication in the field of development.
Theories and Histories of Development
Histories and theories of development across contexts, tracing changes in the meaning of the practice of development.
State, Democracy and Civil Society in India
Students study the centrality of state, democracy and the active engagement of the civil society in development
Sociology of Modern India
Sociological approaches to modern India.
Publications and Writings
Book Chapter
- Hossain, A. (2021). Transitional Justice and Moving On After the 2002 Gujarat Riots in India. In S. Wastell (Ed.), Transitional Justice Beyond Blueprints: Ethnographies and Case Studies. Routledge.
Book Review
- Hossain, A. (2017). [Review of the Book Urbanisation, Citizenship and Conflict in India, by T. Bobbio]. Contemporary South Asia, 25(2), 215 – 216.
- Hossain, A. (2015). [Review of the book The Song of the Shirt: Cheap Clothes across Continents and Centuries, by J. Seabrook]. Biblio, XX, 3 – 4.
Online Articles
- Hossain, A. (2022, April 23). How the ‘Bangladeshi’ dog whistle helps justify violence against Indian Bengali Muslims. Scroll. https://scroll.in/article/1022362/how-the-bangladeshi-dog-whistle-helps-justify-violence-against-indian-bengali-muslims
- Hossain, A. (2022, April 28). In Delhi, both caste and communalism haunt Jahangirpuri’s Bengali Muslims. The Quint. https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/in-delhi-both-caste-communalism-haunt-jahangirpuris-bengali-muslims
- Hossain, A. (2022, April 6). Exploited as foot soldiers: How Muslims are getting crushed by Bengal’s political violence. Scroll. https://scroll.in/article/1021016/exploited-as-foot-soldiers-how-muslims-are-getting-crushed-by-bengals-political-violence
- Hossain, A. (2020, May 11). The biopolitics of pandemic citizenship. Discover Society. https://archive.discoversociety.org/2020/05/11/the-biopolitics-of-pandemic-citizenship/
- Hossain, A. (2020, November 25). What AIMIM needs to know to repeat its Bihar success in West Bengal. The Wire. https://thewire.in/politics/what-aimim-needs-to-know-to-repeat-its-bihar-success-in-west-bengal
- Hossain, A. (2020, September 06). Bengal’s universities are progressive bastions- so what explains resistance to OBC reservations. Scroll. https://scroll.in/article/971833/bengals-universities-are-progressive-bastions-so-what-explains-resistance-to-obc-reservations
- Hossain, A. (2018, August 21). Assam NRC Row: What we can learn from philosopher Hannah Arendt. The Quint. https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/assam-nrc-stateless-people-hannah-arendt-philosophy
- Hossain, A. (2018, August 13). Students, photographers, civil society under arrest- The chaos that is becoming Bangladesh. DailyO. https://www.dailyo.in/politics/bangladesh-student-protest-student-protests-sheikh-hasina-shahidul-alam-road-accidents-in-bangladesh-world-health-organisation-26025
- Hossain, A. (2018, August 10). Vaclav Havel and Karunanidhi: How the artist politicians shaped their world around them. DailyO. https://www.dailyo.in/politics/karunanidhi-vaclav-havel-tamil-nadu-czechoslovakia-artists-czech-republic-mother-tongue-politics-velvet-revolution-25991
- Hossain, A. (2014, May 09). In one West Bengal district, Bangladeshi Hindu refugees attempt to oust Indian Muslims. Scroll. https://scroll.in/article/663877/in-one-west-bengal-district-bangladeshi-hindu-refugees-attempt-to-oust-indian-muslims
- Hossain, A. (2014, June 10). To be young and poor: The crisis of development. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/jun/10/young-poor-development-crisis
- Hossain, A. (2013, July 06). Standing with the 99%. The Sunday Guardian.
(All articles are available at https://adilhossain43.contently.com )
Ongoing Projects
Documentary citizenship and Bengali Muslims, anti-CAA protests and new languages of social movement