2026
Book
An Anthropology of Drowning
London: Routledge · 2026
A forthcoming book on drowning, return, family, climate, unrest, grief and questions of identity.
Lecturer in Social Anthropology · University of Edinburgh
A social anthropologist working across the UK and South Asia, with research on gender, sexuality, religion, urban life, borderlands and inheritance. Author of An Anthropology of Drowning. Co-founder of Brown Boyz in the Sun zine publisher.
Edinburgh / London / Dhaka / Field
Books
02 Titles
Research
Current WorkArticles &
Publications
Bibliography
Academic Articles
Beyond the Rainbow: Queer Activism, Colonial Legacies, and Violence in Bangladesh
Giving in the Time of Climate Change
How Do People Become W.E.I.R.D.? Migration Reveals the Cultural Transmission Mechanisms Underlying Variation in Psychological Processes
A State of Relief: NGOs on the Bangladesh-India border
Hindu-Muslim Bhai Bhai in a Small Town in Bangladesh
Globalization, God and Galloway: The Islamisation of Bangladeshi Communities in London
Opinion Pieces
Bangladesh: contempt of court vs freedom of speech Our Walled World: The Barriers of Bengal Of Mines and Margins Bangladesh, in the ruins of the future The 6.7%: Neoliberal Development in Bangladesh Bangladesh: a state of impunity The white and pleasant land Pakistan’s leaders should heed the lesson of Bangladesh The felling of bungalows, the building of Dhaka An east London election: politics and coercion Delivering aid is an inexact science Prosecute Bangladesh’s war criminals Fencing off Bangladesh The alienation behind gay hate crimes Gay, straight or MSM? Digital Bangladesh: virtual dreams, real lives Love in a Grey Zone Between Invisible Friends Life and death in the Bangladesh-India margins Islamism and expediency in Bangladesh Bangladeshis in east London: from secular politics to Islam South Asia’s welcoming Sufi shrines The state of things: a London protestSpitalfields Life
Sounds Of Silence In Spitalfields At The Solidarity Britannia Food Bank Social Distancing With My Mother In Convalescence With My Mother In Self-Isolation With My Mother At Home With My Mother Decanted From Robin Hood Gardens Return To Robin Hood Gardens At Robin Hood Gardens Halima Blacker, Make-Up Artist David Fried, Artist Shanaz Begum, Custodian Of Stories The Jungle On The Corner Of Princelet St Evening At Brick Lane Mosque Morning At Brick Lane Mosque Eliza Begum, Bridal Florist Sina Sparrow, Graphic Illustrator Beekeepers On The Isle Of Dogs Naz Choudhury, Bollywood Dancer Kalina Dimitrova, Cellist & Bookseller The Mohammedan Sporting Club Arful Nessa’s Sewing Machine At Julie Begum’s Group At the Daneford Trust Mukul Ahmed, Theatre Director Abdul Shohid, Youth Offending Officer Manda Helal, Urban Beachcomber The Musclemen of Bethnal Green Arful Nessa, GardenerFiction
Communal PassionsReviews
Do different generations of immigrants think differently? Book review of Boundaries Undermined by Chandra Moni Bhattarai Book review of Boundaries Undermined by Dina Siddiqi Book review of Boundaries Undermined by Peter Fowler Book review of Boundaries Undermined by Supurna Banerjee Book Review: Boundaries Undermined Delwar Hussain, Writer & Anthropologist Things We Did While Waiting for the Fence Winner-takes-all Bangladesh looks for way forward Will Bangladesh ever have a future?Audio
02 EpisodesInheritance, with Delwar Hussain
19 December 2025
A conversation on queer inheritance, kinship, gifts, chosen family, disinheritance and what a good death can mean beyond biological kin.
Podcast pageThe Bangladesh-India Border
2013
A discussion of Delwar’s ethnography of the Bangladesh-India border and the social life of progress, ruins and borderland modernity.
BBC pageZine
Brown Boyz PublicationBrown Boyz
Brown Boyz in the Sun publications on queer brown intimacy, bodies, naturist spaces, landscape and reclamation.
A Revolt Under the Sun
A zine challenging the erasure of queer and gay men of colour in naturist spaces, exploring Black and Brown bodies, natural landscapes, shame, nudity, resistance and reclamation.
Furry Tales
A small-format publication on queer brown intimacy, tenderness, bodies and self-mythology.
Field Work
Field Work will gather field-based visual and textual projects connected to landscape, intimacy, public life and embodied research.