Contact Information
3120 Lincoln Hall
Urbana IL 61801
MC 454
Research Interests
Social Movements, Political Sociology, Populism, Religion and Politics, Urban Politics, and Political Economy.
Research Description
I am a political and global/transnational sociologist. Against instrumentalist and identity-based approaches, my Ph.D. research examines how religion, in the form of personal piety, shapes right-wing populist politics, using the case study of anti-blasphemy politics in Pakistan. My current research also contributes to three longstanding themes of interest across political, economic, and comparative-historical sociology, i.e., social class, party-movement, and state formation. My dissertation draws upon a 15-month ethnographic study in Lahore, Pakistan, to examine how these three processes are shaping up in relation to right-wing populist politics.
Education
MA Sociology, University of Illinois, Urban-Champaign
MA South Asian Studies, University of Illinois, Urban-Champaign
BSc (Hons) Politics and Economics, LUMS, Pakistan
Grants
Research-Travel Grant, Department of Sociology, Summer 2021
Awards and Honors
Nicholson Fellowship - Summer 2025 (Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, UIUC)
Conference Participation Awards 2022, 2025 (South Asia Institute, Harvard University; Watson Institute, Brown University)
Conference Travel Awards - 2023, 2025 (Sociology Department, UIUC)
Bastian Dissertation Research and Writing Fellowships - Summer 2022, Fall 2022 (Sociology Department, UIUC)
Global South Languages Fellowship 2020-21 (Center for South Asia and Middle Eastern Studies, UIUC)
Courses Taught
Instructor of Record - UIUC
Political Sociology (Spring 2025)
Discussion Sections - UIUC
Intro to Sociology (AY 2021-22)
Arab Spring & The New Middle East (Fall 2013, Fall 2014)
Teaching Fellow, Adjunct Instructor (LUMS, Pakistan)
Intro to Sociology (Fall 2022, 2023; Spring 2023)
Social Movements (Spring 2023, Fall 2023)
Political Sociology (Fall 2022)
Intro to Political Science (Spring 2019)
Islamic Movements (Fall 2017)
Pakistan Studies (Fall & Spring 2016-2017)
Additional Campus Affiliations
Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory (student affiliate)
Center for South Asia and Middle Eastern Studies (alumnus)
Highlighted Publications
Book Review: Sovereign Attachments: Masculinity, Muslimness, and Affective Politics in Pakistan; Men and Masculinities journal May 2022 print edition. Available online: https://doi-org.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/10.1177/1097184X211064324
Policy Research:
Mapping Social Movements in Pakistan 2010-20 Available online: http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/thematic-reports/
Reconceptualizing Labor and Labor Rights in Pakistan: https://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2023-Reconceptualising-labour-and-labour-rights.pdf
Selected media writings:
Labor Qaumi Movement: Organizing at the Margins of the 21st Century Workforce (https://www.jamhoor.org/read/labour-qaumi-movement-organizing-at-the-margins-of-the-21st-century-workforce
How Religious Does Your Party Have to be to Win an Election in Pakistan? https://www.dawn.com/news/1811894/how-religious-does-your-party-have-to-be-to-win-an-election-in-pakistan
Protecting Elderly Workers: https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/1287739-protecting-elderly-workers
The Perennial Favorite: https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/1149734-the-perennial-favourite