I am an advanced doctoral candidate at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), where I work within a DFG-funded project led by Professor Martin Sökefeld.

My doctoral research inquires into irregularised migration and (forced) return. I work at the intersection of critical border studies and the emerging field of “affective sciences”, to bring to light the undeniable power of emotions, feelings, motivations, moods, and other affective processes in the migratory lives of people subjected to unequal mobility through the European border regime. Since March 2019, I have conducted over 15 months of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in Germany, Pakistan, and Italy, in addition to several months of “remote research” during periods of travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Over this time, I investigated the everyday experiences of irregularised migrants holding Pakistani citizenship. Starting with their precarious legal status in Germany and Italy, I probed into their often coerced, if not forced, return to Pakistan and the strategies they devised to overcome or resist such a return. As such, my work with irregularised Pakistanis complements a growing body of anthropological knowledge and ethnographic research on so-called "voluntary" returns that has thus far focused largely on Africa and Latin America. 

Some of my publications have focused on the impact of migration, biography and gender on the ageing process (Journal of Bodies, Sexualities, and Masculinities, 2020); how so-called “voluntary returnees" lack volition and agency due to (supra)national policies and practices of German officials (NUST Press, 2020); gendered affects and vulnerabilities in the lives of irregularised and returning migrants (Routledge, 2023); the entanglement of religious cosmologies and restrictive migration regimes in the lives of irregularised migrants from Pakistan (Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, proposal accepted). Please see publications for a complete list.

My interest in social anthropology is heavily interdisciplinary. While my work lies at the nexus of anthropology of migration and affect theory, I am also interested in research on and discussions around the issues of religion, power, violence, borders, the state, inequality and gender. Particularly stimulating for me is the intersection of anthropological inquiry into some of these issues with other fields, such as moral philosophy, political science and sociocultural psychology. These interests have been shaped by my Master’s degree in medical anthropology from Heidelberg University and multidisciplinary training from the prestigious School of Liberal Arts (University College Utrecht) at Utrecht University, where I received my Bachelor’s degree on a full scholarship.

My extensive linguistic skills facilitate my field research and include Urdu (native language), English (educational language), German (B2), Seraiki (paternal language; fluent), Punjabi (maternal language; fluent), Hindi (proficient; oral) and Dutch (A2).

Beyond academia, I remain heavily engaged in discussions at public forums, popular scholarship and activism around the topics of (irregularised) migration and unequal mobility. I routinely participate in panel discussions organised by advocacy groups and NGOs such as the Bavarian Refugee Council, the International Organisation for Migration and the Bavarian Refugee Volunteer Association (UnserVeto). My contributions to such forums have covered various topics related to my research, from conditions of initial departure of irregularised migrants to their post-return life in Pakistan. However, I also take a keen interest in topics beyond my current research; for instance, in one public workshop, I focused on the impact of climate change on emigration from Pakistan, or as my interlocutors like to call it, "bahir jana" (literally going outside; to move abroad/overseas). My central aim is to always give a representation to the critically missing voices of irregularised migrants in the very debates that highly impact their lives. In that vein, I have also written about my interlocutors’ complex lives in magazines such as Sapiens, Hinterland, and Der Spiegel. This year (2023), I will be joining the advisory board of The Other Side of Hope, a UK-based literary magazine edited by refugees and migrants. Most importantly, since 2019, I have remained an active member of the Munich-based group, The Long Run, which works on various grass-roots anti-racist solidarity initiatives.