Biography

Neshat Quaiser was chiefly educated at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi from where he obtained a Bachelor degree in Chinese language, with Philosophy and Political Science, a Master degree in sociology from the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, and M. Phil and a Ph. D. from the same Centre in 1992 that dealt with Nationalism, Religion and Peasant Politics in Post-colonial India, Pakistan and Bangladesh against the backdrop of colonial experiences.

He was Visiting Fellow at the Department of Sociology, Hyderabad Central University (March 2018) and at the Department of History, University of Calcutta (March 2012); Charles Wallace India Trust Visiting Scholar (2001); Research Associate at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, (2003); Visiting Scholar at the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Oxford (2001); Research Associate at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine (2000). He was conferred the title Honorary Research Fellow in the Human Resource Department of the University College of London (April-June, 2003).

His research interest includes Muslims, Islam, Sharia and Communalism in Indian sub-continent; social history of medicine and health with reference to encounter and exchange between Unani/indigenous and western medical practices and public sphere during colonial India; Religion, Nationalism and Peasant Politics in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh with reference to Muslim politics and society in the backdrop of colonial experiences; Inter-religious public debate during colonial period; historical sociology of Urdu language and literature; Colonialism and colonial politics; Post-colonial Law and Legal Theory; Media Studies; Critical Theory. He has contributed to several edited volumes and refereed journals. He formerly taught in the Department of Sociology, Jami’a Millia Islamia, Central University.

Recent publications:

• Quaiser, Neshat. 2021. “Epistemic Ashrāfiya- Morality and Urdu Theatre Public Sphere in Nineteenth-Century Bihar: Muslim Internal-Decoloniality”, Explorations ISS, e-journal,  5(2)
• Quaiser, Neshat. 2019. “Shari‘a Politics, ‘ulamā and Laity Ijtihād:Fields of Normativity and Conviviality”, South Asian History and Culture,  DOI: 0.1080/19472498.2019.1609263
• Quaiser, Neshat. 2019. “Parallel 2. Praxis: History-domination-resistance-ideology-theory in V. Cybil ed. Social Justice: Inter-disciplinary Inquiries From India. London, Routledge.
• Quaiser, Neshat. 2018. “Consuming Leisure not so Leisurely: Political Economy of Leisure and Desire.” Explorations, ISS e-journal, 2(2), pp: 22-38
• Quaiser, Neshat. 2018. “Essentialising the Body: Locating Medical Domination and Resistance.” The IIAS’ The Newsletter. Autumn 2013.