Mubbashir Rizvi
5621 2nd St NW.
Washington, DC 20007
Education
The University of Texas at Austin. Department of Anthropology. Ph.D., 2013
Dissertation: Masters Not Friends. Land, Labor and Politics of Place in Pakistan.
Chair: Dr. Kamran Asdar Ali. Committee: Kathleen Stewart, Charles R. Hale, Kaushik Ghosh, and David Gilmartin.
Specialization: Environmental Anthropology, Colonial Historiography, Social Movements, Subaltern Studies, Agriculture, Muslim Race-Diaspora Studies, Irrigation, Development, Resource Use & Livelihood, and Technology & Environment.
M.A., Department of Anthropology, May 2006.
Brooklyn College, CUNY B.A., May 2003Concentration in Political Theory and History.
Experience in Higher Education
Department of Anthropology, American University
Fall 2021. Professorial Lecturer
Department of Anthropology, Georgetown University
Fall 2013- Spring 2021, Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin
Designed and Taught ‘Introduction to Cultural Anthropology’ Summer 2009, Summer 2011, Fall 2011
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin
Graduate Student Instructor. Fall 2008, Spring 2009 & Fall 2012
Visiting Positions
Department of Social Science, Huston-Tillotson University.
Designed and Taught “Introduction to South Asia”. Spring 2013.
Department of Anthropology & Sociology, Southwestern University.
Designed and Taught Introduction to Anthropology Course. Spring 2012
Department of Social Sciences & Humanities, Lahore University of Management Sciences
Designed and Taught ‘Culture Power & History’ that was later adopted by the department, Summer 2007 and Spring 2008.
Publications
Book
2019. The Ethics of Staying: Social Movements and Land Rights Politics in Pakistan. Stanford University Press. [AIPS Book Prize 2021, Book Adopted in Reed College, University of Washington, UCLA, Stanford University, UC Irvine, Trinity University, University of Toronto, Lahore University of Management Sciences (Pakistan), Habib University (Pakistan), Presidency University (India), Ashoka University (India)].
Mel Gurr, 2019. “Staying on the Land in Pakistan”, review of The Ethics of Staying: Social Movements and Land Rights Politics in Pakistan, by Mubbashir Rizvi, POLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review. https://polarjournal.org/2019/09/06/land-pakistan/
Kurt Schock. 2020. Review of The Ethics of Staying: Social Movements and Land Rights Politics in Pakistan, by Mubbashir Rizvi, Mobilization, An International Quarterly. Vol 25, Issue 1 (March 2020)
Nielsen, Kenneth. 2020. The Ethics of Staying: Social Movements and Land Rights Politics in Pakistan: Mubbashir A. Rizvi ( Stanford : Stanford University Press, 2019). Journal of Contemporary Asia. 1-3. 10.1080/00472336.2020.1776375.
Iqtidar, Humeira. 2020. The Ethics of Staying: Social Movements and Land Rights Politics in Pakistan: Mubbashir A. Rizvi ( Stanford : Stanford University Press , 2019) Pacific Affairs
Ali, S.M., 2020. The Ethics of Staying: Social Movements and Land Rights Politics in Pakistan by Mubbashir A. Rizvi. Anthropological Quarterly, 93(3), pp.547-551.
Ahmed, Aisha. 2021. Review of The Ethics of Staying: Social Movements and Land Rights Politics in Pakistan, by Mubbashir Rizvi, Bloomsbury Pakistan Research and Advocacy.
Anwar, Nausheen H. 2021. The Ethics of Staying: Social Movements and Land Rights Politics in Pakistan. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 0, no. 0 (October 7, 2021): 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2021.1982476.
Research Articles
2021. “Majoritarian Politics in South Asia.” Hot Spots, Fieldsights, March 16. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/series/majoritarian-politics-in-south-asia
2020. The Colonial Infrastructure and the Politics of Partition of Punjab. Verge: Studies in Global Asias. vol. 6, no. 2, 2020, pp. 34–42.
2020. Soul to Soul: The Muslim Ban and the Black Expressive Tradition”. In ACMCU Occasional Papers Series, , Vol 19, pp. 3–33.
2019. A Divided Movement: Urban Activists, NGOs, and the Fault-Lines of a Peasant Struggle. South Asian History and Culture, 1-14.
2018. From Counterterrorism to Dispossession. Pakistan Anti-Terrorism Act as a Means of Eviction. Anthropology Today. Vol 34, No 3, 15-18
2017. The Moral Ecology of Colonial Infrastructure and the Vicissitudes of Land Rights in Rural Pakistan. History and Anthropology, Vol 28, Issue 1, 308-325.
2010. Multiple Lives of Black Islam in Hip Hop. Text, Practice, Performance. Vol VIII, 95-111.
Under Review
2020. “Introduction: Ethnographic Reflections on Majoritarian and Populist Politics in South Asia.” Fieldsights: Theorizing the Contemporary, Cultural Anthropology.
Works in Progress
“Georgetown Memory Walk” (Research Article).
Karachi’s Bricolage: Everyday Political Ecology in a Violent City (Book Manuscript).
Public Scholarship
2019- Ten Questions XQs – Chapati Mystery. A Conversation with Mubbashir Rizvi. Author Book Interview by Madhuri Karak https://www.chapatimystery.com/archives/xqs_xviii__a_conversation_with_mubbashir_rizvi.html, accessed November 17, 2019.
2019. Podcast- Rizvi, Mubbashir and Karak, Madhuri 2019. Mubbashir A. Rizvi, “The Ethics of Staying: Social Movements and Land Rights Politics in Pakistan” (Stanford UP, 2019). https://newbooksnetwork.com/mubbashir-a-rizvi-the-ethics-of-staying-social-movements-and-land-rights-politics-in-pakistan-stanford-up-2019/, accessed October 24, 2019.
2019. The People, the Money, the Books: Inside Stanford University Press – The Stanford Daily. The Stanford Daily, June 5. https://www.stanforddaily.com/2019/06/05/the-people-the-money-the-books-inside-stanford-university-press/, accessed October 22, 2019.
2016. Commentary “Unsilencing Pakistan: A symposium on Nonviolent Activism against Violence.” Denver Dialogues. May 4. Accessed 10/19/16. http://www.du.edu/korbel/sie/publications/commentary_pakistan
2014. “Dispossession in the Name of Security.” Tanqeed. 4 July. Accessed 10/19/16. http://www.tanqeed.org/2014/07/dispossession-in-the-name-of-security/
2010. “The Coming Plantations.” Zamana Pakistan. http://www.zamana.org/the-coming-plantations.php. Accessed 10/19/16.
Research Grants and Award
2021. American Institute of Pakistan Studies Book Prize for the Ethics of Staying.
2020. Georgetown Global Humanities Faculty Seminar Grant for “The Question of Infrastructure in the Making and Unmaking of the Contemporary World.”
2016. American Institute of Pakistan Studies- Elected on the Board of Trustees.
2016. Faculty Co-Sponsor- Georgetown University’s 2016 Sawyer Seminar grant: Approaching the Anthropocene: Global Culture and Planetary Change
2016. American Institute of Pakistan Studies- Research Grant.
2014. Georgetown Summer Research Grant. Research Award for Solidarities, Fault-lines and the role of Urban Activists in a Subaltern Struggle.
2013. Georgetown Competitive Grant-in-Aid Grant for a research assistant in Pakistan.
2010-2011. Graduate School Continuing Fellowship Award. University Dissertation Writing Fellowship, University of Texas Austin.
2009-2012. Meyerson South Asian Studies Fellowship
2011. American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS). Research Award for Thal Development Authority and the Contentious Promise of National Development (May 2011- August 2011).
2010. Continuing Dissertation Writing Fellowship, University of Texas Austin.
2006. Mellon Foundation Fellowship, Population Research Council, Peri-Urbanization in Okara City.
2003.Outstanding Undergraduate Paper, City University of New York.
Conference Presentations
2021. Invited Lecture and Book Discussion on The Ethics of Staying. Department of Sociology, Presidency University, Kolkata, February 11, 2021.
2019. Panel Organizer. Accelerating Dispossession in a Changing Climate. Comparing Land and Water Struggles in Latin America and South Asia. American Anthropological Association Meetings. Vancouver, November 21, 2019.
2019. Invited Lecture. Colonial Infrastructure and the Politics of Punjab’s Partition. South Asia Program, Cornell University, November 4, 2019.
2019. Invited Lecture. Rethinking Partition from the lens of Infrastructure. South Asia Program, Stanford University, October 31, 2019
2019. The Possibilities and Pitfalls of Transnational Solidarity Activism. Caste, Labor, and Transnational Solidarity Activism. Annual South Asian Studies Conference at Madison, Wisconsin. October, 19, 2019
2019. Invited Paper. Interrogating Infrastructure Workshop. Annual South Asia Pre-Conference, Madison, Wisconsin. October, 18, 2019.
2019. Environment and Ethics, Invited Talk & Discussion. Red House. October 1, 2019.
2019. Invited Paper. Imagining Infrastructure Roundtable. Colonial Infrastructure and the Politics of Partition of Punjab. Global Asia’s Conference. Pennsylvania State University, April 5, 2019.
2018. Panel Organizer: Terror Talk and Anthropological Refusal to engage with Global War on Terror. American Anthropology Association Meetings, San Jose November 14, 2018
2018. Invited Paper. Good Sect, Bad Sect. Ethnological Maps and the War on Terror. Envisioning 21st Century Middle East and South Asia Conference. University of Virginia. April 5, 2018.
2018. Panel Discussant. Infrastructures of Agriculture in South Asia. Association of Asian Studies Meeting. March 24, 2018
2018. Multiple Lives of Black Islam in Hip Hop. Religion, Culture and Politics Workshop. Georgetown University. January 26.
2017. Peasants Not Terrorists. Asian Studies Conference. Revisiting Rurality in South Asia Panel. Association of Asian Studies Conference. March 18.
2016. Moral Ecology of Infrastructure. Approaching the Anthropocene: Global Culture and Planetary Change. Georgetown University. December 2.
2016. Rethinking Land through the Infrastructural Lens. American Anthropological Association Meetings, Water and Land: The Politics of Emergent Ecological Imaginaries. November 17.
2016. Climate Displacement Panel. The making of ecological dispossession. Georgetown Environmental Futures Initiative. November 14.
2016. Invited Talk. Urbanization in South Asia. Harvard South Asia Institute. October 17.
2016. Panel Organizer. The Moral Economy of Infrastructure. Madison South Asia Conference. October 20.
2016. Rights to Reciprocities in Land Rights Politics in Punjab. Madison South Asia Conference Law Pre-Conference October 20.
2016. Invited Discussant. Who Speaks for Democracy in South Asia? South Asia Institute. Harvard University, May 8.
2016. Invited Paper Presentation. What Remains Buried Under Property? South Asia Seminar Series. Maxwell School in Public Service. Syracuse University, March 22.
2015. Invited Paper. What Remains Buried Under Property? Active Matter Culture and Politics Workshop. Georgetown University, December 4.
2015. Research Paper- The Temporalities of NGOs on Social Movements in Rural: New Intermediaries and Changing Regimes of Agriculture in South Asia. American Anthropology Association, Denver Colorado, November 19.
2015. Invited Presentation. Changing Gender Representation in Bollywood Cinema. SFS Asian Studies, CULP. April 20.
2015. Invited Talk. From Hot to Cold: The affect of NGOs, Translocal Activists on Livelihood Movements, University of California, Berkeley, Feb 27.
2015. Invited Talk. Memory Against Measurement. Land Rights Politics in Central Punjab. Dhar India Studies Program, Indiana University, Feb 20.
2015. Invited to Discuss “Amreeka Chalo” play and US-Pakistan relations by SFS Performance Studies Program, Georgetown University. Friday January 23rd
2014. Panel Organizer and Presenter. Moral Economies of Infrastructure in South Asia. AAA Meetings Washing DC, December 3.
2014. Invited Panelist- What’s Land got to do with Class? The After-life of Moral Economy in Pakistan. Re-envisioning Pakistan: The Political Economy of Social Transformation. Sarah Lawrence College, April 4.
2014. Contemporary Land Rights in Pakistan and the Cultural Legacies of Colonial Infrastructure. Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference. Panel: Geographies of Infrastructure. Panel 1: Struggle, Thursday, February 17.
2014. NGOs and Faultlines of Grass Roots Mobilization. Public Anthropology Conference. American University.
2012. This Land is Alive: From Village Republics to Worlding of Politics in Rural Pakistan. American Anthropology Association Meetings, ‘Impersonal Relations’ panel. Friday, November 16.
2012. Unlikely Alliance: Trains and the Charisma of Hazrat Pir. Workshop on Infrastructure. Museum of Ephemerata. Austin. August 6.
2012. Invited Panelist and Discussant. Reconfiguring Village Studies in South Asia Workshop. Cornell University. March 9-10.
2012. Invited Speaker. Master Not Friend. Land, Labor and Politics of Place in Pakistan. Amherst College. February 1.
2011. What Remains Buried Under Property? Paper Presented at The Annual Conference of South Asia on ‘Historical Anthropology and Pakistan: Emerging Perspectives. October 21.
2011. Invited Respondent. Terrifying Muslim Book Discussion with author Junaid Rana. University of Texas. September 10.
Courses Taught
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology—Designed and taught a new section of Anthropology Departments gateway course.
Environmental Anthropology—Designed and taught a new course which was cross-listed by SFS STIA, CULP and Asian Studies.
South Asia and the World—An anthropological examination of the long history of cultural exchange through colonialism, Globalization, cultural exchange, social-cultural hierarchy and diversity in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Asian Diaspora. This course was cross-listed by CULP, SFS and Asian Studies.
Doing Anthropological Fieldwork—Qualitative Research Methods Course
Race, Empire and Muslims in the West—A course examining the history of Islamophobia and the long history of Muslim Communities existence in the West.
Memory, Monuments and Amnesia—This course examines the politics of remembering, the making of collective memory and acts of forgetting.
Anthropological Theory—Taught and redesigned capstone survey course for graduating seniors.
Professional Associations and Service
American Institute of Pakistan Studies. Elected to Executive Board Committee for 2019- 2021.
American Institute of Pakistan Studies. Elected Trustee for Jan 1, 2016- Dec 31st, 2018
Reviewer for American Anthropologist, Science as Culture, Cultural Dynamics, Development & Change, South Asian History and Culture, Transforming Anthropology, History and Anthropology Journal, Stanford University Press and Routledge Press.
Membership: American Anthropological Association, Asian Studies
University Service
Georgetown College Admissions Committee 2019-2020
Anthropology Departments Representative to College Executive Council (2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2019-2020)
Anthropology Department Main Campus Executive Council Alternate Representative (2018-2019).
Anthropology Department Director of Undergraduate Studies (2013-2016)
Georgetown University Examiner for Urdu language exams at Georgetown University (2013-2020).
Graduate Thesis Advising
2016-2020. The Politics of Electricity Service Delivery in Karachi. Erum Haider (Doctoral Committee Member, Government Department, Georgetown University).
2019-2020. Literary Infrastructure: The Production, Circulation, and Consumption of Literature in
Jordan. Tariq Adely (MA Thesis, Arab Studies, Second Advisor, Georgetown University).
2019. Independent Reading Course on Islam and Race in America. Javian Baker (Religious Studies, Georgetown University)
2013/2015. “Dalit Christians and Caste Consciousness in Pakistan.” Sara Singha (Doctoral Committee, Secondary Advisor, Georgetown University).
2013/2014. “Conquering the Digital Divide: The Appropriation of Information and Communications. Technologies in Indigenous Communities in Cauca, Colombia.” Meredith Pierce (MA Thesis, Spanish and Portuguese Studies, Georgetown University).
Undergraduate Thesis Advising
2017/2018. Hidden Waste, Toxic Bodies: Narratives of Industrial Pollution in the USS Lead Superfund Site, East Chicago, Indiana. Chad Davis (Faculty Advisor for CULP Honors Thesis, Georgetown University).
2016/2017. “Performing the Refugee Experience.” Devika Ranjan (Faculty Advisor CULP Honors Thesis, Georgetown University).
2016. Independent Reading Course Environmental Anthropology and Water Politics. Alex O’Neill (Anthropology, Georgetown University)
2014/2015. “Formations of Tradition; Identity, Performance and Tourism in the Maltese Context.” Elenita Nicholas (Anthropology, Senior Thesis).
2013/2014. “Playing with Drones. Dissenting perspectives on U.S drone campaign in Pakistan.” Mashal Shah (Asian Studies, Georgetown University)
Academic Community Outside
Critical South Asia Studies Working Group for scholars to share research and brown bag lectures and working papers for Anthropologists, Historians, Geographers, and Literary scholars in DC Metro Area.
Languages
Urdu- Read, Write and Speech.
Punjabi (Shahmukhi)- Speech, Read French- Reading
Mubbashir Rizvi 