Raphael Susewind

I am a Doctoral Candidate in Social Anthropology (Universität Bielefeld) and Associate of the Contemporary South Asia Studies Programme (University of Oxford). In my studies, teaching and research, I explore the various relations between politics, religion and belonging and between development and violent conflict in South Asia. In addition, I am interested in the effects of historically built-up bureaucratic cultures. Methodically, I attempt to integrate sociological, anthropological and psychological approaches to complement mainstream discourse analyses. My diploma thesis analyzed various connections between religious identities and political agency among Muslim peace activists in Gujarat; after a Master's dissertation on India's diplomatic culture, my PhD concerns the formation of Muslim identities in Lucknow under the working title "How do strategic discourses combine with personal experiences to form Muslim belonging in a North Indian town? The politics and poetics of belonging".