Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology
print
Search
Hinweise zur Datenübertragung bei der Google™ Suche
Language Selection
Breadcrumb Navigation
Content
Dr. Raja Komal

Dr. Raja Komal

Alumni / PhD Candidate

Areas of research and interest

Anthropology of the State, Sovereignty and Contested Territories, Borderlands, Governmentality, Identity formation and Belonging, Political Subjectivity, Everyday Governance, Education and Nationalism, Memory and Oral History, Migration and Diaspora, Ethnography of Conflict and Everyday Life.
Regional focus: Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, the United Kingdom (Kashmiri Diaspora), South Asia, Himalayan Borderlands.

Contact

Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU)
Oettingenstr. 67
80538 Munich


Work group

Research Project
Negotiating autonomy in Azad Jammu and Kashmir: belonging, politicisation, and everyday life.

This doctoral project examines how political authority, autonomy, and belonging are negotiated in everyday life within the disputed territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, it explores the historical formation of political belonging, everyday governance, education, militarisation, and boundary-making, demonstrating how sovereignty is experienced, reproduced, contested, and lived in ordinary social life.

DAAD–HEC Doctoral Scholarship Programme (Funding period: 2017–2021)
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Martin Sökefeld

Academic Career

2026: PhD (cum laude), Social and Cultural Anthropology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
2017–2026: Doctoral Researcher, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
2015: M.Phil. in Psychology (Grade A), Government College University Lahore, Pakistan
2012: B.Sc. (Hons.) in Psychology (Grade A), Government College University Lahore, Pakistan

Awards & Grants

2026: Arts Council England Research Residency Grant.
2025: House of Resources Bonn / Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) Project Grant.
2021: Graduation Completion Grant, LMU Munich.
2018–2019: Global Cultures – Connecting Worlds (LMU Munich) Fieldwork Grants.
2017–2021: DAAD–HEC Doctoral Scholarship.
2008–2010: Shah Zaman Foundation Merit Scholarship, Pakistan.

Presentations & Lectures

2026 (forthcoming):
Panelist, Everyday Life as a Political Battleground: War, Governance, and Survival in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Organized panel “Centring Political Precarity: Governance, Resistance, and Recharting Futures in Pakistan Administered Jammu and Kashmir,” AAS-in-Asia 2026, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan.

2025: Guest Lecture: Reimagining Psychology through Reflexive Methodologies: Ethnographic Writing, Positionality, and the Emotional Self in Research. Department of Psychology, University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore.
Guest Lecture: From Geopolitical Dispute to Lived Reality: An Anthropological Perspective from Azad Jammu and Kashmir. University of Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

2021: Presentation: Positionality of Fieldwork Poetry in Ethnography: How to Bridge Disciplinary Borders. Ethnosymposium, University of Bayreuth, Germany.

2015: Presentation: Identity Deconstruction of AJK Residents: A Psychological Analysis. University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore, Pakistan.

Publications
Peer-reviewed & Academic

Monograph
Raja, Komal (2024).Negotiating Autonomy in Azad Jammu and Kashmir: Belonging, Politicisation, and Everyday Life. PhD Dissertation, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. DOI: 10.5282/edoc.36969

2026 (forthcoming):
Raja, K. “Everyday Life as a Political Battleground.” In S. Hussain (Ed.), Governance, Resistance and Recharting Futures in Pakistan Administered Jammu and Kashmir. Routledge.

2022:
Mustafa, D., Raja, K., & Rehman, A. “From Mandarin to Mendicant: Violence and Transgender Bodies in Urban Pakistan.” Gender, Place & Culture, 30(6), 812–834.

Public Scholarship

2026:
Raja, K. “A Note to ‘The Stranger’ from a ‘Book Thief’.” The Peshawar Review.

2020:
Raja, K. “Oral History: Blurred Memories of Bygone Cinemas in Azad Kashmir.” Centre for Peace, Development and Reforms (CPDR).

2018–2019:
Life Across LoC. Ethnographic essay series, The Kashmir Walla.

Academic Service & Public Engagement

Academic Service

  • 2026: Book Review (forthcoming): Omer Aijazi, Atmospheric Violence: Disaster and Repair in Kashmir, commissioned by Bloomsbury.
  • 2026: Invited Reviewer, Gender, Place & Culture (Taylor & Francis).
  • 2025–present: Reviewer, Endangered Material Knowledge Programme, British Museum.

Public Engagement

  • 2026: Arts Council England Research Residency, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Practice-based research residency exploring ethnographic storytelling and theatrical adaptation of field research work on the Kashmiri diaspora, Pahāṛī language, memory, and belonging.
  • 2023–present: Founder & Editor, Komal's Anthropoetics – an interdisciplinary public scholarship platform bringing together anthropology, literature, philosophy, poetry, visual-text work, and experimental writing through essays, audio-visual productions, and creative ethnographic practice through multimedia formats. Available on Substack, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
    Substack: https://substack.com/@anthropoeticsjournal
  • 2025: Lead Facilitator, Embodied Journeys: Crossing, Waiting, Belonging, Migrapolis – Haus der Vielfalt e.V., Bonn. Three-part workshop series exploring migration, memory, and belonging through narrative and embodied methodologies. https://migrapolis.de/projekt/rhein-indus-global-forum-e-v-embodied-journeys-crossing-waiting-belonging/