Name: Aditya Kiran Kakati
Email: aditya.kakati@graduateinstitute.ch
Link to your website or academic bio: https://www.academia.edu/
Title: Dr.
Current Institution: IIAS, Leiden University
Status: Faculty
Discipline(s): [11]
Countries of interest: Myanmar/Burma, Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Japan, Nepal
Languages spoken: English (native), Assamese (fluent), Hindi (fluent), Bengali (intermediate), French (intermediate), Burmese (beginner), Dutch (beginner)
Research interests:
As an international historian and anthropologist, my research interests over a decade spans three interrelated thematic areas. First, I explore the intersections of citizenship, cultural identity, and political representation; particularly through the lenses of indigeneity, self-determination, religion, racial difference, and the cultural politics of food. Second, I investigate the histories and legacies of war, violent conflict, resistance and memory. I explore historical dimensions and contemporary ramifications of how global conflicts have shaped colonial frontiers and postcolonial borderland communities. Third, I focus on highland regions in Asia— through the lens of “Zomia” studies as sites of alternative cartographies, resistance, epistemologies, and sovereignties, rooted in transregional and decolonial Asian frameworks. I bridge approaches in global history, historical anthropology, historical international relations and political geography to address pressing global and regional questions.