About

Naveeda Khan is a Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, with a background rooted in Bangladesh, India, and the United States. She earned her BA in History from Vassar College, an MA in Anthropology from the New School for Social Research, and a PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University. Her professional experience includes work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Dhaka and Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), Travelers and Immigrants Aid (TIA), and the Field Museum. She has also taught at the Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements and the School of Criticism and Theory. Her research primarily focuses on religion and environment, with ongoing projects examining the July Uprising in Bangladesh, river life and climate change in Bangladesh, and global climate policy negotiations involving youth participation. Her work explores questions of political voice, belonging, property, and future imaginaries in the context of environmental and political upheavals. Khan has authored the book 'Muslim Becoming: Aspiration and Skepticism in Pakistan,' which repositions Pakistan as a site of Muslim experimentation and addresses issues of religious identity and violence. She is also engaged in bridging regional scholarship gaps, integrating philosophy with anthropology, and examining the role of technology in political and environmental struggles. Her pedagogical approach involves interdisciplinary teaching across history, theology, environmental thought, literature, and philosophy, emphasizing questions of voice, form, and striving.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Art history
• History
• Computer Science
• Art
• Ancient history
• Media studies
• Archaeology
• Law
• Library science
• Geography

Selected publications

• Time and movement: A response to my readers

  Hau Journal of Ethnographic Theory · 2025-10-24

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Servitude and Separateness in the Time of Pandemic

  Journal of Bangladesh Studies · 2025-04-22

  articleSenior author

  Abstract This article explores the hierarchical organization of gendered and laboring bodies in domestic spaces in urban Bangladesh during the COVID -19 pandemic. While unemployment plagued various economic sectors arising from pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions, demand for domestic labor remained consistent, albeit with new restrictions and enhanced surveillance of domestic workers. Based on a four-month study involving interviews and household surveys, this article examines how safety protocols and employment conditions and interactions provide insight into changing power relations within Bangladeshi households. The article identifies a dynamic interplay between servitude and separateness, with domestic workers subtly asserting their separateness to express their individuality and resistance to the arbitrary deployment of safety protocols imposed by employers. The pandemic underscored domestic workers’ resilience through preserving a sense of self within these intimate yet unequal spaces.

  PublisherDOI

• Syeda Farhana, landscaper of perpetual motion

  Inter-Asia Cultural Studies · 2024-07-03

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• A book forum on Scott MacLochlainn <i>The Copy Generic</i> (University of Chicago Press, 2022)

  History and Anthropology · 2024

  • Sociology
  • Computer Science
  • History
  PublisherDOI

• Dreams’ navel: a special issue on Akhtaruzzaman Elias’s <i>Khwabnama</i>

  Inter-Asia Cultural Studies · 2024-07-03

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Exquisite corpse: the dead and the problem of community in Elias’s <i>Khwabnama</i>

  Inter-Asia Cultural Studies · 2024-07-03 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Critical Forum: What is Critical Pakistan Studies?

  Deleted Journal · 2023

  • Political Science
  • Political Science

  An abstract is not available for this content. As you have access to this content, full HTML content is provided on this page. A PDF of this content is also available in through the 'Save PDF' action button.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 4 Politics in Between-Spaces

  Fordham University Press eBooks · 2023-12-31

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Index

  Fordham University Press eBooks · 2023-12-31

  paratextOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Iqbal Before the Mosque of Cordoba: Goethean Crossings

  Sophia · 2023-06-07 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Andrew Brandel

  2 shared

• Majed Akhter

  King's College London

  2 shared

• Naeem Mohaiemen

  School of Visual Arts

  2 shared

• Gustav Peebles

  New School

  2 shared

• K. N. Joshi

  Johns Hopkins University

  1 shared

• Federico Neiburg

  1 shared

• Shirley J. Fiske

  1 shared

• Juan Obarrio

  1 shared