I work in the broad terrain of the social sciences, interweaving political economy, sociology and politics, with a focus on South Asian Studies. My PhD is in Social and Political Sciences (SPS) from the University of Cambridge (1984, Churchill College), following a B.A. Honours with major in Economics from the School of African and Asian Studies (AFRAS), University of Sussex (1971). At the University of Oxford, I have been a Visiting Scholar (1995-96), Visiting Research Fellow (2011), and Associate of the Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme (CSASP) (2011-18). I have taught in the South Asian Studies Programme (SASP) of the National University of Singapore (NUS) (2000-09), involving undergraduate and graduate teaching, as well as PhD supervision. Earlier, I had taught at the Universities of Dhaka (1972-78) and Chittagong (1978-91). Since 2008, I have served as a member of the international advisory board of the Journal of Peasant Studies. My research and publications include theoretical analysis and empirical studies based on fieldwork, as well as their application to practical issues of policy and development. The specific topics on which I have worked include agrarian structure, capitalist development, land grabs, primitive accumulation/accumulation by dispossession, peasant economy and society, village studies, resistance and mobilization, religious and ethnic conflicts, forced migration and displacement in the South Asian borderlands (e.g. the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar). My work experience extends into commissioned research and policy analysis of concrete development programmes for various national and international organizations including, most recently, research on food security and livelihoods for the UN World Food Programme (WFP).
Universities of Cambridge and Sussex
Doctoral
2020-Present
PhD
Univeristy of Cambridge
Associate
Oxford University Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme (CSASP)
2011-2018
Visiting Research Fellow
Oxford University Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme (CSASP)
2011-2011
Associate Professor
National University of Singapore
2000-2009
Visiting Scholar
Oxford University, Queen Elizabeth House
1995-1996
Professor/ Associate Professor and Chairman, Department of Economics
University of Chittagong
1978-1991
Assistant Professor
University of Dhaka
1972-1978
(PDF) Mechamisms of Land Alienation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts
Primitive accumulation and the ‘transition to capitalism’ in neoliberal India
Expulsions: brutality and complexity in the global economy | Request PDF
(PDF) Alienation of the Lands of Indigenous Peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
250h