Aamir R. Mufti

Aamir R. Mufti serves as Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles, with affiliations at the Asia Pacific Center. His scholarly work bridges literary studies, anthropology, and area studies focused on South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Jewish diaspora communities.

His research centers on:

• Global colonialism and decolonization processes
• Postcolonial reconfigurations of Western humanities concepts (secular, minor, cosmopolitan)
• Migrant/refugee experiences in European unification projects
• Palestine as historical experience of homeland loss
• Critical examinations of world literature frameworks

Analysis of his publications reveals consistent engagement with suppressed narratives in colonial and postcolonial contexts, particularly examining how enforced immobility contradicts world literature's mobility discourse and how minority experiences in Europe were disseminated globally through colonial nation-state formations. His work systematically interrogates Orientalism's legacy in contemporary humanistic practice.

Mufti maintains a long-standing editorial role with the journal boundary 2, where he has curated special collections advancing critical postcolonial discourse. His current research trajectory emphasizes migrant subjectivity within European political crises and reimagining humanities frameworks from colonized perspectives.

Academic foundations include doctoral training under Edward Said at Columbia University, with formative influences from South Asian literary traditions (notably Faiz Ahmed Faiz) and European critical theory (Heinrich Heine). His institutional work positions Comparative Literature as a discipline uniquely equipped to address contemporary global political rightward shifts through interdisciplinary humanistic analysis.