Aisha Khan

Aisha Khan is a Professor in the Department of History at New York University, affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences. Her research focuses on intersections of race, religion, and colonialism in the Atlantic world, particularly examining Asian and African diasporas in the Americas, indenture systems, and the carceral state. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from CUNY Graduate School, with earlier degrees from San Francisco State University.

Education:

• PhD, Anthropology, City University of New York Graduate School
• M.A. Anthropology, San Francisco State University
• B.A. Anthropology, San Francisco State University

Research interests span Atlantic studies, racial capitalism, and the prison industrial complex. Recent work emphasizes carceral state dynamics and ritual practices in diaspora communities. Her 2022 Annual Review of Anthropology article analyzes mass incarceration frameworks, while her 2021 Harvard book explores obeah rituals' racial dimensions.

Publications demonstrate thematic coherence around three axes: 1) carceral systems' sociopolitical impacts, 2) religious practices as identity markers in diaspora communities, and 3) colonial legacies in labor systems. Subfields include Caribbean Islam studies, postcolonial ethnography, and transnational race theory.

Awards include the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Faculty Award and NEH fellowships. Grants include NYU Center for the Humanities awards supporting research on diaspora studies. She leads NYU's Prison Education Program and collaborates with the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies.

Active in academic service, she chairs panels on abolitionist studies and delivers keynote addresses globally on topics like 'Islam in the Caribbean.' Her work bridges historical analysis with contemporary social justice concerns through interdisciplinary anthropological frameworks.