Mahvish Ahmad

Mahvish Ahmad is an Assistant Professor in Human Rights and Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), affiliated with the Department of Sociology. She previously held a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of the Western Cape's Centre for Humanities Research. Her PhD in Sociology from Cambridge University focuses on state violence in Balochistan, Pakistan.

Research Interests: Her work critically examines state violence, militarism, decolonial theory, and anti-imperial thought. Core themes include:

• State destruction mechanisms in Balochistan
• Archiving marginalized resistance movements
• Leftist periodicals as counterhegemonic tools
• Transnational solidarity networks

Teaching: Convenes courses on Lawful Violence and Contemporary Politics of Human Rights. Integrates anti-colonial perspectives into curricula.

Key Projects:

• Sovereign Destruction: Explores state demolition of alternative social orders in Balochistan.
• Thought Under Siege: Recovers grassroots movement thought from banned materials.
• Co-convenes Archives of the Disappeared (with scholars at UWCape and SA).

Publications: Over 20 peer-reviewed articles and edited volumes, including works in Radical History Review, Surveillance & Society, and South Asian History and Culture. Recent focus on Balochistan's conflict dynamics and global South periodicals.