Biography

Dr. Zaheer Abbas is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Student Affairs at JSLH. Graduated from Hans Raj College, University of Delhi. He completed his M.A. MPhil. and PhD. from the Centre of Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi).

He is a historian of modern India with a research focus on Islamic popular practices and sectarian identities. For his PhD, he charted a century-long history of the evolving, discursive and often frictious relationship between the Sunnis and Shi’i communities of old Lucknow.

The work re-evaluates existing explanations of sectarian violence and rioting by interpreting them as merely the most overt manifestation of a larger discursive process of self-expression and difference. Riots are not exchanges between already crystallized and delineated sectarian identities, since contributing to the process of sublimation. In his free time, Dr. Abbas enjoys listening to Rock music, especially Pink Floyd.

He is an avid cricketer who laments the demise of poetry in batting which he traces to Dravid’s retirement.