Prof. Mohammad Sayeed

Mohammad Sayeed is an urban anthropologist and works on informality, cultural history of Delhi, historical formation of Urdu public and spatial renditions of religion. He also happens to have studied theoretical mathematics and classical Islam. In his doctoral thesis, submitted at Delhi School of Economics, he studied the analytic of congestion to understand the precarious complexes that make the contemporary city spaces possible. He is particularly interested in the question how congestion is not just a physical feature but informs the bureaucratic, emotional and spiritual life of the city. He has also engaged with the realms of senses, particularly smell and touch and his work on smells and the city was exhibited at Kiran Nader Museum of Arts. He is also a co-founder of Chiragh Dilli, a blog that documents lore and everyday of the city. Apart from Delhi, he is obsessed with chess and Borges.