Tanvir Ahmed

My work focuses on the social, cultural, and intellectual history of Islam, with expertise in the connected worlds of Central & South Asia between 1200 and 1900 CE. I am broadly interested in questions of critical historiography, philosophy of history, social rebellion, and thaumaturgy. 

My present monograph, Dissenting Souls: A Cultural History of Medieval Muslim Rebellion, explores popular uprisings against the Mongol Empire across the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The book investigates how stories of haunted tyrants and rebellious saints help us understand the lives, deaths, and dreams of the dispossessed. I am also writing a second project on the tectonic dialectics between Afghan and Mongol history, branching from the thirteenth century into the times of British colonialism. 

Beyond this, my published work considers matters such as the alternate histories haunting the graveyards of Herat, diluvian history in the mountains of Laghman, Churchill's cosmic horrors in Malakand, narratives of demonic lineage relating to Kurds and Afghans and the Baloch, and more. You can find these essays at forums like History & Theory, Afghanistan, The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, The Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, and Viator. I have also published works of speculative fiction, cultural criticism, and translation. 

Previously, I was based out of Vienna at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. I received my Ph.D. from Brown University’s Department of Religious Studies in 2021.