OUR CORE TEAM
ABDUL KALAM AZAD
Abdul Kalam Azad is a human rights researcher, community worker, and writer based in Assam. He is currently working on his doctoral dissertation on Assam’s citizenship crisis at Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Abdul Kalam Azad is a founder member of the Miya Community Research Collective. He is involved in numerous projects focused on citizenship, belonging, and statelessness in Assam, with a particular emphasis on human rights, social justice, and sustainability that center community perspectives.
REHNA SULTANA
Rehna Sultana is an independent researcher, freelance writer, women's rights activist, and Miya poet. She recently completed her Ph.D. in Linguistics from Gauhati University, Assam, India. A founder member of the Miya Community Research Collective, her research and writings focus on folk speech, socio-economic conditions, political rights, gender issues, and citizenship issues impacting Char-Chapari's Muslim Community of Assam. She has published a book, entitled Char-Chaparir Lokjiwan Art Bhasa Sanskriti, a compendium of research articles on the life style, language and culture of communities living in the river islands and riverine areas of Assam.
SHALIM M. HUSSAIN
Shalim M Hussain is a writer, translator and researcher based in Assam and Delhi. He is a founder member of the Miya Community Research Collective. His books include a poetry anthology titled Betel Nut City and two translations- Asimot Jar Heral Sima (by Kanchan Barua) and Post-Colonial Poetry (by Kamal Kumar Tanti), both translated from Assamese to English. He is currently co-writing a book titled Critical History of Assamese Literature, to be published by Orient Blackswan in 2022.
URMITAPA DUTTA
Urmitapa Dutta is a feminist scholar activist whose research focuses on everyday violence, i.e., forms of direct, structural, and symbolic violence that are normalized and become endemic to social fabric. Specifically her research focuses on citizenship, migration, gender-based violence and community resistance in Northeast India, where she was born and raised. She is an Associate Professor of Psychology at University of Massachusetts Lowell (USA) and an advisory member of the Miya Community Research Collective.