American Institute of Pakistan Studies

08/14/2026

Dr. Daniel Majchrowicz and Dr. David Boyk received the Humanities in Translation Award for The Ajeeb Society, a translation from Urdu of short stories by Qazi Abdul Ghaffar. The collection will be published by Northwestern University Press.

To read more, please see the announcement on Northwestern's website: https://nupress.northwestern.edu/blog/2026/08/11/the-ajeeb-society-hit-prize/

08/05/2026

The journal of Critical Pakistan Studies has published several new articles! Check them out on the Cambridge University Press website: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/critical-pakistan-studies/listing?q&searchWithinIds=E5521B579FD70FAC9ACF0BA8EF53B0BE&aggs%5BproductTypes%5D%5Bfilters%5D=JOURNAL_ARTICLE

Book review by Bramsh Khan
“Atmospheric Violence: Disaster and Repair in Kashmir.” Omer Aijazi (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024).

Research Article by Abid Ali
Borderland, Resistance, and Neo-Pashtun Consciousness: The Case of Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement in Pakistan

Research Article by Kanika Singh
Shared Reverence Post-1947: Observations on the Sikh Case

Editorial by Iqbal Singh Sevea
Rupture and Connectivity: Mobilities and National Imaginations Across the Radcliffe Line

Book Review by Madeline Clements
“Contemporary Pakistani Speculative Fiction and the Global Imaginary: Democratising Human Futures.” Shazia Sadaf and Aroosa Kanwal (New York, Abingdon: Routledge, 2024).

Book Review by Sheelalipi Sahana
"Hidden Histories of Pakistan: Censorship, Literature, and Secular Nationalism in Late Colonial India." Sarah Fatima Waheed (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022)

Research Article by Syed Akbar Hyder
Breaking Ghalib, Saving Urdu

Welcome to Cambridge Core

07/31/2026

Dr. Natasha Raheja's book "The People, in Parts: the Majoritarian Work of the Minority Form" (University of Chicago Press) was awarded the American Institute of Indian Studies Joseph W. Elder Book Prize in the Indian Social Sciences!

The book is an ethnographic account of Pakistani Hindu migration to India that theorizes the flexibility of the religious minority form across state borders in South Asia. Pre-order via the link below and use the discount code UCPNEW for 30% off.

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo280134699

07/29/2026

On May 11, AIPS collaborated with Punjab University Pakistan Study Centre to host an event on “Pakistan Studies in the 21st Century: Teaching, Narratives, and Perspectives.” The academic workshop discussed emerging trends, contemporary challenges, and interdisciplinary approaches in the field of Pakistan Studies, and it featured Dr. Sikandar Hayat (Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Forman Christian College University) and Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi (Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Punjab University) as distinguished speakers. The workshop mapped a way forward by embracing interdisciplinary, focusing on contemporary issues, fostering academic collaboration at national and international levels, and developing an inclusive and honst historiography.

07/21/2026

Looking to stay connected with AIPS? Sign up for our Monthly Announcements! You'll receive emails with more information about conferences, job postings, member highlights, and AIPS funding opportunities.

*Please note that while our Monthly Announcements are open to everyone, AIPS funding opportunities are available for AIPS Institutional and Individual Members.

https://pakistanstudies-aips.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=c49fd3db9255e1c1606d39860&id=5cbe37f15e

07/15/2026

The next deadline for AIPS's travel grants is 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟱!

*Please review our website for more information on eligibility*

07/01/2026

AIPS Member Dr. John Mock edited the English translation of The History of the Ancient Era of Hunza State, for the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan ISMEO/Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in the ACT-Field Project Reports and Memoirs Archival Studies, under the auspices of the WAKSAW-Uddiyana Archaeological Alliance. The book is published by Sang-e Meel Publications, Lahore. You can find the book on Sang-e Meel's website:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/sangemeel.shop/products/the-history-of-the-ancient-era-of-hunza-state-part-1-haji-qudratullah-beg__;!!Mak6IKo!I6q-R6Rx0xpUpdREDOgemWTW_32EMtCCkTUJQGcFQSAJjORg7RxSDHjGkEaPxuBq0y4z1ioCIS6c6KJGzJkY2A$

06/26/2026

The steering committee of the Pakistan History Workshop invites proposals for papers for the third annual meeting, hosted by Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad from December 16-18, 2026. Please submit your proposals before 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟳, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 @𝟭𝟭:𝟱𝟵𝗣𝗠.

Papers should be unpublished works in an advanced stage of preparation that examine historical themes, methods, and topics relevant to Pakistan. The committee welcomes work on any theme including territories, societies, gender, ideas, cultures, institutions, science, environment, law, and more. They also welcome papers on archives and research methods. They invite paper proposals from junior and senior scholars, advanced graduate students, independent scholars, researchers, librarians and archivists, and professionals who examine historical topics in their work in conservation and heritage management, journalism, government, policy, development, or industry. Participants may present in Urdu or English. Discussion at the workshop is conducted primarily in English.

The committee also welcomes proposals for short presentations of recently published academic or trade books. A small number of book talks will be accepted and scheduled in hybrid meeting spaces.

Direct any questions to [email protected].

The steering committee of the Pakistan History Workshop invites proposals for papers for the third annual meeting, hosted by Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad from December 16-18, 2026. Please use this form to submit your proposals before August 7, 2026 @11:59PM. Papers should be unpublished work...

06/05/2026

Fatima Quraishi's new book titled "Palimpsests Past and Present: The Saints and Sultans of the Makli Necropolis, 1380-1660" will be published this October!

You can find it in the UNC Press series "Islamic Civilizations and Muslim Networks" edited by Carl Ernst and Bruce Lawrence. The book is now available for pre-order on the UNC Press site. You can use code 01SOCIAL30 at checkout for a 30% discount!

https://uncpress.org/9781469697628/palimpsests-past-and-present/

06/05/2026

Congratulations to both Dr. Nathan Tabor (Western Michigan University) and Dr. Ilyas Chattha (LUMS) for receiving the 2026 AIPS Book Prize! This year, the AIPS Book Prize Committee selected two books for the annual award.

The committee agreed that Tabor’s book, City of Lyrics: Ordinary Poets and Islamicate Popular Culture in Early Modern Delhi, is an “impressive study of the emerging culture of poetic gatherings (mushāʿirahs) in eighteenth- century Delhi that demonstrates how sprawling networks of “ordinary poets” shaped Urdu as a rising literary language.” Tabor offers “compelling evidence for the ways in which poetic exchanges helped to anchor friendships and also fueled rivalries, spurring poets to constantly innovate and create new poetic forms.”

As noted by the committee, Chattha’s book, Citizens to Traitors: Bengali Internment in Pakistan, 1971-1974, “recovers the silenced history of elite and ordinary residents of Pakistan who were transformed by the 1971 Bangladesh war from rights-bearing citizens to ethnically marked ‘others’, now suspected traitors, able to be stripped of political and human rights and subjected to indefinite internment.”

You can read the Book Prize Committee’s full summaries on our website: https://pakistanstudies.org/2026/06/03/aips-book-prize-2026/

To read more about these books and to order your own copy, please see the publishers’ webpages:
City of Lyrics: https://uncpress.org/9781469690223/city-of-lyrics/
Citizens to Traitors: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/citizens-to-traitors/7894AABEB9381EE75D50D1EE472C3344