Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute Anthropologist awarded multiple prestigious book prizes
A powerful monograph examining the entangled aftermath of disaster and conflict in Kashmir has received three major literary awards, highlighting its critical impact on contemporary scholarship in anthropology, disaster studies, and South Asian studies.
(University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024) has most recently been awarded at the . Recognising books that advance social transformation and conscious living, the Nautilus Awards have previously honoured influential figures such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Malala Yousafzai, and Barbara Kingsolver, placing this work among globally celebrated voices for justice and equity.
The book, written by Anthropologist, , has also been awarded the and received an
Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the portion of Kashmir under Pakistan鈥檚 control and its surrounding mountainscapes, Atmospheric Violence explores how communities continue to live, relate, and imagine otherwise in landscapes shaped by both environmental disasters and militarised conflict. Through the intimate stories of five protagonists in remote mountain valleys, the book illustrates how people forge lives among violence that is everywhere鈥攐r 鈥榓tmospheric鈥�.
Departing from conventional trauma-centric approaches, the monograph frames disaster through the lens of repair. Engaging with Black and Indigenous studies, affect theory, and decolonial thought, the book blurs the boundaries of theory, storytelling, and activism to offer a transformative vision for understanding resilience and care in the world鈥檚 conflict zones.
Speaking of the awards, Dr Omer Aijazi, Lecturer in Disaster Management and Climate Crisis, shared:
鈥淭hese awards testify that scholars are storytellers. We must take risks, experiment with our craft, and work from the heart. Other worlds, other futures, are indeed possible.鈥�
These prestigious awards affirm Atmospheric Violence as a significant and timely contribution to global conversations on justice, survival, and the politics of humanitarian response.