Sowmya Maheswaran
sowmya.maheswaran@hu-berlin.de
- Department Migration in Global Perspective
sowmya.maheswaran@hu-berlin.de
Profile
Sowmya Maheswaran is a research assistant at the Institute for European Ethnology and the Berlin Institute for Empirical Migration Research at Humboldt University in Berlin.
In her research, she examines global dynamics of violence and resistance in the context of war, racism, nationalism, flight/migration, political movements and solidarity, among other topics. In her dissertation, Sowmya Maheswaran works at the intersection of global and political anthropology, exploring the subjectification and collectivisation of dissidents under (post-)colonial and capitalist conditions.
Her ethnographic fields were and are the struggles of Tamils in the post-war area of the former de facto state of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka and in diaspora exile, as well as the logic of violence in the reproduction of global capital, using the example of infrastructural megaprojects in Mexico and Sri Lanka.
Supervisors
- Manuela Bojadžijev (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
- Sandro Mezzadra (University of Bologna)
- Sidharthan Maunaguru (University of Toronto)
Research focus
- Global and political anthropology
- Violence (especially colonial and capitalist forms)
- Resistance
- Political subjectification
- Methods of critical ethnography
Curriculum Vitae
- Since 01/24: Research assistant at the Institute for European Ethnology and the Berlin Institute
for Empirical Migration Research (including in 2024 in the project: ‘Transforming Solidarities. Practices and Infrastructures in the Migration Society,’ a joint project of the Berlin University Alliance) - 2022-2024: The Dark Side of Infrastructure. Global Configurations of State, Capitalism and Violence
in Sri Lanka and Mexico. Independent research project with Timo Dorsch - 12/21-10/25: Doctoral scholarship from the Hans Böckler Foundation
- Since 12/21: Doctoral studies at Humboldt University of Berlin
- Since 2020: Political consulting and research (including conflict and context analyses
as well as interview- and document-based studies on human rights-related topics) - Since 2018: Freelance journalism on Sri Lanka
- 2020: Master of Arts in Ethnology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main
- 2019: Bachelor of Arts in Ethnology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main
- 2017: Bachelor of Arts in Education/Pedagogy, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main
Selected Publications
Solidaritäten transformieren – Praktiken und Infrastrukturen in der Migrationsgesellschaft (Hg. Transforming Solidarities, Redaktion Asita Behzadi, Bernd Kasparek, Ulrike Kluge, Sowmya Maheswaran und Veronika Zablotsky), adocs Verlag, 2025
- “Ein Globaler Horizont der Solidarität. Bewegung/en jenseits des Nationalen”, adocs 2025
- “Zum Verhältnis von Antisemitismus, Rassismus und Solidarität: Ein Gespräch von Stefanie Schüler-Springorum mit Sowmya Maheswaran”, adocs 2025
Peripherie. Politik Ökonomie Kultur
- 2022: : „Rezension: Harini Amarasuriya, Tobias Kelly, Sidharthan Maunaguru, Galina Dustinova-Stjepanovic & Jonathan Spencer (Hg.): The Intimate Life of Dissent: Anthropological Perspectives“
- 2019: „Rezension: Eva Gerharz, Nasir Uddin & Pradeep Chakkarath (Hg.): Indigeneity on the Move. Varying Manifestations of a Contested Concept.”
Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik
- 2024: “Sri Lanka: Krieg bis zum Bitteren Ende” (Co-Autorin mit Karin Zennig)
- 2021: “Sri Lanka: Militarisierung als Krisenpolitik”
- 2019: “Sri Lanka: Nationalismus auf dem Vormarsch”
- 2019: “Sri Lanka: Der groteske Putsch”
Journalistic publications
Atlas of Migration
- “Reasons to Move” (Co-Autorin Dr. Ramona Lenz), 2019
Tagebuch. Zeitschrift für Auseinandersetzung. (Österreich)
- “Sri Lankas vergessener Krieg” (Co-Autorin mit Karin Zennig), 2024
- “Trügerische Idylle” (Co-Autorin mit Timo Dorsch), 2024
Brot für die Welt Blog
- Die Schattenseiten des Tourismus, 2024
Das Lamm (Schweiz)
- Die Diaspora kämpft für Gerechtigkeit, 2025 (gefördert durch den Medienfonds “real 21 – die Welt verstehen)
Missy Magazine. Magazin für Pop, Politik und Feminismus
- „Politik & Protest: „El sur resiste“: Der Süden wehrt sich” (Co-Autorin mit Miriam Moreno Sánchez ), 2024
- „Politik & Protest: Kampf im Singular“, 2023
Neues Deutschland. Journalismus von links
- „Neue Ära in Sri Lanka spart Tamilen aus“, 2022
- „Nach der kolonialen Dynastie“, 2020
- „Sri Lanka im Griff des Autoritarismus“, 2020