Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research (BIM)


Sowmya Maheswaran

sowmya.maheswaran@hu-berlin.de

 

 

 

sowmya.maheswaran@hu-berlin.de

 

Profile

  

Sowmya Maheswaran is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for European Ethnology and the Berlin Institute for Empirical Migration Research at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research and teaching focus on the global dynamics of violence and resistance—particularly in the context of war and post-war periods, displacement, and political and solidarity movements.

In her doctoral project, “Resistance in Motion: A Global Horizon of Tamil Struggles,” completed in November 2025, she examined how dissidents and cultures of resistance emerge. To this end, she conducted ethnographic research in Sri Lanka, in the former war zone and quasi-state of Tamil Eelam, and within the diaspora.

In addition, she addresses the geopolitical dimensions of development and infrastructure in (post)colonial contexts. Through collaborative research, she conducted field studies on the controversial “Tren Maya” train project in Mexico, as well as the “Colombo Port City,” “Hambantota,” and “Trincomalee” in Sri Lanka to analyze processes of dispossession, extractivism, and demographic and social change.

Her work combines approaches from political and global anthropology with critical migration studies.

    

Research focus

    

  • Anthropology of the Global and the Political
  • Violence (particularly colonial/capitalist forms)
  • Resistance and social movements
  • Political subjectivation
  • Ethnographic methods (particularly in conflict contexts)

     

Curriculum Vitae

 

  • Since 2025: Research Associate (research and teaching) at the Institute for European Ethnology
    and the Berlin Institute for Empirical Migration Research
  • 2024: Research Associate (book editing, science communication, and public relations) on the project “Transforming Solidarities. Practices and Infrastructures in Migration Society,” a collaborative project
    of the Berlin University Alliance
  • 2021–2025: Ph.D. at the Faculty of Philosophy, Humboldt University of Berlin (funded by a doctoral fellowship from the Hans Böckler Foundation)
  • 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
  • Since 2020: Political consulting and conflict analysis (particularly for development and human rights organizations)
  • 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 Educational Sciences/Pedagogy, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main

 

Lectures (selected)

   

  • 2025: “Global Greifen. Postcolonial Reflections on Solidarity and Subjectivity” (with Timo Dorsch) Conference: Struggles for Solidarity and Emancipation, organized by the Hans Böckler Foundation
    and the Institute for Social Research, Frankfurt am Main
  • 2024: “The Dark Side of Development”
Conference: Racial Capitalism. Marxism Meets Postcolonial Studies, University of Kassel
  • 2024: “The Geopolitical Potential of (Post-)War,” Conference: Industry-Led Operations of Capital
    in the 21st Century, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok
  • 2022: “On Violence, Subjectivity, and Diasporic Dissent,” Conference: Migration and Time: Temporalities, Governance, and Resistance, Oslo Metropolitan University

  

Non-university Lectures (selection)

       

  • 2025: “Violence and Resistance: The War for Tamil Eelam”
Symposium on Asian Perspectives Against War and Racism, organized by korientation e.V., Cologne
  • 2024: “movement/s in resistance”
Telling Tales. Towards Anti-Fascist Futures, organized by beursschouwburg, Brussels
  • 2023: “Racism, Discrimination and Neo-Colonialism in Tourism” 
Colonial Continuities in Tourism, organized by GATE e.V. & Tourism Watch of Brot für die Welt

          

Scholarships

  

  • 2021–2025: Doctoral Fellowship from the Hans Böckler Foundation

  • 2018–2020: Study Grant from the German National Academic Foundation

  • 2016–2018: Germany Scholarship; PROMOS and DAAD scholarships for research stays abroad

  • 2014–2016: Nassau Central Study Fund

 

   

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 
 

 


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

  

 
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