Afsar Mohammad

Dr. Afsar Mohammed is a Senior Lecturer of Foreign Languages in the South Asian Studies department at the University of Pennsylvania, primarily focusing on Telugu. His research interests have revolved around popular Islam and shared devotional practices in South India and most recently on the Police Action in Hyderabad and the subsequent minoritisation of the Hyderabadi Muslims. In addition to the book excerpted here, he is the author of ‘The Festival of Pirs: Popular Islam and Shared Devotion in South India’.

Besides his academic pursuits, he is a celebrated Telugu poet who has published four volumes of poetry. For his contributions to Telugu poetry since 1980 he has been awarded the prestigious Indian national award “Saraswathi Bhasha Samman”. He is also known as a trend-setting literary critic whose writings on Telangana/Andhra-based Hindu-Muslim interfaces have sparked new questions and energised debates. He is the current editor of the Telugu weekly web magazine – Saranga. 

You can find more on his research, poetry, and an expanded bio here.