Mira Mohsini

Mira Mohsini received a PhD in Social Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London in 2010. She conducted research with Muslim artisans who are skilled in a form of embroidery done with metallic wires, called zardozi.  The primary fieldwork site was in the old city of Delhi, India where these artisans have lived and worked for generations. Her doctoral dissertation examined the increasing marginalization and exclusion of urban Muslim artisans from the broader rhetoric of “authenticity” in projects of nation-building, as well as subject-making. She focused on the strategies that artisans use to constitute themselves as “authentic” (asli) subjects, which included the incorporation of Islam into conceptions of ideal work practices; the construction of the “Other” through language that distinguished authentic from inauthentic; productions of lineage through narratives situated in both linear and non-linear temporal frameworks; and relations with the state – the largest patron of crafts in India – through encounters with government sponsored exhibitions and award competitions.

Her research interests include the historical formation of communities of urban workers, the practice of Islam in South Asia, and broader debates concerning craftsmanship and the transmission of skills.