Dr Zehni, Malikabonui
Dr Zehni, Malikabonui
Malika Zehni received her PhD in History from the University of Cambridge with a dissertation entitled ‘Chasing Papers and Documenting Mobile Subjects in Colonial Central Asia, 1865-1916.’ She is a historian of mobility, borders, and documentation in and around Central Asia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing on her training in art history, her research approaches documentation as a material and social practice to explore how mobile actors shaped bureaucratic regimes.
Her first book project, Paper Chasers: Moving Across Empires in Central Asia, 1865-1916, examines how individuals navigated, subverted, and co-created paper practices. Based on multi-lingual research in archives across Eurasia, the book traces pilgrims, labourers, and merchants asserting belonging and shaping their paths across the borderlands of the Russian, Qing, Qajar, and British empires.
Her research has been supported by a Past & Present Fellowship at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; a Fox International Fellowship at Yale University; and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. Her work has been published in journals including Past & Present, the Journal of World History, and Cultural and Social History.
While at the Society of Fellows, she will be completing her book manuscript and related articles on migration and border practices.
| Year | Awarding Institution | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| University of Cambridge | Ph.D. (History) |
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