Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities
United Kingdom
fellow
Dustin Lalkulhpuia
2025-2026
2026-2027
Home institution
Maharaja Bir Bikram College
Country of origin (home institution)
India
Discipline(s)
Colonial and postcolonial history; Literature
Theme(s)
Contemporary violence & Justice; Cultural Studies; Democracy, Citizenship, Governance; Identity; Information & media; Post-colonialism
Fellowship dates
›
Biography
Dr Dustin Lalkulhpuia (he/him) is a Mizo academic and writer from Northeast India with a PhD in English and Culture Studies. His research engages with Indigenous knowledge, ethics, and postcolonial literatures drawing on over a decade of embedded experience among more than twenty Indigenous communities across the Northeast Indian region, including the Mizo, Khasi, Naga and Tripuri. He has collected and documented Indigenous folk narratives, oral histories, and songs that inform both his scholarship and creative work. He is the author of the monographs Identity in Northeast Indian Literature: Rereading Select Writings from Meghalaya (2024) and Kokborok Literature from Tripura: Voices from Below (2023), and has more than nine years of experience in media and journalism.
Research Project
The Indigenous Thinks: Relational Sovereignty and Epistemic Interventions from Northeast India
My project explores Indigenous theorising from Northeast India in comparative perspective with Latin America. Focusing on concepts such as tlawmngaihna, jhum, and Kuknalim, the research examines how Indigenous communities articulate ethical, ecological, and political frameworks that challenge dominant paradigms. Through trans-Indigenous dialogue with Latin American traditions like buen vivir and comunalidad, the project aims to reposition Northeast India within global Indigenous theory and contribute to wider debates on care, sovereignty, and climate crisis.
Research Interests:
Ethics; postcolonialism; Indigenous knowledge; media