Julien Levesque is a political sociologist whose work focuses on socio-political dynamics in South Asian Muslim societies. Before joining UZH, he was Visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science at Ashoka University, in India. Previously, he was Head Researcher of the Politics and Society division at a French research centre in New Delhi, the Centre de Sciences Humaines. Julien holds a PhD (2016) in Political Science from the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), where he conducted his research at the Centre for South Asian Studies (CEIAS).

His first monograph, published in 2022 by the Presses universitaires de Rennes (in French), looks into nationalism and identity construction in Pakistan with a focus on the southern Sindh province. His ongoing work examines caste-based political mobilization among Muslims in India.

Islam and politics in South Asia

Nationalism and identity

Minority politics and representation

2023 Julien Levesque, Soheb Niazi, “Introduction. Caste politics, minority representation, and social mobility: the associational life of Muslim caste in India”, Contemporary South Asia, 31(3), July 2023, p. 413-425, DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2240258

2023 Julien Levesque, “Anjuman, jami‘at, or association: what Sayyid organizations tell us about associational forms among Muslim caste groups”, Contemporary South Asia, 31(3), July 2023, p. 483-497, DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2240719

2023 Julien Levesque, “Caste among Muslims in North India and Pakistan”, in Jules Naudet & Surinder S. Jodhka (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Caste, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023, p. 290-302, ISBN: 9780198896715

2022 Julien Levesque, “Ethno-nationalisme et musées ethnographiques en contexte postcolonial : représenter la culture du Sindh au Pakistan”, special issue “Tous les musées du monde...”, Gradhiva, 34, p. 94-111, DOI : 10.4000/gradhiva.6435

2022 Julien Levesque, Pour une autre idée du Pakistan : nationalisme et construction identitaire dans le Sindh, Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2022, ISBN: 9782753582842

2021 Julien Levesque, “Beyond Success or Failure: Sindhi Nationalism and the Social Construction of the “Idea of Sindh””, Journal of Sindhi Studies, 1(1), DOI: 10.1163/26670925-bja10001

2020 Laurence Gautier & Julien Levesque, “Introduction: Historicizing Sayyid-ness: Social Status and Muslim Identity in South Asia”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 30(3), p. 383-393, DOI: 10.1017/S1356186320000139

2020 Julien Levesque, “From Student Organizations to Ethnic Parties: Sindhi nationalism during One Unit”, in Jürgen Schaflechner, Christina Österheld & Ayesha Asif (eds.), Pakistan: Alternative Imag(in)ings of the Nation-State, Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2020, p. 247-286, ISBN: 9780190701314

2017 Michel Boivin, Matthew Cook, & Julien Levesque (eds.), Discovering Sindh’s Past: Selections from the Journal of the Sindh Historical Society, 1934-1948, Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2017, ISBN: 9780199407804

2016 Julien Levesque, “‘Sindhis are Sufi by Nature’: Sufism as a Marker of Identity in Sindh”, in Deepra Dandekar & Torsten Tschacher (eds.), Islam, Sufism and Everyday Politics of Belonging in South Asia, London: Routledge, 2016, p. 212-227, ISBN: 9781138910683

2014 Julien Levesque & Camille Bui, “Umar Marvi and the Representation of Sindh: Cinema and Modernity in the Margins”, Bioscope: South Asian Screen Studies, 5(2), p. 119-128, DOI: 10.1177/0974927614547990

2013 Julien Levesque, “Managing Diversity in Pakistan: Nationalism, Ethnic Politics and Cultural Resistance” (review essay), South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, Book Reviews, 11 June 2013, http://samaj.eu/3551

Qualitative Research Methods and Academic Writing in Area Studies (FS23)