Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles (if you need help with accessing my papers, please get in touch)
15. Ferdoush, M.A. (2025) On the example: The need for a complementary contraposition to Giorgio Agamben’s theorization of the exception. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2025.2481136 (Open Access)
14. Ruwanpura, K. N and Ferdoush, M.A. (2023) Gendering the BRI: A viewpoint. Gender, Place & Culture, online first, pp. 1-10, https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2023.2234660 (Open Access)
13. Ferdoush, M. A. (2023). Showcase citizens: Citizenship in the making along the borders of post-colonial South Asia. Citizenship Studies, 27 (1), pp. 59-80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2022.2073971 (Open Access)
12. Ferdoush, M. A. & Väätänen, V. (2022). Anticipatory state identity: Understanding the Finnish state's approach to the Arctic. Area, 54 (4), pp.618-626. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12802 (Open Access)
11. Ferdoush, M. A. (2022). Flexible land: The state and its citizens' negotiation over land ownership. Geoforum, 130. pp. 46-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.02.003 (Open Access)
10. Paasi, A., Ferdoush, M.A., Jones, R., Murphy, A.B., Agnew, J., Ochoa Espejo, P., Fall, J. J. & Peterle, G. (2022). Locating the territoriality of territory in border studies. Political Geography, 95, pp. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102584 (Open Access)
09. Ferdoush, M. A. (2021). To “help” or not to “help” the participant: A global South ethnographer’s dilemma in the global South. Geoforum, 124. pp. 75-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.06.004 (Open Access)
08. Ferdoush, M. A. (2021). Sovereign atonement: (Non)citizenship, territory, and state-making in post-colonial South Asia. Antipode, 53 (2). pp. 546-566. DOI: 10.1111/anti.12685 (Antipode short video abstract) (Antipode Critical Class Room Resource)
07. Ferdoush, M. A. (2020/2023). Navigating the 'field': Reflexivity, uncertainties, and negotiation along the border of Bangladesh and India. Ethnography. 24 (2). pp. 176-196. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138120937040.
06. Ferdoush, M. A. (2019). Acts of belonging: The choice of citizenship in the former border enclaves of Bangladesh and India. Political Geography, 70. pp. 83-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2019.01.015. (Finalist, Political Geography Early Career Researcher Award 2020)
05. Ferdoush, M. A. (2019). Symbolic spaces: Nationalism and compromise in the former border enclaves of Bangladesh and India. Area, 51 (4). pp. 763-770. https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/area.12539.
04. Ferdoush, M. A. (2018). Seeing borders through the lens of structuration: A theoretical framework. Geopolitics, 23 (1). pp. 180-200. https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2017.1341406. (Winner of Outstanding Publication by a Graduate Student Award 2018, Geography & Environment, UH Mānoa)
03. Ferdoush, M. A. (2016). Revisiting Cass’s model of homosexual identity development in the context of Bangladesh society. Sage Open, 6 (2). pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016651913. (Open Access)
02. Ferdoush, M. A. (2014). Rethinking border crossing narratives: A comparison between Bangladesh-India enclaves. Journal of South Asian Studies, 2 (2). pp. 107-113. (Open Access)
01. Ferdoush, M. A. (2013). Living with stigma and managing sexual identity: A case study on the kotis in Dhaka. Sociology Mind, 3 (4). pp. 257-263. DOI: 10.4236/sm.2013.34034. (Open Access)
Books and Edited Volumes
02. Sovereign Atonement: Citizenship, Territory and the State at the Bangladesh-India Border, 2024, Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009423342 amazon.cu.uk. amazon.com Cambridge Core
The former border enclaves of Bangladesh and India existed as extra-territorial spaces since 1947. They were finally exchanged and merged as host state territories in 2015. Sovereign Atonement focuses on the protracted territorial exchange and experiences of the newly accepted Bangladeshi citizens. It grapples with one broad question: why did the state assume an active role in smoothing the once excluded population’s experiences into their inclusion within the sovereign project?
The book dives deep into an ethnographic and historical reading of the everyday state, land and territory, informality, (non)state actors, and performance of sovereignty. Furthermore, it troubles the often taken-for-granted understanding of exception, governance, and citizenship. As such, it offers a retake on the two seemingly contradictory concepts — “sovereign” and “atonement”— to demonstrate that bridged together these concepts as sovereign atonement enables a novel way of appreciating geopolitical narratives, political geographies, and nationalistic discourse in South Asia and beyond.
(Reviewed by Ranjan. A, in South Asia Research: “scrupulous exposition of the multiple challenges faced in the enclaves”)
(Podcast on New Books Network)
01. Jones, R. and Ferdoush, M. A. (eds.) (2018). Borders and mobility in South Asia and beyond. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
(Open Access)
(Reviewed by Chattoraj, D. in Journal of Contemporary South Asia : “relevant,” “thought-provoking,” and “a good read”)
(Reviewed by Shahriar, S. Migration Letters: “an excellent compilation”)
Book Chapters
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003038993-5
Encyclopedia Entry
01. Ferdoush, M. A.(2020). Structuration Theory. In Audrey Kobayashi (ed.) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, pp. 97-104, London: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102295-5.10714-0
Short Illustrative Vignette
01. Ferdous, M.A. (2023). Narrative: Enclave dwellers, (non)citizens, proxy citizens, Bangladeshis, and Indians. In K. Jacobsen and N. Majidi (eds), Handbook on Forced Migration. London: Edward Elgar, pp 190-191.
Book Review
01. Ferdoush, M. A. (2021). Junge passports: Fences, mobility, and citizenship at the northeast India-Bangladesh border. International Migration Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183211058728.
Conferences
18. Ferdoush, M.A. (2024) The permanent temporary: Chronopolitics and categories in Finland. American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HI, April 16 – 20.
17. Ferdoush, M.A. (2024) Chronopolitics and categories: When temporary becomes permanent. Political Geography Specialty Group Pre-Conference, Honolulu, Hi, April 15.
16. Ferdoush, M.A. (2023) The “chain-melted phase” of EU borders: Categories, containers, and boundaries. BOMOCULT Conference, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland, October 05-06.
15. Ferdoush, M.A. (2023) Citizenship as a technology of territory. American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, March 2307- March 27.
14. Ferdoush, M.A. (2023) On “exception” and “example”: From inclusive exclusion to exclusive inclusion. Political Geography Specialty Group Pre-Conference, Boulder, Colorado, March 22.
13. Ferdoush, M.A. (2022) To "help" or not to "help" the participant: An ethnographer's dilemma. The Society for the Study of Ethnic Relations and International Migration (ETMU) Conference, Joensuu, Finland, November 24-25.
12. Ferdoush, M.A, (2022) “Let Live” but “Make Wait?”: Exploring the sovereign technologies of temporality in supplanting its power of “make die.” Finnish Geography Days, Tampere, Finland, November 03-04.
11. Ferdoush, M.A. (2021) Showcase citizenship: Experiences in the border enclaves of Bangladesh and India. Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference (RGS-IBG), online, London, UK August 31-September 03.
10. Ferdoush, M. A. (2021). The border moved and the land became “flexible.” The Line Crossed Us Conference, Lethbridge Border Studies Research Group, Lethbridge University, Alberta, Canada, June 10-11.
09. Ferdoush, M. A. (2021). Acts of motion: Towards a post-humanistic understanding of borders. American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, April 07- April 11.
08. Ferdoush, M. A. (2021). Showcase citizens: Citizenship in making along the border of Bangladesh and India. Political Geography Specialty Group Pre-Conference. Washington, January 06-07.
07. Ferdoush, M. A. (2020). Acts of belonging: Incorporating the stateless from below. Migration in the North, Arctic Center, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland, October 29-30.
06. Ferdoush, M. A. (2019). Sovereign overcompensation: (Re)making the border and citizens in the former enclaves of Bangladesh and India. American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Washington DC, April 03- April 07.
05. Ferdoush, M. A. (2019). Acts of belonging: The choice of citizenship in the former border enclaves of Bangladesh and India. Political Geography Specialty Group Pre-Conference. Washington DC, April 02.
04. Ferdoush, M. A. (2016). Swapping territories: Choosing citizenship, sovereignty, and belonging in the former Bangladesh- India border enclaves. Center for South Asian Studies, UH Mānoa 33rd Annual Spring Symposium: Borders and Mobility. Honolulu, HI. April 6-8.
03. Ferdoush, M. A. (2016). Settling in and settling out of the border enclaves of Bangladesh and India: New identity, new prospects, new problems too? American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA. March 29-April 02.
02. Ferdoush, M. A. (2016). After the exchange: citizenship, sovereignty, and belonging in the former Bangladesh-India border enclaves. Political Geography Specialty Group Pre-Conference. San Francisco, CA. March 28
01. Ferdoush, M. A. (2016). Exchanging Bangladesh-India border enclaves, changing states, changing nationality: Problems and prospects. The Annual EWC Graduate Student Conference. Honolulu-Hawaii. February 11-13.
Invited Talks
09. Ferdoush, M.A. (2024). On the example: Giorgio Agamben, the exception, and the flip side of the coin. Brunn Early Career Lecture in Political Geography, American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HI, April 16.
08. Ferdoush, M.A. (2023). From inclusive exclusion to exclusive inclusion: How the sovereign state uses “exception” and “example” as it wills along the borders of Bangladesh, India and Myanmar. World History and Literature Initiative (WHaLI), University of Michigan, MI, June 13.
07. Ferdoush, M. A. (2021). Sovereign atonement and the making of showcase citizens along the borders of Bangladesh and India. Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, South Asia Center, Syracuse University, NY, November 02.
05. Ferdoush, M. A. (2019). Global migration and refugee "crisis". Sacred Hearths Academy, Honolulu, HI, December 13.
04. Ferdoush, M. A. (2019). To ‘leave’ or to ‘move’: Experiences of citizenship along the border of Bangladesh and India. International Cultural Studies Fall Faculty Speaker Series, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, October 16.
02. Ferdoush, M. A. (2018). The choice of citizenship: Social memory, regional identity, and spatial socialization, Sociology Colloquium at the Department of Sociology, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 30.
Campus Talks & Guest Lectures
05. Ferdoush, M. A. (2022). From "exception" to "example," Critical Geopolitics and Border Theories Guest Lecture, University of Eastern Finland, February 03.
04. Ferdoush, M. A. (2021). Sovereign atonement and showcase citizens, Cultural Geography Guest Lecture, Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, Finland, April 06.
03. Ferdoush, M. A. (2019). Flexible lands: The state and its citizens’ negotiation over land ownership, Annual Geography Student Symposium, UH Mānoa, May 03.
02. Ferdoush, M. A. (2017). Seeing borders through the lens of structuration: A theoretical framework. Annual Geography Student Symposium, UH Mānoa, May 05.
01. Ferdoush, M. A. (2016). After the exchange: Citizenship, sovereignty and belonging in the former Bangladesh-India border enclaves. Annual Geography Student Symposium, UH Mānoa, May 06.
Policy Reports/Papers
02. Koikkalainen, S., Ferdoush, M.A., Virkkunen, J. (2024). Finland country report: Governance and policy changes during times of high influxes of protection seekers, 2015-June 2023. Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR), Norway.
01. Hernes, V.; Danielsen, Å. Ø; Tvedt, K., Staver, A. B.; Tronstad, K. Łukasiewicz, K.; Pachocka, M., Yeliseyeu, A., Casu, L., Z., Silke; B. Mette, L., Engler, M., Nowicka, M., Koikkalainen, S., Ferdoush, M. A., Virkkunen, J., Kazepov, Y., Berthelot, B., Franz, Y., (2024), Governance and policy changes during times of high influxes of protection seekers. A comparative governance and policy analysis in eight European countries, 2015-June 2023. Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR), Norway. NIBR Report;2023:8.
Web-based Publications
01. Borderwork and borders in South Asia through structuration
Op-Eds
02. 70 Years After Partition: From 'Bare Lives' to 'Bare Citizens'
01. Life in the camp
