Department of Anthropology and Sociology
Joseph Zoliana
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Key information
Key information
- Department
- Department of Anthropology and Sociology
- Qualifications
- MRes at SOAS
- Subject
- Anthropology and Sociology
- Email address
- 713773@soas.ac.uk
- Thesis title
- Urban Spaces and Ethnic Belonging in Aizawl Amidst Socio-Political Shifts
- Internal Supervisors
- Professor Sanjay Srivastava & Dr Saad Quasem
Biography
Joseph Zoliana is a postgraduate researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, pursuing an MRes in Social Anthropology. His research examines how ethnic belonging and urban citizenship are negotiated in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram in Northeast India, where migration and displacement have reshaped everyday life.
Focusing on the presence of Chin refugees and displaced Kuki communities, he investigates how their arrival has reconfigured the city’s social landscape, turning Aizawl into a contested urban space shaped by competing claims to identity and belonging. His work adopts a multi-sited ethnographic approach that combines field research in refugee settlements and neighborhoods in Aizawl with digital ethnography on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. This approach allows him to analyze how digital media intersects with physical urban spaces in the production of ethnic boundaries, civic participation, and public discourse.
The research is informed by theories of space, identity formation, liminality, and hybridity, which guide his analysis of how media representations can reinforce exclusion or enable new forms of political and social recognition. As a Mizo anthropologist, Joseph reflexively engages with his own positionality in the field, interrogating how insider–outsider dynamics shape knowledge production. His work draws on a feminist ethics of care, prioritizing relational accountability and ethical engagement with vulnerable communities. He collaborates with organizations such as the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) to better understand refugee experiences and ensure the well-being of research participants.
Joseph’s broader academic interests span urban anthropology, cultural geography, migration studies, and Northeast Indian studies, with particular attention to how digital technologies mediate urban change. By centering a peripheral, non-metropolitan city, his research challenges dominant urban theories grounded in global metropolises and contributes to debates on postcolonial urbanism, digital citizenship, and borderland identities. Ultimately, his work seeks to advance a decolonial understanding of urban futures in ethnically diverse and politically complex regions.
Research interests
Urban anthropology with a focus on non-metropolitan urbanization in Northeast India. The intersections of ethnic identity, migration, and urban spaces in post-conflict regions. The role of digital technologies and social media in mediating identity, belonging, and socio-political discourse. Refugee resettlement and the negotiation of ethnic boundaries in urban and digital contexts. Postcolonial urbanism and the transformation of cities in ethnically distinct and geographically peripheral regions. The impact of socio-political shifts, such as migration and displacement, on urban citizenship and solidarity. The co-constitutive relationship between physical and digital spaces in shaping urban life and identity. Ethical research practices and the application of feminist ethics of care in working with marginalized communities.
