Aadarsh Gangwar

Visiting Scholar

Aadarsh Gangwar is a PhD candidate in anthropology and sociology at the Geneva Graduate Institute. He is writing up a dissertation on the experiences of queer people in the asylum system in Switzerland, with a focus on peer support and credibility assessment. Through an ethnographic account of sociality among queer asylum seekers and those who advocate their rights at grassroots collectives and associations, this thesis explores the contours of how credibility and genuineness come to be constructed, asserted, and contested both within and beyond the asylums system. In doing so, it brings queer theory and practice to bear on anthropological critiques of humanitarianism, innocence, and deservingness. Aadarsh’s doctoral project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant 211912). Some of Aadarsh’s scholarly contributions can be found at Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies and Allegra Lab.

Participating Years

2025–2026

Mobility: Transit and Transformation

Crises of mobility have become a key integer of social struggle in the world system. Whether one considers the explosion of different forms of movement or the production of immobility, in carcerality, wagelessness, enclosure, or via the securitization of borders, mobility and its discontents are central to radical activism across local and transnational communities.