Azeem Ahmed is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, from where he has also completed his MA and MPhil in Sociology. He is interested in the question of caste, social mobility and the politics of identity, with a special focus on the caste associations of marginalized Muslim castes. In his doctoral research, Azeem offers an ethnographic investigation of the organizations of the Rayeen caste in contemporary North India, demonstrating how they seek to reshape the position of their caste group within the Muslim social hierarchy through their engagement with internal reform, political mobilization and ‘universal’ charity.

Azeem’s academic work has been published in the South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal (SAMAJ) and Contemporary South Asia. More recently, he has contributed a chapter titled ‘Caste Consolidation among the Rayeens in Uttar Pradesh’, in The Wicked Problem: Caste, Power, and Dominance in Modern India (Westland Books 2026). Before joining Krea, Azeem taught at Dr B.R. Ambedkar University and Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi, where he offered courses on Urban Sociology, Contemporary Social Issues and Reading & Writing Sociology, among others. 

Research: Caste, Politics, Social movements

Publications:

Ahmed, A. (2026). Caste Consolidation among the Rayeens in Uttar Pradesh. In Sumit Samos & Barbara Harris-White (Ed.) The Wicked Problem: Caste, Power, and Dominance in Modern India. Westland Books.

Ahmed, A. (2025). “Lanzillo, Amanda. Pious Labor: Islam, Artisanship, and Technology in Colonial India.” South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal [Online], 34. https://doi.org/10.4000/14mh6 

Ahmed, A. (2023). Social mobility and politicisation of caste among the Rayeens of Uttar Pradesh. Contemporary South Asia, 31(3), 442–457. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2238266 

Teaching Modules:

Writing and Oral Communication (WOC)