Biography

Dr Kartikeya Kumar is an academic and peace practitioner whose work spans university teaching, ethnographic research, and public scholarship. He is an Assistant Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University, where he specialises in Nationalism, Conflict, and Peace Studies, with a particular focus on the Kashmir conflict.

His ethnographic research with Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits explores the lived experiences of identity, belonging, aspiration, and suffering in the context of prolonged conflict. His work is grounded in a commitment to rehumanisation and the co-production of peace, with a focus on dignity, recognition, and justice for communities affected by structural and symbolic forms of violence. More broadly, he is interested in developing interdisciplinary and community-centred approaches to understanding conflict and imagining more just forms of coexistence.

He is also the co-founder of Sulah-Vārta: A Centre for Conversations for a Shared Subcontinent, a community of practice that seeks to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and grassroots engagement. Through research, dialogue, and public scholarship, Sulah-Vārta brings together scholars, practitioners, communities, and other stakeholders to generate and translate knowledge into pathways for peaceful coexistence across the subcontinent.