糖心Vlog

People

Dr Sobia Ahmad Kaker

Lecturer
Department of Sociology and Criminology
Dr Sobia Ahmad Kaker
  • Email

  • Telephone

    +44 (0) 1206 872178

  • Location

    5A.340, Colchester Campus

  • Academic support hours

    Fridays: 14:00-16:00 (drop in or zoom (email for link)

Profile

Biography

I am an interdisciplinary academic, working on the intersection of sociology, criminology and urban studies. My research focuses on the governance of everyday insecurity and uncertainty in societies marked by extreme class inequalities and ethno-political differences. Prior to joining 糖心Vlog in 2021, I have held academic posts at Goldsmiths, University of London and LSE Cities. I have also had experience of working in research and policy institutions in Islamabad and Karachi (Pakistani). My ongoing research on insecurity and urban life in Pakistan has contributed to critical debates in urban sociology, criminology, and security studies. In the past 7 years, aspects of this research have been published in leading journals (Public Culture, South Asian History and Culture, Security Dialogue, The Geographical Journal), respected design publications (Harvard Design Magazine), impactful working papers and reports (Urban Uncertainty, LSE; Cities in Fragile States, DESTIN), book chapters (Columbia University Press, Routledge, Goldsmiths Press), Podcasts (Urban Political Podcast at Humboldt University, and Between the Lines at IDS Sussex), agenda-setting research seminars (IDS Sussex, Cambridge university) and blogs (Society and Space Forum). I am strongly committed to promoting and enabling social justice through academic research. To this end, I have recently completed a REC-GCRF funded action-research project titled 鈥楿ncertainty & Insecurity of Tenure: Developing Infrastructures of Care and Resistance in Islamabad, Pakistan鈥 (拢34,172). This action-research project responded to the violent state-led eviction of working-class communities living in katchi abadis (irregular settlements) in Islamabad, the heavily-securitised Pakistani capital. It built and strengthened networks between marginal urban residents, social activists, and wider urban communities, while developing a counter narrative to state-led discourses of irregular settlement dwellers and their places of residence as 鈥榠llegal鈥 and/or 'criminal'. I am also continuing research on the dynamics of policing (relationship between public police, private security and community policing) across different spaces in Karachi, Pakistan. I welcome Phd Students interested in topics such as pluralised policing, spatialisations of security, urban inequalities and divided cities.

Qualifications

  • PhD Newcastle University, (2015)

Appointments

糖心Vlog

  • Lecturer, Department of Sociology, 糖心Vlog (1/9/2021 - present)

Research and professional activities

Research interests

Research Interests

Key words: Cities and society, Geographies of fear and insecurity, Politics of security, Governing urban crime, Criminalisation, Ordinary uncertainty, Social and spatial Inequalities, Urban Violence, Urban infrastructures, Enclaves and Enclavisation, Urban ethnography, Postcolonial and southern theories and contexts.
Open to supervise

Teaching and supervision

Current teaching responsibilities

  • Human Rights: Global Diversity and Global Challenges (HU930)

  • Policing, Punishment and Society (SC205)

  • Globalisation and Crime (SC304)

Publications

Journal articles (6)

Kaker, SA., (2024). . Security Dialogue. 55 (5), 479-498

Akoth, SO., Anwar, N., Bathla, N., Cavalcanti, M., El鈥怘usseiny, M., G眉ney, KM., Irawaty, DT., Kaker, SA., Kihato, CW., Lawanson, T., Saguin, KK. and Simone, A., (2024). . Geographical Journal. 190 (1)

Kaker, SA. and Anwar, NH., (2023). . Geographical Journal. 190 (1)

Zeiderman, A., Kaker, SA., Silver, J. and Wood, A., (2015). . Public Culture. 27 (2), 281-304

Kaker, SA., (2014). . South Asian History and Culture. 5 (1), 93-107

Graham, S. and Kaker, SA., (2014). Living the security city: Karachi's archipelago of enclaves. Harvard Design Magazine (37), 12-17

Book chapters (3)

Kaker, SA., (2024). . In: How To Do Social Research With.... Editors: Coleman, R., Jungnickel, K. and Puwar, N., . Goldsmiths Press. 151- 162. 1913380424. 9781913380427

Kaker, SA., Evans, J., Cugurullo, F., Cook, M. and Petrova, S., (2020). . In: The Politics of Uncertainty Challenges of Transformation. Editors: Scoones, I. and Sterling, A., . Routledge. 85- 98. 9781003023845

Kaker, SA., (2020). . In: Cities at War Global Insecurity and Urban Resistance. Editors: Kaldor, M. and Sassen, S., . Colombia University Press. 133- 159. 9780231185394

Reports and Papers (4)

Ahmad Kaker, S., Turi, S-H. and Rashid, A., (2021). Right to Housing: A Toolkit for Action

Ahmad Kaker, S., Zeiderman, A., Silver, J., Wood, A. and Ramakrishnan, K., (2017). Urban Uncertainty: governing cities in turbulent times

Kaker, SA., Budhani, AA., Gazdar, H. and Bux Mallah, H., (2010).

Ahmad Kaker, S., Gazdar, H. and Khan, I., (2010). Buffer Zone, Colonial Enclave or Urban Hub? Quetta: Between four regions and two wars.

Media (1)

Sterling, A. and Kaker, S., Podcast: Andy Sterling (STEPS) in conversation with Sobia Kaker on COVID-19, Uncertainty and development (Sussex Development Lectures 2020/2021). Video

Grants and funding

2025

Patchworked Policing: A pilot study of policing arrangements in a socio-spatially divided southern megacity

British Academy

Contact

s.kaker@essex.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1206 872178

Location:

5A.340, Colchester Campus

Academic support hours:

Fridays: 14:00-16:00 (drop in or zoom (email for link)

More about me