Biography
Asma Shakeel graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Services in Qatar where she earned an honors degree in International History. Her senior thesis examined the history of British involvement in Kashmir through never-before-analysed missionary archives. Titled Where the Empires Meet: The History of Christian Medicine and Missionaries in Kashmir 1846-1880, her thesis received a distinction. Asma was the Provost’s Distinguished Undergraduate Research Fellow for 2023-2024 conducting archival research in Britain and India. Asma has also worked on circular migration and the impact of the post-COVID-19 policies on daily wage workers through a year-long Lisa J. Raines Fellowship.
As a publications assistant at the Centre for International and Regional Studies, Asma helped copyedit the forthcoming book Global Histories and Practices of Islamophobia. Previously, she interned at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs working on issues like transitional justice in Kashmir, track II negotiations, and the Arab Spring.
Outside of the classroom, Asma served as the President of the university’s South Asian Society and was an active member of Georgetown’s Debating Union for the first two years of her undergraduate degree. She received the 2024 Dean’s Medal, Abu-Hamid Al Ghazali Faculty Award, and the Outstanding International History Student.
A prospective historian and conservationist, Asma hopes to continue studying and writing the forgotten histories of Kashmir. At Oxford, she plans to pursue a Master’s in Global and Imperial History. She spends her free time cycling, drawing political cartoons, and watching world cinema.