Professor Nayanika Mookherjee awarded top
Anthropology honour
The Medal is awarded by the Royal Anthropological
Institute for outstanding contributions to anthropology,
with an emphasis on fieldwork and a significant body of
theoretical literature.
Shaping global conversations
Professor Mookherjee is Co-Director of our Institute of
Advanced Studies, and her interdisciplinary work
explores how societies remember violence and imagine
fairer futures.
Her research spans war crimes tribunals, memorials,
wartime sexual violence, graphic ethnography, digital
surveillance and nearly three decades of fieldwork in
Bangladesh.
Using ethnography and visual storytelling, Professor
Mookherjee examines how memories of conflict shape
politics, aesthetics, and ethics today.
Her work has shaped global conversations on ethical
testimonies, public memories and gendered violence
during conflict.
It has contributed substantially to the well-being of
survivors and ethical discussions on sexual violence
during conflict.
Far reaching concepts
In 2022, Professor Mookherjee theorised and edited the
volume 'On Irreconciliation' to explore the politics of
non-forgiveness, justice and the possibilities of
accountability after conflict.
The work allowed an important examination of the rule of
law within processes of unresolved genocidal injustices,
debates relating to enslavement, memorialisation,
removal of statues and institutional responses to bullying
and harassment.
The concept of Irreconciliation has had extensive
interdisciplinary interest and resonance.
Professor Mookherjee was invited to deliver the 2023
Firth lecture?on this theme at the Association of Social
Anthropology of UK's annual conference.?
The lecture generated discussions among those
researching genocide, state violence, reparative justice
as well as those working on climate change and mental
health.
The theoretical frameworks has been widely deployed by
academic and non-academic communities within and
beyond anthropology.
Professor Mookherjee is currently preparing a book on
the 'Arts of Irreconciliation and the Futuring of
Bangladesh' covering the debates of the liberation war of the country and the 2024 uprising.
Prestigious award
Professor Mookherjee said she was honoured to receive
the 2025 Rivers Memorial Medal, adding: "The research
among various communities has meant so much for my
learning, thinking, writing and teaching.
"I am absolutely delighted with this recognition.
"For various survivor communities a critique of the
symbolic performance of redressal has become very
important.
"This creates the possibility of not only registering the
impact of violence.
"It also creates a political space for them in the face of
the corrosive realities that the lack of acknowledgement
of injustice engenders.
"It is also important to critically understand various forms
of irreconciliation and victimhood."
https://www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2025/08/professornayanika-mookherjee-awarded-top-anthropology-honour-/
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