Dr Ashraf Hoque is a social anthropologist with extensive fieldwork experience in Bangladesh and the UK. An expert on Bangladeshi society and culture, with particular expertise on Bangladeshi politics, human rights (gender and sexuality), religious minorities (Hindus, Christians, Atheists), blasphemy and apostasy, Islamic law, trafficking, and the British-Bangladeshi community. He has written Expert Reports and provided oral evidence at immigration and family law tribunals in over 200 cases, covering the following areas:
• The Awami League (including Bangladesh Chhatra League)
• Bangladesh Nationalist Party (including the Jatiotabadi Chhatra Dal)
• Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (including Chhatra Shibir)
• Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh
• Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)
• Ansarullah Bangla Team
• Hizb-ut-Tahrir
• Purbo Banglar Communist Party
• Persecution of Hindu and Christian minorities
• Persecution of Biharis
• Persecution of atheists, Humanists, and apostates
• Persecution of bloggers and journalists
• Gender relations (patriarchy, domestic violence, honour killings)
• Status of LGBT communities
• Human trafficking (labourers, women, children)
• Land disputes
• Mental illness
• Healthcare
• Blood feuds
• Islamic law and parallel legal systems
• The panchaiyat system
• Document verification
This expert has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in a peri-urban setting in Bangladesh as well as with Bangladeshi diaspora communities in Tower Hamlets, London. Dr Hoque's research in Bangladesh focuses on local politics, working closely with representatives of the major political parties, assessing political participation among an agricultural community with profound transnational migratory links to the UK and the Gulf states. In London, expert also explore local politics, in particular the relationships between British-Bangladeshi politicians and their constituents, and the distinct history and style of political engagement in the borough.
Previously, Dr Hoque has conducted research in the UK, investigating the tensions and conflicts that exist between the UK’s various religious communities and secular law, as part of an EU-funded research initiative. Prior to that, their doctoral thesis provided an account of the everyday lives of a South Asian Muslim community in Luton, Bedfordshire, in particular, among its British-born contingent. The study sought to shed insight on new articulations of religiosity and citizenship among distinct, and often alienated, late-modern diaspora communities.
Expert has provided in excess of over 250 expert reports to date, primarily in immigration and human rights cases and has provided analysis of the political situation in Bangladesh, in particular the role of mainstream political parties and their operatives. Expert has also provided expertise in cases relating to issues such as land disputes, gender discrimination and human trafficking, perceptions of homosexuality, the treatment of religious minorities, and social responses to apostasy. In addition to substantive country reports, Dr Hoque has also produced document verification reports and given oral evidence in immigration tribunals.
Academic Publications
(2015) ‘Muslim men in Luton, UK: Eat First, Talk Later’. South Asia Research. Vol. 35(1): 1-22
(2015) ‘Does the law work in a village like Gulapbari?: An anthropological insight’. The University of Asia Pacific Journal of Law and Policy. Vol. 1, Issue 1 (June, 2015)
(2014) ‘Britain’s Banglatown’. Himal Southasian, Vol. 27, No. 4: 24-37
(2011) ‘Challenges in Religious Accommodation in Family Law, Labour Law, and Legal Regulation of Public Space and Public Funding’. Report published by the European Commission.
Books:
(2019) Being Young, Male, and Muslim in Luton. London: UCL Press.
(2019) Mafia Raj: Bossism in South Asia. Co-author with L. Michelutti, N. Martin, D. Picherit, P. Rollier, A. Ruud & C. Still. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Journal articles:
(2018) with L. Michelutti. ‘Brushing with Organised Crime and Democracy: the art of “making do” in South Asia’. Journal of Asian Studies. In press.
Blogs and short articles:
(2019) Striving to be better in Britain. Anthropology of This Century. Issue 24, Jan 2019.
(2015) ‘Bangladesh blogger killings have roots in the independence struggle’. The Conversation, 13 May.