Helal Khan
I am an Assistant Teaching Professor of Justice and Peace Studies at Georgetown University.
My research explores identity and hope, space and placemaking, and the dynamics of cooperation and well-being. My teaching is shaped by the lived experiences of diasporas in the West and by my professional and educational experiences across South Asia, Africa, Europe, the UK, and the United States. Before re-entering academia, I served in the Bangladesh Army, where I taught at the Infantry School, held a senior staff position at the headquarters of the Border Guards of Bangladesh, and participated in a UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
I earned my PhD in Peace Studies and Anthropology from the University of Notre Dame, where I was a Presidential Fellow at the Kroc Institute, a Doctoral Student Affiliate at the Kellogg Institute, and a Justice Fellow at the Center for Social Concerns. Prior to my doctoral work, I held a Chevening Scholarship from the UK Government and a Master Mind Scholarship from the Government of Flanders, Belgium. My dissertation received the Best Graduate Thesis Award from the Peace & Justice Studies Association (2023-24).
At Georgetown, I teach several core courses for the Justice and Peace Studies (JUPS) program and am developing a book project provisionally titled, Abling Refugees and Regimes of Cooperation: The Burmese Rohingya in the American Midwest.