Aalim Akhtar is a PhD student in the English Faculty at the University of Cambridge. He holds an MA in English Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Aalim’s research explores Urdu-Persian travelogues and the histories of slavery in the Indian Ocean world. He is the winner of the 2021 Jawad Memorial Prize for Urdu-English Translation. His broader academic interests include postcolonial thought, the politics of historical narrative, and Urdu critical traditions in post-independence India.