Jeba Humayra

Graduate Research Assistant

Sociology: Political Sociology, Sociology of Human Rights, Social Movements, Riverine Lives, Gender, NGO-ization, The Development State, Alternative Democratic Futures

I am a third-year PhD student in Sociology at George Mason University with a concentration in Globalization. I earned both my bachelor's and master's degrees in International Relations from the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. During my master's studies, I interned and later worked full-time with international non-governmental organizations focusing on social justice and human rights advocacy. I then served as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for child protection project in the Rohingya refugee camps, the world's largest refugee settlement.

My research examines energy politics and the climate crisis in Bangladesh by situating them within global structures of power, inequality, and extraction. I focus on contentious politics and social movements, how communities contest fossil fuel and large-scale energy projects and advance alternative visions of development. I am also interested in NGOization and how donor-driven climate and development agendas shape, constrain, or depoliticize grassroots resistance. Drawing on decolonial and feminist frameworks, I analyze how struggles over energy and climate challenge colonial and capitalist legacies and open possibilities for democratization. Grounded in public sociology, my work aims to produce knowledge with and for the communities and movements at the center of these struggles.

Selected Publications

Humayra, Jeba, Md. Kamal Uddin, and Nusrat Yeasmin Pushpo. 2024. "Deficiencies of Women's Participation in Climate Governance and Sustainable Development Challenges in Bangladesh." Sustainable Development. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3075.

Education

PhD in Public Sociology, George Mason University (In Progress)
Master of Social Science, International Relations, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2021
Bachelor of Social Science, International Relations, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2020

Recent Presentations

Humayra, Jeba. 2025. “We Were Almost Emancipated, Is It Slipping Away? The Paradox of Digital Governance, Rights, and Reform in Bangladesh’s (Democratic) Transition.” Paper presented at the CSSR Movement Engaged Research Hub, Fairfax, VA, October 17.

Humayra, Jeba. 2025. “Bangladesh at the Crossroads of Democratic Reform and Post-Authoritarian Possibilities.” Paper presented at the Mobilization Conference, San Diego, CA, June 24.

Humayra, Jeba. 2025. “Examining the Role of Artistic Representations in Mobilizing Collective Identity and Challenging Oppressive Regimes in Bangladesh.” Paper presented at the Eastern Sociological Society Annual Conference, Boston, MA, March 7.