STUDENTS | Rustam Khan

Rustam Khan is an interdisciplinary historian and artist at the intersection of hip hop, urban migration, and media in post-colonial Europe.

Rustam’s HASTS Ph.D. project is titled “Dancing after Decolonization: Breaking, Urban Migrants, and Embodied Archives in Belgium, 1960-2020.” His dissertation investigates the evolution of Belgian migration politics through close engagement with pioneers of the early hip hop movement, especially breakers or “breakdancers,” in the wake of formal decolonization. In this work, he draws upon his decade-long dance practice across Europe, Asia, and the US in various street and club dance styles, while weaving together historical archives, STS methods, and (auto-)ethnographic participation. His dissertation argues that breaking culture has reflected contestations over rights to Brussels, the capital city of Europe, a context conditioned by neoliberal urban development and the politics of race, class, gender, and religion.

Trained in modern European/Soviet history, Rustam Khan received a B.A. and M.A. degree in history from KU Leuven in Belgium, an M.Phil. degree in history from the University of Hong Kong, and an M.S. from HASTS. Outside his academic work, he is a member of MIT’s Graduate Student Union, served as a Teaching and Development Fellow at MIT’s Teaching and Learning Lab, and keeps growing as a dancer and DJ wherever he goes.

He welcomes correspondence and interests in multidisciplinary collaborative projects via email.