Raja moved to the United States in 1996,[7] after ten years of service in the Pakistan Army as an infantry officer.[8]
Raja graduated with a Masters in literature from Belmont University in 2002,[9] where he was awarded the Graduate Writing Award and at Florida State where he received the Davis Award for Best Graduate Student and Davis Award for best dissertation in 2005 and 2006, respectively.[10]
Besides teaching and writing about issues of postcoloniality, globalisation, and political Islam, Raja also actively participates in the public debates[14] through his public writing on his two blogs[15] as well as other popular and scholarly websites.[16][17]
Raja's monograph, Constructing Pakistan, (Oxford University Press, 2010),[18] is an interesting explanation of the rise of Muslim national political identity during the British Raj and offers an innovative explanation of the genesis of the idea of Pakistan. Raja has published extensively in his area of study and on general academic topics in various academic journals and anthologies.[19] Raja is a member of the Advisory Committee (2009–12) of PMLA,[20] the premier journal of literature and languages and was elected to a five-year term on the Executive Committee of the South Asian Studies Group, Modern Language Association.[21] Besides his academic and popular writings, Raja has actively presented his views at academic conferences[22] as well as through public talks.[23]
Having won a million dollar grant from the US State Department, Raja is the Director of a partnership program between the University of North Texas and the National University of Modern Languages in Islamabad.[26]
Raja has published extensively on issues related to postcolonial studies, political Islam, and about Pakistan and the region. Besides his academic work, he also writes poetry[29] and fiction.[30]
Year
Title
Co-editors
Publisher
2010
Constructing Pakistan: Foundational Texts and the Rise of Muslim National Identity 1857-1947
