Univ.-Ass. Zeus Hans Mendez, MA
About the Person
Since 10/2025 │ Coordinator of the Doctoral College “Dynamics of Inequality and Difference in the Age of Globalization”, University of Innsbruck
Since 10/2025 │ University Assistant (prae-doc), Unit for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Innsbruck. Project Title: “Political Worldmaking Otherwise: State Violence, Resistance and Disobedient Epistemologies of Peace”
Since 07-2025 | PhD Candidate in Humanities and Cultural Studies, University of Innsbruck
2025 │ MA Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Innsbruck, Austria. Masters Thesis: "Interrogating the Disciplinary Avatars of Eurocentrism : An analysis of state centrism, coloniality and epistemic discipling within the discipline of Peace and Conflict Studies in India". Supervisors: Dr. Sladjana Lazic, Dr. Andreas Oberprantacher
03/2023 - 03/2025 | Student Assistant for Research and Administration, Unit for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Innsbruck.
10/2023 - 03/2024 | Teaching Assistant, Feminist and Queer Challenges to Peace Studies (Dr. Sladjana Lazic), University of Innsbruck.
2021 - 2022 | Program Assistant, MOOC, O.P. Jindal Global University and U.S. Embassy New Delhi
2021 | BA (Honors) Global Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University, India. Bachelors Thesis: "Peace Accords and the Challenges of Postconflict Statebuilding: An Analysis of Accord Implementation Politics"
11/2019 - 07/2021 | Centre Coordinator, Centre for Security Studies, O.P. Jindal Global University, India.
02/2020 - 07/2021 | Research Coordinator, Centre for Middle East Studies, O.P. Jindal Global University, India.
11/2020 - 07/2021 | Research Assistant, Centre for Afghanistan Studies, O.P. Jindal Global University, India
03/2020 - 03/2021 | Research Assistant, Centre for Security and Strategy Studies (CeSCube), New Delhi, India
05/2020 - 06/2021 | Associate Editor, Jindal Journal of International Affairs, India
PhD Project
Political Worldmaking Otherwise: State Violence, Resistance and Disobedient Epistemologies of Peace
This research project investigates how anti-hegemonic movements in India articulate disobedient epistemologies of peace that challenge the Brahmanical-colonial, statist, and developmentalist logics underpinning dominant peace discourse. The project foregrounds Dalit-feminist, Indigenous, queer, and anti-state mobilizations and imaginaries in India as insurgent epistemic practices reimagine peace beyond state-mandated order, as a relational, pluriversal, and ethical praxis. The theoretical framework integrates decolonial, feminist, and anti-caste scholarship, situating Indian resistance movements in dialogue with global debates on resistance, decolonization and the politics of solidarity. Conceptually, the dissertation advances 'resistance-as-peace' as a mode of ontological and epistemic worldmaking, highlighting radical relationality, epistemic disobedience, coalition-building, and insurgent temporalities as mechanisms through which historically marginalized communities contest hierarchies of caste, gender, religion, and state power. By linking empirical analysis with decolonial and anti-caste theorization, this research contributes to a pluriversal understanding of peace, justice, and equality; repositioning these movements as epistemic interlocutors in both Indian and global debates on difference, violence and the politics of coexistence.
Research Interests
- Peace and Conflict Studies
- Critical Peace Pedagogies
- Anti-hegemonic and Anti-State Social Movements
- Decolonial and Anti-colonial Thought
- Feminism and Intersectionality
- Critical Race Theory
- Debrahmanization and Anti-Caste Politics
Publications
- Alluri, Rina and Zeus Hans Mendez. (forthcoming 2026). “Challenging structures of coloniality through co-authorship: A framework for praxis.” Community-Engaged Praxis in Peace, Social Justice, and Human Rights Education: Partnering for Transformative Change eds. Sirota S, Hantzopoulos M, & A Argenal.
- Mendez, Zeus Hans and Andreas Oberprantacher. 2025. Subaltern Silence: A Postcolonial Genealogy. Contemporary Political Theory. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-025-00767-8
- Jha, Pankaj, Zeus H. Mendez, Swati Batchu, Rayan Bhagwagar. 2021. Crafting a National Security Strategy for India. New Delhi: Shipra Publications.
- Mendez, Zeus H. 2022. “PCA Arbitration and China's Position in the South China Sea,” In South China Sea: Contesting Narratives and Global Realities, eds. Pankaj Jha. New Delhi: Shipra Publications, 40-55.
- Mendez, Zeus. 2020. Repression and Revolt in Balochistan: The Uncertainty and Survival of a People’s National Aspirations. Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs: Vol 3, No.3. August 2020. Pg. 43-61.
Conference Papers
- Mendez, Zeus Hans. “Peace Beyond Eurocentric Conformity: Intellectual DIsciplining and Epistemic Coloniality in Peace and Conflict Studies India.” International Conference, Empires and (Post)Colonialism: (Counter)Narratives of Power in Educational Media in a Global Perspective, Braunschweig, 21 November 2025.
- Mendez, Zeus Hans. “Peace For Whom? Eurocentric Conformity and Disciplinary Foreclosures in Indian Peace and Conflict Studies.” EISA Pan-European Conference on International Relations, Bologna, 28 August 2025.
- Lazic, Sladjana & Zeus Hans Mendez. “Pedagogies of (Non-) Domination and the Entrenchment of Epistemic Violence.” EISA Pan-European Conference on International Relations, Bologna, 27 August 2025.
- Mendez, Zeus Hans & Rina Alluri. " Challenging structures of coloniality within academic settings: A framework for praxis." Aurora International Peace Conference, Innsbruck, Feb 2025.
- Alluri, Rina & Zeus Hans Mendez. "Moving from intention to impact: Reflections on decoloniality in promoting peace and transforming conflicts." British International Studies Association, Jul 2023.
Contact
Innsbruck Doctoral College "Dynamics of Inequality and Difference in the Age of Globalization"
Research Focus "Cultural Encounters - Cultural Conflicts"
Unit for Peace and Conflict Studies, GEIWI tower, 11th floor, room 4DG25
Mail: zeus.mendez@uibk.ac.at Phone: +43 512 507-39704