Zahid R. Chaudhary specializes in postcolonial studies, visual culture, and critical theory. His first book, Afterimage of Empire, examines early photography in India to explore colonial perception, truth, and embodiment. His second, Paranoid Publics, analyzes the psychosocial dynamics of conspiracy cultures, anti-democratic movements, and new media. His current project, Impunity: Notes on a Global Tendency, studies juridical, political, and aesthetic dimensions of impunity from the Cold War to today across postcolonial and U.S. contexts. He has published widely on photography, film, psychoanalysis, and visual culture.